Dependence

Unto Thee I cry,

Light of the world! Star of the cloudless day!

Before me mists like mountains veil the sky:

Chase Thou the gloom away.

On my pathway shine.

Turn into glorious day the face of night;

That I may trace Thy footprints, Lord Divine,

O say, “Let there be light.”

If one step I take

Onward amid the gloom I cannot tell

Where I may wander—O, for Thy name’s sake,

Guard me from angels fell.

On my wakeful ear

Discordant sounds of conflict darkly break;

My feeble heart within me melts with fear—

For my salvation wake.

I have none but Thee

To turn to in my spirit’s dire distress;

Poor, frail, and faint I am, O guide Thou me

In paths of righteousness.

For infernal powers

Would drive me far from life’s unsullied way,

To paths rebellious where destruction towers,

And starless night holds sway.

At the fearsome noise

And bruit of battle melts my trembling soul:

O let me bear Thy spirit-stirring voice

Where fiery chariots roll.

If I feel Thy hand

About me in the battle I am strong;

By Thy side surely sheltered I shall stand

Amid the struggling throng.

Thou hast gone before.

Thou callest me, Thy well-known voice I hear.

Where wild wolves raven and where lions roar,

O let me feel Thee near.

In the battlefield,

And in the forefront of the fiercest fight,

Thy favour shall my shelter be and shield,

My glory and my might.

Thou hast died for me,

Thou wilt not leave me, Thou wilt not forsake

Thy blood-redeemed, bearing reproach for Thee,

Abhorred for Thy name’s sake.

Guard me night and day

From human wisdom, from the fleshly mind,

From confidence in self; the perfect way

Give me, O Lord, to find.

Till my feet shall stand

Within the palaces of peace and love,

The courts of heaven, that empyrean land,

God’s dwelling-place above;

And till all is o’er.

The journey, and the desert, and the fight;

Discord, and danger, and for evermore

I walk with Thee in white.