Bible Songs — Miscellaneous

Keep the Helm Steady!

O Christian, on the billow of life's sea,

No. 1206
Tune KEEP THE HELM STEADY!
Words F. E. B.
Music F. E. Belden.
Key E-flat major
Singing key E♭ major
Time 4/4
3 stanzas

Words

O Christian, on the billow of life's sea,Think not a downy pillow thine can be;First brave the roaring tempest, fierce and long,Then gain the quiet harbor with a song!

Chorus.

Keep the helm steady on your upward way,—Watchful and ready ev'ry day;Keep the helm steady! Jesus gives command,He is the Pilot to the better land.

Jesus, the faithful Pilot, has command;Firm, at the helm of duty, we must stand.He knows the reefs of danger lying near,He tells the Christian sailor where to steer.

Peaceful the voyage, or stormy, God knows best,Sure is the precious promise,—home and rest.On! bravely onward, then, no more opprest!On! till you anchor in the harbor blest.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1206» (large) at the left, title «KEEP THE HELM STEADY!» centred (capitals and small capitals); under it two Scripture epigraphs (given below), the first running over two lines with its reference «—Heb. 3 : 14.» at the left of the second line; «F. E. B.» (the words) at the left and «F. E. BELDEN.» (the music, capitals and small capitals) at the right above system 1; «CHORUS.» in bold capitals above system 3; «Copyrighted 1886 by F. E. Belden,» (ending with a comma) centred under the music, folio «424» below it. No meter, no tune name other than the title, no reference line, no running head. The three stanzas are interlinear under the melody staff of systems 1–2, numbered «1.»–«3.» in system 1; the CHORUS is printed once, under the treble staff of systems 3–4, and is sung after every stanza. Each printed line of words carries two verse lines; they are given here one verse line per line. Italics as printed: «Then» (stanza 1) and «we» (stanza 2). The print sets a thin space before «;», «!» and before the «!» of the title; it is closed up here. «voyage,or» is set without a space after the comma (tight line) and is written «voyage, or»; «promise,—home» has a short dash after the comma (compressed line), written as the book's comma-dash «,—» (as «way,—» in the chorus). Words divided under the notes are joined («Chris-tian», «bil - low», «down-y», «pil - low», «Je - sus», «Pi-lot», «du - ty», «qui - et», «har-bor», «ly - ing», «brave - ly», «stead - y», «ev - 'ry», «Pi - lot», «bet - ter»). Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's («opprest», «ev'ry»); apostrophes and quotation marks are written straight.