Gracious Father, Guard Thy Children

Gracious Father, Guard Thy Children

Text is Anonymous

Sung to the hymn tune ELLESDIE, arranged from Mozart in 1873 by Hubert P. Main (1839-1926)

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Jude 24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy....

V. 1 Gracious Father, guard Thy children

From the foe's destructive power;

Save, O save them, Lord, from falling

In this dark and trying hour.

Thou wilt surely prove Thy people,

All our graces must be tried;

But Thy word illumes our pathway,

And in God we still confide.

Psalm 60:4 But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow.

1 Corinthians 1:7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

Colossians 3:24 ...since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

V. 2 We are in the time of waiting;

Soon we shall behold our Lord,

Wafted far away from sorrow,

To receive our rich reward.

Keep us, Lord, till Thine appearing,

Pure, unspotted from the world;

Let Thy Holy spirit cheer us

Till Thy banner is unfurled.

Leviticus 25:10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. 

John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Romans 8:2 ...because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 

V. 3 With what joyful exultation

Shall the saints Thy banner see,

When the Lord for whom we've waited

Shall proclaim the jubilee!

Freedom from this world's pollutions;

Freedom from all sin and pain;

Freedom from the wiles of Satan,

And from death's destructive reign.