O Tender, Gracious Father

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Thou tender, gracious Father

Author: Carolina Sandell (1859); Translator: Carl O. Dahlen (1925)
Tune: FAR OFF LANDS
Published in 6 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1. Thou tender, gracious Father,
Who watches over me,
How shall I ever praise Thee,
How love and honor Thee?
Thou guidest me with caution
From every secret snare,
And ’neath Thy wings a refuge
I find in my despair.

2. With raiment, food and shelter,
Whate’er my needs imply,
For soul and body ever,
Do Thou in grace supply.
O Lord, I soon would perish
If aught Thou should exclude;
O could I love Thee better
And prove my gratitude.

3. In childlike, true obedience
Help me to do the right;
May precious be Thy statutes,
Thy yoke be pleasant light!
And when some hardship threatens,
A danger frightens me,
May Thou in all my trials
My present helper be.

4. Thy heart is all compassion,
With love it overflows;
Whate’er of ill betide me,
Thou knowest, and my woes.
Thou dost not sleep nor slumber,
By night nor thru the days;
Thine arms, almighty Father,
Enfold all time and space.

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #6938

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Author: Carolina Sandell

Caroline W. Sandell Berg (b. Froderyd, Sweden, 1832; d. Stockholm, Sweden, 1903), is better known as Lina Sandell, the "Fanny Crosby of Sweden." "Lina" Wilhelmina Sandell Berg was the daughter of a Lutheran pastor to whom she was very close; she wrote hymns partly to cope with the fact that she witnessed his tragic death by drowning. Many of her 650 hymns were used in the revival services of Carl O. Rosenius, and a number of them gained popularity particularly because of the musical settings written by gospel singer Oskar Ahnfelt. Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish soprano, underwrote the cost of publishing a collection of Ahnfelt's music, Andeliga Sänger (1850), which consisted mainly of Berg's hymn texts. Bert Polman Go to person page >

Translator: Carl O. Dahlen

Born: November 21, 1867, Jämtland, Sweden. Died: July 21, 1938, Joliet, Illinois. Buried: Riverside Cemetery, Moline, Illinois. After moving to America, Dahlen lived in Moline, Illinois, where he came to Christ in 1887. He studied at a Baptist seminary (1892-95, 1899) and the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. He went on to pastor at Swedish Baptist churches in Dalbo, Minnesota; Ishpeming, Michigan; Brockton, Massachusetts; Worthington, Fergus Falls, and Milaca, Minnesota; and Roseland, Chicago, and Joliet, Illinois. His works include: Solljus och Sång (Sunshine and Song) Ton… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Thou tender, gracious Father
Title:	O Tender, Gracious Father
Original Language:	Swedish
Author:	Carolina Sandell (1859)
Translator:	Carl O. Dahlen (1925)
Source:	The Covenant Hymnal (Covenant Publications, 1996)
Language:	English
Publication Date:	1925
Copyright:	Public Domain