Be Thou my Guardian and my Guide

Be Thou my Guardian and my Guide

Author: Isaac Williams (1842)
Tune: ABRIDGE (Smith)
Published in 35 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Be thou my guardian and my guide,
and hear me when I call;
let not my slippery footsteps slide,
and hold me lest I fall.

2 The world, the flesh, and Satan dwell
around the path I tread;
O save me from the snares of hell,
thou quickener of the dead.

3 And if I tempted am to sin,
and outward things are strong,
do thou, O Lord, keep watch within,
and save my soul from wrong.

4 Still let me ever watch and pray,
and feel that I am frail;
that if the tempter cross my way,
yet he may not prevail.

Source: Ancient and Modern: hymns and songs for refreshing worship #116

Author: Isaac Williams

Isaac Williams was born in London, in 1802. His father was a barrister. The son studied at Trinity College, Oxford, where he gained the prize for Latin verse. He graduated B.A. 1826, M.A. 1831, and B.D. 1839. He was ordained Deacon in 1829, and Priest in 1831. His clerical appointments were Windrush (1829), S. Mary the Virgin's, Oxford (1832), and Bisley (1842-1845). He was Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, from 1832 to 1842. During the last twenty years of his life his health was so poor as to permit but occasional ministerial services. He died in 1865. He was the author of some prose writings, amongst which are Nos. 80, 86 and 87 of the "Oxford Tracts." His commentaries are favourably known. He also published quite a large num… Go to person page >

Notes

Be Thou our [my] Guardian and our [my] Guide. J. Williams. [Divine Guidance sought.] Appeared in his Hymns on the Catechism, 1842, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines It is based on the petition in the Lord's Prayer, "And lead us not into temptation." In some collections it is changed from the plural to the singular throughout, as in Hymns Ancient & Modern, revised edition, 1875, No. 282, &c. It is given in several collections in Great Britain and America.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #671
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Instances

Instances (1 - 12 of 12)
Text

Ancient and Modern #116

Anglican Hymns Old and New (Rev. and Enl.) #65

Church Family Worship #124

Church Hymnal, Fifth Edition #635

TextPage Scan

Common Praise #385

TextPage Scan

Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New #69

TextPage Scan

CPWI Hymnal #406

Hymns Ancient and Modern, New Standard Edition #217

Hymns Old and New #55

Sing Glory #512

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #671

TextPage Scan

The New English Hymnal #64

Include 23 pre-1979 instances
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