Scripture Verse

I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4

Introduction

portrait
John Wesley
1703–1791

Words: Paul Ger­hardt, Prax­is Pi­e­ta­tis Me­li­ca 1656 (Be­fiehl du deine Wege). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by John Wes­ley in his 1737 Col­lec­tion.

Music: Fes­tal Song Will­iam H. Wal­ter, in the Epis­co­pal Hym­nal with Tunes Old and New, by John I. Tuck­er, 1872 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Wal­ter (head-and-shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Paul Gerhardt
1607–1676

Anecdote

On Feb­ru­ary 9, 1796, Zach­a­ry Mac­au­lay sent some books to Miss Mills, whom he af­ter­wards marr­ied. He says, ‘The small hymn-book was my com­pan­ion in hun­ger and nak­ed­ness and dis­tress. We must no doubt make ma­ny al­low­anc­es for the pe­cul­i­ar­i­ties of Me­thod­ism; but on the whole, as the frequent marks of app­ro­ba­tion will show you, it pleas­es me much. One of them, be­gin­ning, Give to the winds thy fears, has oft­en cheered my mind as I viewed the de­so­la­tion caused by the French vis­it.’ This re­fers to the in­va­sion at Sier­ra Leo­ne, of which he was then gov­er­nor.

Telford, p. 295

Lyrics

Give to the winds thy fears,
Hope and be undismayed.
God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears,
God shall lift up thy head.

Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears thy way;
Wait thou His time; so shall this night
Soon end in joyous day.

Still heavy is thy heart?
Still sinks thy spirit down?
Cast off the world, let fear depart
Bid every care begone.

What though Thou rulest not;
Yet heaven, and earth, and hell
Proclaim, God sitteth on the throne,
And ruleth all things well.

And whatsoe’er Thou will’st,
Thou dost, O King of kings;
What Thine unerring wisdom chose,
Thy power to being brings.

Leave to His sovereign sway
To choose and to command;
So shalt thou, wondering, own that way,
How wise, how strong this hand.

Far, far above thy thought,
His counsel shall appear,
When fully He the work hath wrought,
That caused thy needless fear.

Thou seest our weakness, Lord;
Our hearts are known to Thee;
O lift Thou up the sinking hand,
Confirm the feeble knee!

Let us in life, in death,
Thy steadfast truth declare,
And publish with our latest breath
Thy love and guardian care.