Safety and Security in the Arms of Jesus

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God of my life, whose gracious power

Author: Charles Wesley
Published in 155 hymnals

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Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 God of my life, whose gracious power
Through various deaths my soul hath led;
Or turned aside the fatal hour,
Or lifted up my sinking head:

2 In all my ways Thy hand I own,
Thy ruling Providence I see:
O help me still my course to run,
And still direct my path to Thee.

3 Whither, O whither should I fly
But to my loving Savior's breast?
Secure within Thine arms to lie,
And safe beneath Thy wings to rest!

4 I have no skill the snare to shun,
But Thou, O Christ, my Wisdom art!
I ever into ruin run:
But Thou art greater than my heart.

5 Foolish, and impotent, and blind,
Lead me a way I have not known;
Bring me where I my heaven may find,
The heaven of loving Thee alone.

6 Enlarge my heart to make Thee room;
Enter, and in me ever stay:
The crooked then shall straight become;
The darkness shall be lost in day.

Source: Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-book #332

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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 >

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First Line:	God of my life, whose gracious power
Title:	Safety and Security in the Arms of Jesus
Author:	Charles Wesley
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

God of my life, Whose gracious power. G. Wesley. [Lent—In Temptation.] First published in Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1740, in 15 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, "At the Approach of Temptation" (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. i. p. 322). From it the following centos have come into common use:—
1. The Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1180, No. 280 (new edition 1875, No. 289), which is composed of stanzas i., ii., v., vi., ix., xi., xiv., xv. This is in several Methodist collections.
2. The New Congregational Hymn Book, 1859, No. 665, consisting of stanzas i., ii., v., vi., ix.
3. Kennedy, 1863, No. 180, consisting of stanzas i., ii., vi., ix., xi., xiv.
4. The Leeds Hymn Book, 1853, No. 241, consisting of stanzas i., ii., ix., xi., xiv. This is repeated in the Hymns of the Spirit, Boston, U.S.A., 1864; the Unitarian Hymn [and Tune] Book, Boston, 1868, and other American collections.
Of these four centos the last is the most widely used. In his Methodist Hymn Book Notes, 1883, p. 218, Mr. Stevenson has an interesting anecdotal note on the Wesleyan Hymn Book cento.