Jesus, sun and shield art thou

Jesus, sun and shield art thou. Horatius Bonar* (1808-1889). First published in Bonar’s Hymns of Faith and Hope, Second Series (1861). It was entitled ‘Jesus the First and Last’. It had five stanzas, beginning Jesus, sun and shield art thou Jesus, bread and wine art thou Jesus, Love and Life art thou Jesus, peace and joy art thou Jesus, song and strength art thou This structure is characteristic of Bonar’s technique, which sets up a pattern in stanza 1 and makes variations on it in subsequent stanzas. Like a number of Bonar’s hymns, this one has declined in popularity from its late Victorian and early 20th-century heyday. It was found in MHB and CP, but is now found in HP only. There (as...