Word of God
Lamp of Our Feet
- Words:
- Bernard Barton, 1826. Music: 'St. Agnes' John B. Dykes, 1866.
- Setting:
- "Hymnal and Canticles of the Protestant Episcopal Church", 1875.
- Metre:
- 8 6 8 6
- 1Lamp of our feet! whereby we traceOur path, when wont to stray;Stream from the fount of heav'nly grace!Brook by the trav'ler's way!
- 2Bread of our souls! whereon we feed;True manna from on high!Our guide, and chart wherein we readOf realms beyond the sky.
- 3Pillar of fire‐ through watches dark!Or radiant cloud by day!When waves would whelm our tossing bark‐Our anchor and our stay!
- 4Pole‐ star on life's tempestuous deep!Beacon! when doubts surround;Compass! by which our course we keep;Our deep sea‐ lead, to sound!
- 5Riches in poverty! our aidIn every needful hour!Unshaken rock! the pilgrim's shade;The soldier's fortress tow'r.
- 6Our shield and buckler in the fight!Vict'ry's triumphant palm!Comfort in grief! in weakness, might!In sickness, Gilead's balm.
- 7Childhood's preceptor! manhood's trust!Old age's firm ally!Our hope\-when we go down to dust,Of immortality.
- 8Pure oracles of truth divine!Unlike each fabled dreamGiven forth from Delphos' mystic shrineOr groves of Academe!
- 9Word of the ever-living God!Will of His glorious Son!Without Thee, how could earth be trod?Or Heaven itself be won?
- 10Yet to unfold thy hidden worth,Thy mysteries to reveal,That Spirit which first gave thee forth,Thy volume must unseal!
- 11And we, if we aright would learnThe wisdom it imparts,Must to its heavenly teaching turnWith simple, child-like hearts!
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In the hymnals
- Written in 1826, the words are in 299 hymnals indexed by Hymnary.org. Their history →
- The tune, St Agnes, is in 1,327 hymnals. The tune →
Words, music and setting are in the public domain. The score is from the Open Hymnal Project (Brian J. Dumont), which places its own work in the public domain. Further sheet music is from PDHymns.com. The piano is the FluidR3 General MIDI sound font (MIT licence). How many hymnals print a hymn, and when it was written, is from Hymnary.org.