Bible Songs — Miscellaneous

Saviour, Saviour, be my guide

No. 1230
Tune KEEP ME.
Words F. E. Belden.
Music D. S. Hakes.
Key A-flat major
Singing key G♭ major
Time 4/4
3 stanzas

Words

Saviour, Saviour, be my guide,For the way is dark and drear;Keep me ever near thy side,I am pressed by doubt and fear.Sorrows deep, and ills betide;O my faint petition hear!Come, and in my heart abide,O forever be thou near!

Chorus.

Keep me in the narrow way,Keep me in the narrow way,Guide me, guide me ev'ry day;Guide me, guide me ev'ry day;Let me never, never stray,Let me never, never stray,Keep me, Blessed One, I pray.

I am wayward, I am weak,Often falls the bitter tear;To my soul sweet comfort speak,As my helper, Lord, appear.Make me pure, and make me strong,And thy precepts to revere;Fill my heart with joy and song,Give my spirit hope and cheer.

Keep me, Saviour of my soul,Day by day, thro' ev'ry year;Self I yield to thy control,In my heart thy standard rear.O impart thy peace divine;To my prayer now lend thine ear;Own me as a child of thine,Keep me, keep me, Saviour dear.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1230» (large, left), title «KEEP ME.» centred (condensed capitals with larger initials); under it the epigraph in three lines, «"The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."—Phil. 4 : 7. "Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator."—1 Pet. 4 : 19.», with «in well doing,» in bold italics (the references in old-style figures); «F. E. BELDEN.» at the left (words) and «D. S. HAKES.» at the right (music), capitals and small capitals. No meter, no reference line and no running head are printed (stanzas 7.7.7.7 D, trochaic). The three stanzas are interlinear, numbered «1.»–«3.» in system 1, in systems 1–4 of p. 448; «CHORUS.» stands over system 5 and the chorus is printed once, its words once: the upper row «Keep me in the nar-row way, Guide me, guide me ev-'ry» at the foot of p. 448 and «day; Let me never, nev-er stray, Keep me, Blessed One, I pray.» in the first system of p. 449 under the heading «KEEP ME.—Concluded.»; a second, lower row carries the echo of the tenor and bass, «Keep me in the narrow way, Guide me, guide me» / «ev'ry day; Let me never, never stray,» (indented below). The chorus is sung after every stanza. «Copyrighted 1880 by J. E. White.» is printed under the music of p. 448, above the folio «448». Words divided under the notes are joined («Sav-iour», «way-ward», «Oft-en», «bit-ter», «ev-'ry», «ev-er», «com-fort», «con-trol», «help-er», «ap-pear», «stand-ard», «Sor-rows», «be-tide», «pe-ti-tion», «im-part», «di-vine», «pre-cepts», «re-vere», «a-bide», «for-ev-er», «spir-it», «nar-row», «nev-er» → «Saviour», «wayward», «Often», «bitter», «ev'ry», «ever», «comfort», «control», «helper», «appear», «standard», «Sorrows», «betide», «petition», «impart», «divine», «precepts», «revere», «abide», «forever», «spirit», «narrow», «never»); the divisions are in `lyrics_syllables.txt`. Each stanza is set in its eight verse lines (the print runs two verse lines on one staff line). The print sets a thin space before «;», «:» and «!» («drear ;», «hear !», «day ;», «4 : 7.»); it is closed up here in the verses. Apostrophes are written straight («thro'», «ev'ry»). Spelling («Saviour», «thro'», «ev'ry»), punctuation and capitals are the print's.