Thou art my Sun,

And Thou my Shade,

To guard my head

By night or noon.

4 Hast Thou not given Thy word
To save my soul from death?
And I can trust my Lord

To keep my mortal breath.

I'll go and come,
Nor fear to die,

Till from on high

Thou call me home.

Watts. 1719.

Nor doubt my inmost wants are known
To Him who chose me for His own.

4 Thou know'st when joyful hours are best,
And send'st them as Thou seest it meet:
When I have borne the fiery test,

And am made free from all deceit,

Thou comest to me all unaware,
And makest me own Thy loving care.

5 Help me to swerve not from Thy ways,
But do my own part faithfully,
And trust Thy promises of grace,

That they may be fulfilled in me.
Thou never wilt forsake at need
The soul that trusts in Thee indeed.

456

1

2

From Miss Winkworth. 1855.
Tr. George Neumarck. 1653.

AWAY, my needless fears,
And doubts no longer mine!

A ray of heavenly light appears,
A messenger divine.

Thrice comfortable hope,
That calms my stormy breast;

My Father's hand prepares the cup,
And what He wills is best.

S. M.

454

7,6.

452

1 IN holy contemplation

We sweetly now pursue
The theme of God's salvation,
And find it ever new.
Set free from present sorrow,
We cheerfully can say,
Let the unknown to-morrow
Bring with it what it may.

2 Tt can bring with it nothin
Thy will they all perform;
Safe in Thy breast my head I hide,
Nor fear the coming storm.

4

Let good or ill befall,

It must be good for me;
Secure of having Thee in all,
Of having all in Thee.

Henry Francis Lyte. 1834.

PSALM 121.

1 UPWARD I lift mine eyes;
From God is all my aid;
The God who built the skies,
And earth and nature made.

God is the Tower

To which I fly;

H. M.

His grace is nigh
In every hour.

2 My feet shall never slide
And fall in fatal snares,

Since God, my Guard and Guide,
Defends me from my fears.

Those wakeful eyes

That never sleep

Shall Israel keep
When dangers rise.

3 No burning heats by day,
Nor blasts of evening air,
Shall take my health away,
If God be with me there.

2 What can our anxious cares avail,
Our never-ceasing moans and sighs?
What can it help us to bewail

Each painful moment as it flies?
Our cross and trials do but press
The heavier for our bitterness.

3 Help me my restless heart to still,
And wait in cheerful hope, content
To take whate'er Thy gracious Will,

Thy all-discerning Love, hath sent;
Nor doubt my inmost wants are known
To Him who chose me for His own.

4 Thou know'st when joyful hours are best,
And send'st them as Thou seest it meet:
When I have borne the fiery test,

And am made free from all deceit,

Thou comest to me all unaware,

And makest me own Thy loving care.

5 Help me to swerve not from Thy ways,
But do my own part faithfully,
And trust Thy promises of grace,
That they may be fulfilled in me.
Thou never wilt forsake at need
The soul that trusts in Thee indeed.

456

1

2

From Miss Winkworth. 1855.
Tr. George Neumarck. 1653.

AWAY, my needless fears,
And doubts no longer mine!

A ray of heavenly light appears,
A messenger divine.

Thrice comfortable hope,

That calms my stormy breast;

My Father's hand prepares the cup,
And what He wills is best.

S. M.

3

4

He knows whate'er I want;
He sees my helplessness,

And always readier is to grant

Than I to ask His grace.

My feeble heart He reads,
Secures my soul from harms,
And underneath His mercy spreads
Its everlasting arms.

5 Here is firm footing; here,
My soul, is solid rock,

6

457

1

2

To break the waves of grief and fear,
And trouble's rudest shock:

This only can sustain

When earth and heaven remove:

O turn thee to thy Rest again,

Thy God's eternal Love!

C. Wesley. 1749.

Befehl du deine Wege.

COMMIT thou all thy griefs
And ways into His hands,
To His sure Truth and tender care,

S. M.

Who earth and heaven commands:
Who points the clouds their course,
Whom winds and seas obey,

He shall direct thy wandering feet,
He shall prepare thy way.

Thou on the Lord rely,

So safe shalt thou go on;

Fix on His work thy steadfast eye,
So shall thy work be done.

No profit canst thou gain
By self-consuming care;

To Him commend thy cause; His ear
Attends the softest prayer.

458

3

4

Thy everlasting Truth,

Father, Thy ceaseless Love,

Sees all Thy children's wants, and knows
What best for each will prove.
And whatsoe'er Thou will'st,
Thou dost, O King of kings!
What Thy unerring Wisdom chose,
Thy Power to being brings.

Thou every where hast way,
And all things serve Thy might;
Thy every act pure blessing is,
Thy path unsullied light.

When Thou arisest, Lord,

What shall Thy work withstand? When all Thy children want Thou giv'st, Who, who shall stay Thy hand?

John Wesley. 1739.

Tr. Paul Gerhardt. 1659.

Continued.

GIVE to the winds thy fears,

Hope, and be undismayed;

S. M.

God hears thy sighs, and counts thy tears,
God shall lift up thy head.

Through waves and clouds and storms
He gently clears thy way:

Wait Thou His time, so shall this night
Soon end in joyous day.

2 Still heavy is thy heart?

Still sink thy spirits down?

Cast off the weight, let fear depart,
And every care be gone.

What though thou rulest not?
Yet heaven and earth and hell

Proclaim, God sitteth on the throne,
And ruleth all things well!