The Christian — Guidance and Protection

O, tell me, thou life and delight of my soul

No. 779
Metre 11s & 10s. P.
Tune STILL WATER.
Words Thomas Hastings.
Music Thomas Hastings.
Key D major
Singing key C major
Time 3/4
5 stanzas

Words

O, tell me, thou life and delight of my soul,Where the flock of thy pasture are feeding:I seek thy protection, I need thy control;I would go where my Shepherd is leading.

O, tell me the place where the flock are at rest,Where the noontide will find them reposing;The tempest now rages, my soul is distressed,And the pathway of peace I am losing.

And why should I stray with the flocks of thy foes,In the desert where now they are roving;Where hunger and thirst, where contentions and woes,Where fierce conflicts their ruin are proving?

Ah, when shall my woes and my wandering cease,And the follies that fill me with weeping?O Shepherd of Israel, restore me that peaceThou dost give to the flock thou art keeping!

A voice from the Shepherd now bids me returnBy the way where the footprints are lying;No longer to wander, no longer to mourn;And homeward my spirit is flying

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «THE CHRISTIAN—GUIDANCE AND PROTECTION.»; hymn number «779» (large, left), tune name «STILL WATER. 11s & 10s.» centred over the music (condensed display capitals) followed by a small «P.», «THOMAS HASTINGS.» at the right (capitals and small capitals). No reference line is printed. Stanza 1 is interlinear, between the staves, one line per system, with «1.» before «O,»: «O, tell me, thou life and de - light of my soul, Where the» / «flock of thy pas - ture are feed - ing: I seek thy pro - tec - tion, I» / «need thy con - trol; I would go where my Shep - herd is lead - ing.» Stanzas 2–4 are printed as text in the left column below the music and stanza 5 at the top of the right column, followed by «Thomas Hastings.» in italics; hymn 780 follows in the right column. The long verses are broken for the column width («flock are / at rest,», «re- / posing;», «dis- / tressed,», «flocks / of thy foes,», «rov- / ing;», «conten- / tions and woes,», «are / proving?», «wander- / ing cease,», «weep- / ing?», «that / peace», «art / keeping!», «bids me / return», «are / lying;»); they are joined here, one verse per line, and the words divided at the line end are written whole. The stanza numbers of the text stanzas are printed without a full stop («2 O, tell»); they are numbered «2.»–«5.» here like stanza 1. Lines 2 and 4 of each text stanza are indented in the print. The printer's thin space before «;», «?» and «!» («reposing ;», «proving ?», «keeping !») is closed up here. Stanza 4, line 3 ends «that peace» and stanza 5, line 4 ends «flying» with no punctuation — as printed. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.