Scripture Verse

You shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. Exodus 18:20

Introduction

Words: F. Wat­son Han­nan, 1911.

Music: Teach­er’s De­di­ca­tion Hymn Frank M. Jef­fe­ry (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Han­nan or Jef­fe­ry (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

The hymn O God, my pow­ers are Thine, by Dr. F. Wat­son Han­na, pas­tor of the New York Ave­nue Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, Brook­lyn, was wri­tten while he was pas­tor of the Bush­wick Ave­nue Cen­tral Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, as a de­di­ca­tion hymn for teach­ers.

Every fall dur­ing his eight years pas­tor­ate of that church it was his cus­tom to ob­serve Sun­day School Day as a Ral­ly Day, when spe­cial ex­er­cis­es were held not on­ly in the school but al­so in the morn­ing con­gre­ga­tion­al ser­vice.

A ser­mon was preached to teach­ers and a ser­vice of res­pon­sive read­ing was pre­pared in which the pas­tor and the teach­ers took part. Af­ter the ser­mon, a con­se­cra­tion ser­vice for the teach­ers was held, and for this ser­vice, Dr. Han­na al­ways wrote a hymn, which was sung by the teach­ers as they stood around the al­tar.

The whole ser­vice was ve­ry im­press­ive. The hymn, O God, my pow­ers are thine, was the con­se­cra­tion hymn used on Sep­tem­ber 24, 1905.

Carl Fowl­er Price
The Chris­tian Ad­vo­cate, No­vem­ber 28, 1912

Lyrics

O God, my pow­ers are Thine;
So may my ser­vice be;
Grant me the grace of love di­vine
To serve Thee stead­fast­ly.

Thy so­ve­reign right I own,
I seek Thy will and way;
All Thy com­mands to me make known,
That I may all obey.

Immortal souls to guard
Assist me by Thy grace;
That I pre­sent each one, O Lord,
Perfect be­fore Thy face.

Thy ho­ly Word my task
To love and teach and live,
That to in­quir­ing souls that ask,
Thy an­swer I may give.

Here, Lord, I hum­bly bring
Both self and class to Thee;
Accept the of­fer­ing, O my king,
And keep eter­nal­ly.