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My Help Cometh From the Lord

To the hills I lift mine eyes, The everlasting hills

Author: Charles Wesley
Published in 66 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 To the hills I lift my eyes,
the everlasting hills.
Streaming forth in fresh supplies,
my soul the Spirit feels;
will he not his help afford?
Help, while yet I ask, is giv'n;
God comes down, the God and Lord
who made both earth and heav'n.

2 Faithful soul, pray, always pray,
and still in God confide;
he your stumbling steps shall stay,
and shall not let you slide;
safe from known or secret roes,
free from sin and Satan's hold,
when the flesh, earth, hell oppose,
he'll keep you in his fold.

3 See the Lord, your keeper, stand
omnipotently near.
Now he holds you by the hand,
and banishes your fear;
shadows with his wings your head,
guards from all impending harms;
round you and beneath are spread
the everlasting arms.

4 Christ shall bless your going out,
shall bless your coming in;
kindly compass you about,
till you are saved from sin.
Like your spotless Master, you,
filled with wisdom, love, and pow'r,
holy, pure, and perfect now,
both now and evermore.

Source: Moravian Book of Worship #729

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 >

Text Information

First Line: To the hills I lift mine eyes, The everlasting hills
Title: My Help Cometh From the Lord
Author: Charles Wesley
Meter: 7.6.7.6.7.7.7.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

To the hills I lift mine eyes. C. Wesley. [Ps. cxxi.] Published in Psalms & Hymns, 1743, in 6 stanzas of 8 lines. (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. viii., p. 235). In A. M. Toplady's Psalms & Hymns, 1776, stanzas i., ii. and iv. were given with alterations, as No. 227. This cento has gone out of use. The following arrangements of the text are in several modern hymn-books:—
1. To the hills I lift my eyes. This, with the omission of stanzas v., was given in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1800, as one of the additional hymns. It is in the revised edition, 1875, and other collections.
2. See the Lord, thy Keeper, stand. This in Martineau's Hymns, &c, 1873, is composed of stanzas iv., vi. 11. 1-4; iii. 11. 5-8, altered.
3. God shall bless thy going out. In the American Unitarian Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853, No. 74, and later American collections. It is composed of stanzas vi. lines 1-4, and stanzas ii. 11. 5-8, altered.
This version ranks with the best of C. Wesley's renderings of the Psalms.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

AMSTERDAM (Foundery Collection)

Variation of Hille's SERVICE. For more tune info, see "Hymn Tune Index" (http://hymntune.library.illinois.edu) 1648a-d. Note how attributions to James Nares don't appear until after 1820.

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RICHMOND (11112)


SEPARATION (15135)


Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #6877
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 3 of 3)

A Selection of Plain Tunes, Set Pieces, and Anthems from Indian Melodies #38

TextPage Scan

Moravian Book of Worship #729

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #6877

Include 63 pre-1979 instances
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