The Church — Lord's Supper

Not worthy, Lord, to gather up the crumbs

No. 1121
Metre 10s.
Tune EVENTIDE.
Words Edward H. Bickersteth.
Music William H. Monk.
Key E-flat major
Singing key E♭ major
Time 4/4
4 stanzas

Words

Not worthy, Lord, to gather up the crumbsWith trembling hand, that from thy table fall,A weary, heavy-laden sinner comesTo plead thy promise and obey thy call.

I am not worthy to be thought thy child,Nor sit the last and lowest at thy board;Too long a wanderer, and too oft beguiled,I only ask one reconciling word.

One word from thee, my Lord! one smile, one look,And I could face the cold, rough world again,And with that treasure in my heart could brookThe wrath of Satan and the scorn of men.

I hear thy voice; thou bidst me come and rest;I come, I kneel, I clasp thy piercèd feet;Thou bidst me take my place, a welcome guest,Among thy saints, and of thy banquet eat.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «THE CHURCH—LORD'S SUPPER.»; hymn number «1121» (large), tune name «EVENTIDE. 10s.» centred over the music (condensed capitals), «WILLIAM H. MONK.» at the right (capitals and small capitals). Stanza 1 is set between the staves: «1. Not worthy, Lord, to gath-er up the crumbs With trembling hand, that from thy table fall,» under system 1 and «A wea-ry, heavy - la - den sinner comes To plead thy promise and o - bey thy call.» under system 2. Stanzas 2–4 are printed as text in the left column under the italic reference line «249, 100.» (= the same words may be sung to the tunes of hymns 249 or 100), closed by «Edward H. Bickersteth.» in italics; hymn 1122 follows in the same column. Stanzas are numbered «2», «3», «4» without periods (written «2.», «3.», «4.» here, as in the other deliveries of this book). Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are indented in the print (reproduced here). The 10-syllable lines are too long for the column: four of them run over into an indented second line («one smile, / one look,», «rough world / again,», «heart could / brook», «a welcome / guest,»); each verse is written here as ONE line. In stanza 1, «heavy - la - den» (a syllable hyphen that is also the hyphen of the compound) is written «heavy-laden». The print sets a thin space before «;» and «!»; it is closed up here. «piercèd» is printed with a grave accent and kept.