"Watch and pray"

Representative Text

1 Dangerous is the path we go,
In this wilderness below,
Savage beasts, of every kind,
Aiming to distress the mind.

2 Scarce an hour but pilgrims see
They from danger are not free;
In some unexpected way,
Something fills them with dismay.

3 Thus beset, they daily feel
They have neither strength nor skill
Rightly to oppose the foe,
Or to guard against the woe.

4 How, then, can they persevere?
Must they of the prize despair?
No; ’tis theirs to watch and pray,
For the Lord will guard the way.

5 Christ the Master, Lord of all,
Bids his children watch and call;
May it be our blessed case,
Both to watch and seek his face.

6 When we watch, then may we pray,
And in prayer watch every day;
And with pleasure ever prove
All our strength is from above.

7 [Thus supported, we shall be
More than conquerors, Lord, through thee;
And when every danger’s past,
Live and reign with thee at last.]

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #645

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Author: William Gadsby

Gadsby, William , was born in 1773 at Attleborough, in Warwickshire. In 1793 he joined the Baptist church at Coventry, and in 1798 began to preach. In 1800 a chapel was built for him at Desford, in Leicestershire, and two years later another in the town of Hinckley. In 1805 he removed to Manchester, becoming minister of a chapel in Rochdale Boad, where he continued until his death, in January, 1844. Gadsby was for many years exceedingly popular as a preacher of the High Calvinist faith, and visited in that capacity most parts of England. He published The Nazarene's Songs, being a composition of Original Hymns, Manchester, 1814; and Hymns on the Death of the Princess Charlotte, Manchester, 1817. In 1814 he also published A Selection of Hymn… Go to person page >

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