ST. AGNES

John B. Dykes composed ST. AGNES for this text. Dykes named the tune after a young Roman Christian woman who was martyred in A.D. 304 during the reign of Diocletian. St. Agnes was sentenced to death for refusing to marry a nobleman to whom she said, “I am already engaged to Christ, to Him alone I keep my troth.” The tune was published in John Grey’s Hymnalfor Use in theEnglish Church (1866). ST. AGNES is a simple tune, best sung in two long lines and in harmony. To encour­ age meditation on the text (as was the practice with its Latin original), consider having the congregation follow the text of stanza 2 (“No voice can sing”) without singing, but simply listening to it as played by the organ. Liturgical Use: Worship that focuses on Christ’s redemptive work; Lord’s Supper; Lent.

Stanza Arc

The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: Law (conviction of sin and need for God's Word) → Gospel (Christ's redemption and grace) → Sanctification (Word as guide for holy living)

Associated Hymn Texts (28)

• How Shall the Young Secure Their Hearts — Isaac Watts (1719)
• Lord of the Church We Humbly Pray — George Washington Doane (1839)
• O Bless the Lord My Soul — Isaac Watts (1719)
• The People That in Darkness Sat — John Morison (1781)
• As Pants the Hart for Cooling Streams — Nahum Tate (1696)
• Christ, the Life of All the Living — Ernst Christoph Homburg (1659)
• Come O Come Thou Quickening Spirit — Martin Behm (1610)
• Come, My Soul, with Every Care — John Newton (1779)
• Dear Father Who hast Made Us All — Unknown (1800)
• Forever with the Lord — James Montgomery (1821)
• Holy Ghost with Light Divine — Andrew Reed (1817)
• Jerusalem, My Happy Home — Unknown (1580)
• Jesus in Thy Thirst and Pain — William Cowper (1779)
• Lord Jesus, Think on Me — Synesius of Cyrene (430)
• Lord Speak to Us That We May Speak — Frances Ridley Havergal (1874)
• Lord Tis Not that I did Choose You — Josiah Conder (1824)
• My Faith Looks Trustingly — William Cowper (1779)
• O Christ, Our Hope, Our Heart's Desire — Latin: Bernard of Clairvaux; English: Ray Palmer (1150)
• O Dearest Lord, Thy Sacred Head — Bernard of Clairvaux (1150)
• O Jesus Joy of Loving Hearts — Bernard of Clairvaux (1150)
• O Thou Who Once in Galilee — William Cowper (1779)
• O Thou that Hear'st when Sinners Cry — John Parlour (1750)
• Oh, That the Lord Would Guide My Ways — Isaac Watts (1715)
• Our Fathers' God in Years Long Gone — William W. How (1864)
• Through All the Changing Scenes of Life — Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady (1696)
• Thus Far the Lord Has Led Me On — Isaac Watts (1709)
• To Thy Temple I Repair — William Cowper (1779)
• We Are Called by One Vocation — William H. Narum (1984)

Set to This Tune in The Lutheran Hymnal (1)

• TLH 361 O Jesus, King Most Wonderful

Notes on the Tune

From Hymn Desk's analyses of the hymns sung to it.

TLH 361, O Jesus, King Most Wonderful : ST. AGNES (John B. Dykes, 1866); row 1201 uses HIDING PLACE.