A Watchful Spirit

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Jesus, my Savior, Brother, Friend

Author: Charles Wesley
Published in 85 hymnals

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Representative Text

1 Jesus, my Saviour, Brother, Friend,
On whom I cast my every care,
On whom for all things I depend,
Inspire, and then accept, my prayer.

2 If I have tasted of Thy grace,
The grace that sure salvation brings,
If with me now Thy Spirit stays,
And hovering hides me in His wings,

3 Still let Him with my weakness stay,
Nor for a moment's space depart;
Evil and danger turn away,
And keep till He renews my heart.

4 When to the right or left I stray,
His voice behind me may I hear,
"Return, and walk in Christ, thy way;
Fly back to Christ; for sin is near."

5 His sacred unction from above
Be still my comforter and guide;
Till all the hardness He remove,
And in my loving heart reside.

6 Jesus, I fain would walk in Thee,
From nature's every path retreat;
Thou art my Way, my Leader be,
And set upon the rock my feet.

7. Uphold me, Saviour, or I fall;
O reach me out Thy gracious hand!
Only on Thee for help I call,
Only by faith in Thee I stand.

Source: Methodist Hymn and Tune Book: official hymn book of the Methodist Church #75

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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:	Jesus, my Savior, Brother, Friend
Title:	A Watchful Spirit
Author:	Charles Wesley
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Jesu, my Saviour, Brother, Friend. C. Wesley. [Jesus All in All.] First published in Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1742, p. 214, in 15 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed "Watch in all things" (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. ii. p. 271). In 1780 J. Wesley divided stanzas i.-xi. into two hymns, and gave them in the Wesleyan Hymn Book as (1) "Jesu, my Saviour, Brother, Friend" (No. 303); and (2) "Pierce, fill me with an humble fear" (No. 304). This arrangement is repeated in the revised edition, 1875, and other collections. In several American Unitarian hymn-books the first part is altered to "Great God, my Father, and my friend"; and in some Presbyterian collections as "Great God, our Father, and our Friend"; but the use of these forms has not extended to Great Britain; neither has that in the American Methodist Episcopal Hymns, 1849, No. 586, which is composed of stanzas vi. vii., and begins "Jesu, I fain would walk in Thee." In the American Methodist Episcopal Hymns, 1849, Pt. ii. begins, "Lord, fill me with an humble fear."

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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