Scripture Verse

He will be our guide even to the end. Psalm 48:14

Introduction

Words: James Ed­mes­ton, 1821. Ap­peared in Sac­red Lyr­ics, Set Two, with the no­ta­tion Hymn writ­ten for the child­ren of the Lon­don Or­phan­age Asy­lum.

Music: Mann­heim Fried­rich Fil­itz, Viers­tim­mig­es Chor­al­buch her­aus­ge­ge­ben von Dr F Fil­itz (Ber­lin, Ger­ma­ny: 1847) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

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

Lyrics

Lead us, heav’n­ly Fa­ther, lead us
O’er the world’s tem­pes­tu­ous sea;
Guard us, guide us, keep us, feed us,
For we have no help but Thee;
Yet pos­ses­sing ev­ery bless­ing
If our God our Fa­ther be.

Savior, breathe for­give­ness o’er us;
All our weak­ness Thou dost know;
Thou didst tread this earth be­fore us,
Thou didst feel its keen­est woe;
Lone and drea­ry, faint and wea­ry,
Through the de­sert Thou didst go.

Spirit of our God, des­cend­ing,
Fill our hearts with heav’n­ly joy,
Love with ev­ery pas­sion blend­ing,
Pleasure that can ne­ver cloy;
Thus pro­vid­ed, par­doned, guid­ed,
Nothing can our peace de­stroy.