As pants the hart for cooling streams

Lyrics

As pants the hart for cooling streams
When heated in the chase,
So longs my soul, O God, for Thee,
And Thy refreshing grace.

For Thee, my God, the living God,
My thirsty soul doth pine:
O when shall I behold Thy face,
Thou Majesty divine!

Why restless, why cast down, my soul?
Hope still, and thou shalt sing
The praise of Him who is thy God,
Thy health's eternal spring.

To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
The God whom we adore,
Be glory, as it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.

History

Nahum Tate (1652-1715) and Nicholas Brady (1659-1726) published this metrical version of Psalm 42 in their collaborative work "A New Version of the Psalms of David" in 1696. Tate, who served as Poet Laureate of England, and Brady, an Anglican clergyman and Prebendary of Cork, Ireland, created this psalter to replace the older Sternhold and Hopkins version then in use in Anglican churches. Their New Version received royal approval from King William III and became the authorized psalter of the Church of England, remaining bound with the Book of Common Prayer for centuries.

The original 1696 version contained eleven stanzas corresponding to the eleven verses of Psalm 42, though most modern hymnals abbreviate it to three or four stanzas. The collaboration represented a significant moment in Anglican worship, as Tate and Brady sought to provide more poetic and accessible language for congregational psalm singing while remaining faithful to scripture. The text entered Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861 and has appeared in virtually every major Anglican hymnal since, including The English Hymnal (1906), The New English Hymnal (1985, #337), and The Hymnal 1982.

Sources: Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology; Hymnary.org - As Pants the Hart; Hymnology Archive - Tate & Brady

Performance

Hugh Wilson (c. 1766-1824) adapted the tune MARTYRDOM around 1800 from an eighteenth-century Scottish folk melody used for the ballad "Helen of Kirkconnel." A shoemaker by trade from Fenwick, Ayrshire, Wilson also worked as a draftsman in mills and studied music and mathematics. He served as a manager and precentor in the Secession Church at Duntocher and helped establish its first Sunday school. The tune takes its name from the town of Fenwick, which was associated with martyred Scottish Covenanters, giving the melody melancholy associations in Scotland.

Robert A. Smith published a triple-meter arrangement of MARTYRDOM in his "Sacred Music" (1825), a year after Wilson's death. Though a legal dispute arose concerning authorship, it was settled in Wilson's favor. Smith's triple-meter version became more popular than Wilson's original duple-meter setting and remains the standard arrangement in most hymnals today. The tune's steady, processional character and effective melodic contour suit the psalm's tone of earnest longing.

In Anglican worship, this hymn functions well during seasons emphasizing spiritual hunger and devotion - particularly during Lent or in services focused on prayer and meditation. The subdued character of MARTYRDOM pairs effectively with the psalm's introspective quality. Performance should emphasize sustained phrasing with one pulse per bar, allowing the melody to unfold in two long lines rather than four separate phrases. Organ accompaniment should remain understated, supporting but not overwhelming the congregation's singing, allowing the text's spiritual yearning to come through clearly.

Sources: Hymnary.org - MARTYRDOM; Hymnology Archive - Alas! and did my Saviour bleed; Hymns Without Words - Martyrdom