To Thine eternal arms, O God

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To Thine eternal arms, O God

Author: Thomas W. Higginson (1847)
Published in 42 hymnals

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Representative Text

1 To Thine eternal arms, O God,
Take us, Thine erring children, in;
From dangerous paths too boldly trod,
From wandering thoughts and dreams of sin.

2 Those arms were round our childhood's ways,
A guard through helpless years to be;
O leave not our maturer days!
We still are helpless without Thee.

We trusted hope and pride and strength;
Our strength proved false, our pride was vain,
Our dreams have faded all at length —
We come to Thee, O Lord, again!

A guide to trembling steps yet be!
Give us of Thine eternal powers!
So shall our paths all lead to Thee,
And life still smile, like childhood’s hours.

Amen.

Source: The Hymnal #90

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Author: Thomas W. Higginson

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, M.A., was born at Cambridge, U.S.A., Dec. 22, 1823, and educated at Harvard. From 1847 to 1850 he was Pastor of an Unitarian Church at Newburyport, and from 1852 to 1858 at Worcester. In 1858 he retired from the Ministry, and devoted himself to literature. During the Rebellion he was colonel of the first negro regiment raised in South Carolina. In addition to being for some time a leading contributor to the Atlantic Monthly, he published Outdoor Papers, 1863; Malbone, 1869; and other works. During his residence at the Harvard Divinity School he contributed the following hymns to Longfellow and Johnson's Book of Hymns, 1846:— 1. No human eyes Thy face may see. God known through love. 2. The land our fathe… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	To Thine eternal arms, O God
Author:	Thomas W. Higginson (1847)
Source:	Book of Hymns
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Tune

FEDERAL STREET

Henry Kemble Oliver (b. Beverly, MA, 1800; d. Salem, MA, 1885) composed FEDERAL STREET in 1832, possibly as an imitation of earlier psalm tunes in long meter. He took it to a music class taught by Lowell Mason (who may have contributed to the harmony); Mason (PHH 96) published it in his Boston Acade…

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SYMPATHY (Basford)

MELCOMBE (Webbe)

Also known as: ST. PHILIPS BENEDICTION GRANTON NAZARETH MELCOMBE was first used as an anonymous chant tune (with figured bass) in the Roman Catholic Mass and was published in 1782 in An Essay on the Church Plain Chant. It was first ascribed to Samuel Webbe (the elder; b. London, England, 1740; d.…

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