Safety in Union

Representative Text

1 Jesus, great Shepherd of the sheep,
To Thee for help we fly;
Thy little flock in safety keep,
For O, the wolf is nigh!

2 He comes, of hellish malice full,
To scatter, tear, and slay;
He seizes every struggling soul
As his own lawful prey.

3 Us into Thy protection take,
And gather with Thine arm;
Unless the fold we first forsake,
The wolf can never harm.

4 We laugh to scorn his cruel power
While by our Shepherd's side;
The sheep he never can devour
Unless he first divide.

5 O do not suffer him to part
The souls that here agree;
But make us of one mind and heart,
And keep us one in Thee.

6 Together let us sweetly live,
Together let us die,
And each a starry crown receive,
And reign above the sky.

Amen.

Source: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #312

Author: Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, M.A. was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, and was born at Epworth Rectory, Dec. 18, 1707. In 1716 he went to Westminster School, being provided with a home and board by his elder brother Samuel, then usher at the school, until 1721, when he was elected King's Scholar, and as such received his board and education free. In 1726 Charles Wesley was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1729, and became a college tutor. In the early part of the same year his religious impressions were much deepene… Go to person page >

Notes

Jesu, Shepherd of the sheep, Thou Thy flock, &c. W. Hammond. [The Good Shepherd.] First published in his Psalms, Hymns & Sacred Songs, 1745, p. 78, in 11 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled "Christ the Shepherd." In 1783 R. Hill gave 8 stanzas in his Psalms & Hymns, as No. 49, beginning:—

"Jesus, Shepherd of the sheep,
Gracious is Thine arm to keep."

This was repeated in later collections. In Cotterill's Psalms & Hymns, 1810-1819, another arrangement from Hammond as:—

“Jesus, Shepherd of the sheep,
owerful is Thine arm to keep."

This is usually confounded with R. Hill's arrangement of Hammond's text. It is, however, a distinct cento.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

ORWELL (Doty)


MARTYRDOM (Wilson)

MARTYRDOM was originally an eighteenth-century Scottish folk melody used for the ballad "Helen of Kirkconnel." Hugh Wilson (b. Fenwick, Ayrshire, Scotland, c. 1766; d. Duntocher, Scotland, 1824) adapted MARTYRDOM into a hymn tune in duple meter around 1800. A triple-meter version of the tune was fir…

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EVAN (Havergal)

This tune is likely the work of the composer named here, but has also been attributed to others as shown in the instances list.

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Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #10884
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Instances

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African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #312

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The Cyber Hymnal #10884

Include 132 pre-1979 instances
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