1 This child we dedicate to Thee,
O God of grace and purity!
In Thy great love its life prolong;
Shield it, we pray, from sin and wrong.
2 O may Thy Spirit gently draw
Its willing soul to keep Thy law;
May virtue, piety, and truth
Dawn even with its dawning youth.
Source: Baptist Hymnal 2008 #649
Gilman, Samuel, D.D., was born at Gloucester, Massachusetts, Feb. 16, 1791; graduated at Harvard, 1811, and was a tutor there from 1817 to 1819. In 1819 he became the pastor of a Unitarian congregation at Charlestown, South Carolina, and retained the same to his death. He died at Kingston, Mass., Feb. 9, 1858. His hymns include:—
1. 0 God, accept the sacred hour. Holy Communion. Contributed to Dr. Harris's Hymns for the Lord's Supper , July, 1820, republished in Sewall's Unitarian Collection, New York, 1820, and in later collections.
2. We sing Thy mercy, God of love. Holy Communion. Published as in the case of No. 1.
3. Yes, to the [that] last command. Holy Communion. Published as in the case of Nos. 1 & 2.… Go to person page >| First Line: | This child we dedicate to Thee |
| Title: | This Child We Dedicate to Thee |
| Original Language: | German |
| Translator: | Samuel Gilman |
| Author: | Christoph Friedrich Neander |
| Meter: | 8.8.8.8 |
| Language: | English |
| Notes: | Spanish translation: See "A este niño da, oh Dios" by Clair E. Weldon |
| Copyright: | Public Domain |
This child we dedicate to Thee. S. Gilman. [Holy Baptism.] Professor Bird dates this 1823. Putnam, in his Singers and Songs, &c, 1874, p. 73, gives it in full as a translation from the German. The original we have not traced.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
This child we dedicate to Thee. S. Gilman. [Holy Baptism.] Professor Bird dates this 1823. Putnam, in his Singers and Songs, &c, 1874, p. 73, gives it in full as a translation from the German. The original we have not traced.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
My Starred Hymns