Evening

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Omnipresent God, whose aid

Author: Charles Wesley
Published in 40 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Omnipresent God, whose aid
No one ever asked in vain,
Be this night about my bed,
Every evil thought restrain:

2 Lay Thy hand upon my soul,
God of my unguarded hours!
All my enemies control,
Hell, and earth, and nature's powers.

3 Loose me from the chains of sense,
Set me from the body free:
Draw with stronger influence
My unfettered soul to Thee.

4 In me, Lord, Thyself reveal,
Fill me with a sweet surprise;
Let me Thee, when waking, feel,
Let me in Thine image rise.

Source: The Book of Worship #197

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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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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Omnipresent God, whose aid
Title:	Evening
Author:	Charles Wesley
Meter:	7.7.7.7
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Omnipresent God, Whose aid. C. Wesley. [Evening.] Published in Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1749, vol. i., in 8 stanzas of 8 lines (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. v. p. 8). In the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, stanzas i., iv.-vi. were given as No. 278, and in the revised edition, 1875, stanzas vii., viii. were added thereto. In addition to these forms of the hymn the following centos are also in common use:—- (1) "Holiest Whose present might," stanzas i. and vi., altered in the American Unitarian Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, and others; and (2) "O Thou Holy God, come down," stanzas iv. and vi., in the American Unitarian Hymns of the Church of Christ, 1853; Beecher's Plymouth Collection, 1855, and others.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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