Be Thou My Guardian and My Guide

Lyrics

Be thou my guardian and my guide,
and hear me when I call;
let not my slippery footsteps slide,
and hold me lest I fall.

The world, the flesh, and Satan dwell
around the path I tread;
O save me from the snares of hell,
thou quickener of the dead.

And if I tempted am to sin,
and outward things are strong,
do thou, O Lord, keep watch within,
and save my soul from wrong.

Still let me ever watch and pray,
and feel that I am frail;
that if the tempter cross my way,
yet he may not prevail.

History

Be Thou My Guardian and My Guide was written by Isaac Williams (1802-1865), a poet and clergyman of the Oxford Movement. It first appeared in his Hymns on the Catechism (1842), in four stanzas of four lines, and according to Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology it is based on the petition in the Lord's Prayer, 'And lead us not into temptation.' That grounding gives the hymn its enduring themes: a prayer for protection amid temptation and for guidance along the Christian journey.

Williams was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Oxford, where he won the Latin verse prize, and became a student and disciple of John Keble. He served as curate to John Henry Newman at St Mary's, Oxford, and later at Bisley and Stinchcombe in Gloucestershire. Within the Oxford Movement he wrote Tracts 80 and 87, 'On Reserve in Communicating Religious Knowledge'. When he was suggested as Keble's successor to the Oxford Professorship of Poetry in 1841, his candidacy became controversial because of his Tractarian associations, and he withdrew his name.

The hymn was originally written in the plural; it was changed to the singular throughout, as in Hymns Ancient & Modern (revised edition, 1875), the form generally sung today. Hymnary.org records its publication in 39 hymnals in Great Britain and America.

Performance

The usual tune for this hymn is ABRIDGE, by Isaac Smith (1734-1805), first published in his A Collection of Psalm Tunes about 1770. It is a common-metre tune recorded in some 190 hymnals, and Be Thou My Guardian and My Guide is among the texts most often paired with it; hymnals have also set the words to BALLERMA. Liturgically, the hymn's petition against temptation makes it a natural choice for Lent, and it has also been associated with Confirmation. Its short, singable common-metre stanzas suit unison congregational singing.

Sources: hymnary.org · en.wikipedia.org