Scripture Verse

I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:20

Introduction

portrait
Ernst Olson (1870–1958)

Words: Carl O. Ro­se­ni­us in the pa­per Pie­tist­en, 1851 (Med Gud och hans väns­kap). Trans­lat­ed from Swed­ish to Eng­lish by Ernst W. Olson in the Hym­nal and Order of Ser­vice (Rock Is­land, Il­li­nois: Lu­ther­an Au­gus­ta­na Book Con­cern, 1899), num­ber 196.

Music: Ack, Saliga Stun­der Os­kar Ahn­felt, 1851 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Carl Rosenius (1816–1868)

Lyrics

With God and His mer­cy, His Spir­it and Word
And lov­ing com­mun­ion at al­tar and board,
We meet with as­sur­ance the dawn of each day:
The Shep­herd is with us,
The Shep­herd is with us,
To lead and pro­tect us and teach us the way.

In per­il­ous times, am­id tem­pests and night,
A band press­es on, through the gloom to­ward light,
Though hum­ble, and meek, and dis­owned by the world,
They fol­low the Savior,
They fol­low the Savior,
And march on to glo­ry, with ban­ners un­furled.

While grov­el­ing world­lings with dross are con­tent,
And ev­er on sin and trans­gress­ion are bent,
I fol­low, vic­tor­ious hosts, at your word,
And march on to glo­ry,
And march on to glo­ry,
We march on to glo­ry, our ca­ptain, the Lord.

The sign of the cross I tri­umph­ant­ly bear,
Though none of my kin­dred that em­blem may wear,
I joy­ful­ly fol­low the cham­pi­ons of right,
Who march on to glo­ry,
Who march on to glo­ry,
Who march on to glo­ry, with wea­pons of might.

The Pil­lar that guides us through per­il and strife,
The Rock that is cleft, giv­ing wa­ters of life,
Is Christ, and His cross. By His Spir­it and Word,
The heart He re­fresh­es,
The heart He re­fresh­es,
The heart He re­fresh­es, our Savior and Lord.

Though Sa­tan may sift me, and sin­ning brings death,
Yet will I hold fast, till my last dy­ing breath,
The glor­ious truth of the con­se­crate Son,
Who died for the ma­ny,
Who died for the ma­ny,
And suf­fer­ing death, our atone­ment has won.

I know that in spite of trans­gress­ion and sin
God’s heart bears for sin­ners but mer­cy with­in,
For Christ for man­kind has full right­eous­ness won,
The One for the m­any,
The One for the ma­ny,
The One for the world stand­ing right­eous alone.

Yea, this is the ground for my com­fort and joy,
In mo­ments when doubt seeks my faith to de­stroy;
Whenever my body and soul be op­pressed
I flee to thy pr­esence,
I flee to Thy pre­sence,
And find in Thy pre­sence pro­tect­ion and rest.

O Shep­herd, ab­ide with us, care for us still,
And feed us and lead us and teach us Thy will
And when in Thy heav­en­ly fold we shall be,
Our thanks and our prais­es,
Our thanks and our prais­es,
Our thanks and our prais­es we’ll ren­der to Thee.