[Music]
Jesus, and shall it ever be
A mortal man asham'd of thee,
Asham'd of thee whom angels praise,
Whose glories shine through endless days.
Ashamed of Jesus! sooner far
Let evening blush to own a star;
He sheds the beams of light divine
O'er this benighted soul of mine.
Ashamed of Jesus! just as soon
Let midnight be ashamed of noon:
'Tis midnight with my soul till he,
Bright morning star, bid darkness flee.
The poem is by Joseph Grigg (b. 1720). Ananias Davisson of the Valley
of Virginia named and claimed the tune in his _Kentucky Harmony_
(1815). Annabel Morris Buchanan has found a tune with the title
'Retirement' in a manuscript tune book which she judges to be from the
eighteenth century. No text accompanies the tune, and no source is
given. It follows:
[Music]
A comparison of the two tunes indicates rather plainly that Davisson
wrote the tune down from oral tradition, and that his noting was
indicative of the manner in which it was actually sung.
No. 98
PILGRIM, OSH 201