Go Ad-Free
If you regularly use Hymnary.org, you might benefit from eliminating ads. Consider buying a subscription.
If you regularly use Hymnary.org, you might benefit from eliminating ads. Consider buying a subscription.
1 O God of Bethel, by whose hand
thy people still are fed,
who through this weary pilgrimage
hast all our fathers led;
2 Our vows, our prayers, we now present
before thy throne of grace;
God of our fathers, be the God
of their succeeding race.
3 Through each perplexing path of life
our wandering footsteps guide;
give us each day our daily bread,
and raiment fit provide.
4 O spread thy covering wings around
till all our wanderings cease,
and at our Father's loved abode
our souls arrive in peace.
Source: Ancient and Modern: hymns and songs for refreshing worship #744a
First Line: | O God of Bethel, by Whose hand |
Author: | Philip Doddridge (1736) |
Meter: | 8.6.8.6 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
O God of Bethel, by Whose hand, p. 832, i,, iii. E. Darracott's version of this hymn was included in The Star of the West, being Memoirs of the Life of the late Bisdon Darracott, London, 1813, pp. 40,41, as a hymn written after his marriage, which took place in Dec. 1741. Hence has arisen the modern claim for Darracott as the author of the hymn, as against the claims of Doddridge. The Darracott version, as the editor of the Memoirs remarks, excites "no high idea of his poetic genius." Besides rewriting the hymn to adapt it to his circumstances in 1741, Darracott added the following concluding stanza:—
"For if, O Lord,
Thou ours wilt be,
We can give up the rest,
Our souls possess'd alone of Thee,
Are infinitely blest."
[Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)