Thine handmaid, Saviour! can it be

Thine handmaid, Saviour! can it be. William Augustus Muhlenberg* (1796-1877). Written in 1859 for the admission of a new nursing Sister at St Luke’s Hospital, New York, the hospital founded by Muhlenberg. It uses the idea of the handmaid, ‘ecce ancilla domini’, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord’, spoken by the Blessed Virgin Mary to the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation (Luke 1: 38). It was reprinted in Christ in Song, edited by Philip Schaff* (New York, 1869). It had six 4-line stanzas. The first two were: Thine Handmaid, Saviour! Can it be? Such honor dost Thou put on me? To wait on Thee, do Thy commands, The works once hallowed by Thy hands? Daily Thy mercy paths to go, Bearing Thy balm...