The Cyber Hymnal ‎#13761

13761. So Melancholy Why, Poor Heart?

1 So melancholy why, poor heart,
So heavy and so full of smart,
And still for earthly things?
Resign thee to the Lord thy God,
Who Heaven and the earth hath made.

2 Elijah, speak: Who gave thee bread,
When dearth and drought had overspread
Thy land for several years?
Did not the widow’s cruse supply
Her own and thy necessity?

3 When near the jun’per thou didst stay
God sent His messenger away
To furnish thee with food,
Which that uncommon vigor gave,
That thou couldst reach Mount Horeb’s cave.

4 Good Daniel: In the lion’s den
God ne’er forgot, tho’ left by men,
But sent His angel down
To seize the prophet’s harvest-mess
For His belovèd in distress.

5 Tho’ Joseph, into Egypt sold,
By Potiphar was laid in hold
For keeping God’s command:
God raised him up to great renown,
To save that nation and his own.

6 Did not the furnace lose its pow’r
When sev’n times heated, to devour
The three men in the flame?
God sent His angel to their aid,
And made the tyrant sore afraid.

7 Thy plenty, Lord, is still as great,
As ’twas in times of ancient date;
In Thee is all my trust,
Enrich my soul with faith and love,
Then have I everywhere enough.

Text Information

• First Line: So melancholy why, poor heart
• Title: So Melancholy Why, Poor Heart?
• Meter: 886.88
• Language: English
• Source: Probably 16th Century Polish or German; English tr.: A Collection of Hymns for the Children of God of All Ages (Part I) (London: 1754
• Copyright: Public Domain

Tune Information

• Name: KEDRON
• Meter: 886.88
• Key: G Major or modal
• Source: German chorale
• Copyright: Public Domain

Text Information:

Wackernagel, iv. pp. 128–130, gives three forms of the text of this anon­y­mous hymn: No. 190 as the first of Zwey schöne newe geist­liche Lied­er, Nürn­berg, N.D., [no date] c. 1560; No. 191, from an En­chi­ri­di­on print­ed at Ham­burg, 1565; No. 192, from the Psalm­en und Le­der, Lü­beck, 1567.

In his Bib­li­o­gra­phie, 1855, p. 279, he had cit­ed it as in Neun schöne geist­liche Lied­er, Nürn­berg, N.D., which he then dat­ed 1565—prob­ab­ly too ear­ly.

According to Koch, v., 563, it had al­rea­dy ap­peared as Cze­mu sic tros­czyss, in a Pol­ish hymn-book ed. by Pas­tor Sek­lu­cy­an, and pub. at Kö­nigs­berg [now Ka­lin­in­grad, Rus­sia] in 1559.

This hymn has oft­en been as­cribed to Hans Sachs. So Am­bro­si­us Han­ne­mann in his Pro­dro­mus Hym­no­lo­giæ, Wit­ten­berg, 1633, Se­cond 10, No. 8 en­ti­tles it Con­so­la­tion against Tear­ful­ness. Hans Sachs; and in Jer­e­mi­as We­ber’s G.B. [Ge­sang­buch], 1638, p. 578, it is en­ti­tled On Fa­mine. A good fa­mi­ly hymn. Writ­ten for the use of heads of house­holds and their fa­mi­lies by Hans Sachs, of Nürn­berg, the well-known Ger­man po­et.

The hymn has not how­ev­er been traced in any of the works of Sachs, and the as­crip­tion to him seems to be with­out foun­da­tion.

Julian, p. 1234