Scripture Verse

I will go forth in the strength of the Lord God. Psalm 71:16

Introduction

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems 1749.

Music: Duke Street at­trib­ut­ed to John Hat­ton, 1793 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Hat­ton (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

This hymn is an ideal ex­pres­sion of the spir­it and feel­ings of a con­se­crat­ed and faith­ful child of God as he goes forth to his dai­ly tasks. Such sen­ti­ments have pow­er to turn ev­en drudg­ery in­to a life of no­ble and bless­ed ser­vice.

Nev­er fear, said Phil­lips Brooks, to bring the sub­lim­est mo­tive to the small­est du­ty, and the most in­fi­nite com­fort to the small­est trou­ble.

Nutter, p. 213

Lyrics

Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go,
My dai­ly labor to pur­sue;
Thee, on­ly Thee, re­solved to know
In all I think, or speak, or do.

The task Thy wis­dom hath as­signed,
O let me cheer­ful­ly ful­fill;
In all my works Thy pre­sence find,
And prove Thy good and per­fect will.

Preserve me from my call­ing’s snare,
And hide my sim­ple heart above,
Above the thorns of chok­ing care,
The gild­ed baits of world­ly love.

Thee may I set at my right hand,
Whose eyes mine in­most sub­stance see,
And la­bor on at Thy com­mand,
And of­fer all my works to Thee.

Give me to bear Thy ea­sy yoke,
And ev­ery moment watch and pray,
And still to things eter­nal look,
And hast­en to Thy glo­ri­ous day.

For Thee de­light­ful­ly emp­loy
Whate’er Thy boun­te­ous grace hath giv­en;
And run my course with ev­en joy,
And close­ly walk with Thee to Hea­ven.