The lyrics of "Distress" was Written by Anne Steele (1717-1778) in Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760). It was written for a friend on the death of a child. The melody is attributed to William Walker. It is found in The Sacred Harp, page 32 and in The Southern Harmony page 22. In Lutheran practice it is also used in The Lutheran Book of Worship and in Evangelical Lutheran Worship for M.F.C. Wilson's "We Place upon Your Table Lord" and also for Fred Pratt Green's "O Christ, the Healer, We Have Come".