Be Thou my Guardian and my Guide

Author: Isaac Williams

Isaac Williams was born in London, in 1802. His father was a barrister. The son studied at Trinity College, Oxford, where he gained the prize for Latin verse. He graduated B.A. 1826, M.A. 1831, and B.D. 1839. He was ordained Deacon in 1829, and Priest in 1831. His clerical appointments were Windrush (1829), S. Mary the Virgin's, Oxford (1832), and Bisley (1842-1845). He was Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, from 1832 to 1842. During the last twenty years of his life his health was so poor as to permit but occasional ministerial services. He died in 1865. He was the author of some prose writings, amongst which are Nos. 80, 86 and 87 of the "Oxford Tracts." His commentaries are favourably known. He also published quite a large num… Go to person page >

Be Thou our [my] Guardian and our [my] Guide. J. Williams. [Divine Guidance sought.] Appeared in his Hymns on the Catechism, 1842, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines It is based on the petition in the Lord's Prayer, "And lead us not into temptation." In some collections it is changed from the plural to the singular throughout, as in Hymns Ancient & Modern, revised edition, 1875, No. 282, &c. It is given in several collections in Great Britain and America.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)