Lord, when thou didst thyself undress

Author: Henry Vaughan

Vaughan, Henry, M.D., commonly called "The Silurist," was one of twin brothers born of a titled family at Newton, Llansaintffiad, in 1621. After studying under the Rev. Matthew Herbert, Rector of Llangattock, he proceeded to Jesus College, Oxford, in 1638; but through the national troubles of those days, his studies, in common with those of his brother, were interrupted, and they had to leave the University. Subsequently he entered the medical profession, and practised at Brecon and at Newton. He died April 23, 1695. His published works include, Poems with the Tenth Satire of Juvenal Englished, 1646; Olor Iscanus, 1651; The Mount of Olives, 1652, &c. As a religious poet he followed very closely the peculiarities of George Herbert, of whose… Go to person page >

Lord, when Thou didst Thyself undress. H. Vaughan. [Passiontide.] Published in his Silex Scintillans; or, Sacred Poems, &c, Pt. i., 1650, and again in the reprint by the Rev. H. F. Lyte, 1846 (1858 ed., p. 46), in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled “The Incarnation and Passion." In its complete form it is not found in modern hymnals, but stanzas iv. and v., as "Ah, my dear Lord, what could'st Thou spy," are given in Thring's Collection, 1882.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)