He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
Psalm 91:11
Words: These words have a murky background. The first two stanzas are borrowed from Thomas Oliver’s “O Thou God of My Salvation,” 1769. The last stanza is attributed to Charles Wesley, though we have not discovered its original source.
Music: Regent Square Henry T. Smart, in Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (London: 1867) (🔊 pdf nwc).
Angels now are hovering round us,
Unperceived among the throng;
Wondering at the love that crowned us,
Glad to sing the holy song;
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Love and praise to Christ belong!
Now I see with joy and wonder
Whence the healing streams arose,
Angel minds are lost to ponder
Dying love’s mysterious cause;
Yet the blessing, yet the blessing
Down on all, to me it flows!
This hath set me all on fire;
Strongly grows the flame of love;
Higher mounts my soul, and higher,
Struggles for its swift remove;
Then I’ll praise Him, then I’ll praise Him,
In a nobler strain above!