1 Shall we not love thee, mother dear,
whom Jesus loves so well?
And, to his glory, year by year,
thy joy and honour tell?
2 Bound with the curse of sin and shame
we helpless sinners lay,
until in tender love he came
to bear the curse away.
3 And thee he chose from whom to take
true flesh his flesh to be;
in it to suffer for our sake,
by it to make us free.
4 Thy Babe he lay upon thy breast,
to thee he cried for food;
thy gentle nursing soothed to rest
th'Incarnate Son of God.
5 O wondrous depth of love divine,
that he should bend so low!
And, Mary, oh, what joy was thine
in his dear love to know;
6 joy to be mother of the Lord,
and thine the truer bliss,
in every thought, and deed, and word
to be for ever his.
7 And as he loves thee, mother dear,
we too will love thee well;
and, to his glory, year by year,
thy joy and honour tell.
8 Jesu, the virgin's holy Son,
we praise thee and adore,
who art with God the Father One
and Spirit evermore.
Source: CPWI Hymnal #747
First Line: | Shall we not love thee, mother dear |
Author: | H. W. Baker |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Shall we not love thee, Mother dear. Sir H. W. Baker. [Blessed Virgin Mary.] Written for and first appeared in the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient & Modern, and again, after revision, in the revised edition, 1875.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)