A Charge to Keep I Have

A charge to keep I have

Author: Charles Wesley (1762)
Tune: BOYLSTON
Published in 1151 hymnals

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Full Text

1 A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify!
A never-dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky;

2 From youth to hoary age,
My calling to fulfil;
O may it all my powers engage
To do my Master's will.

3 Arm me with jealous care,
As in Thy sight to live;
And, O Thy servant, Lord, prepare
A strict account to give.

4 Help me to watch and pray,
And on Thyself rely;
Assured, if I my trust betray,
I shall for ever die.

Hymnal: according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, 1871

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Author: Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, the son of Samuel Wesley, was born at Epworth, Dec. 18, 1707. He was educated at Westminster School and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. In 1735, he took Orders and immediately proceeded with his brother John to Georgia, both being employed as missionaries of the S.P.G. He returned to England in 1736. For many years he engaged with his brother in preaching the Gospel. He died March 29, 1788. To Charles Wesley has been justly assigned the appellation of the "Bard of Methodism." His prominence in hymn writing may be judged from the fact that in the "Wesleyan Hymn Book," 623 of the 770 hymns were written by him; and he published more than thirty poetical works, written either by himself alone,… Go to person page >

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Text Information

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First Line: A charge to keep I have
Title: A Charge to Keep I Have
Author: Charles Wesley (1762)
Meter: 6.6.8.6
Language: English
Publication Date: 1833
Copyright: This text in in the public domain in the United States because it was published before 1923.
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Notes

A charge to keep I have. C. Wesley. [Personal Responsibility.] First published in his Short Hymns on Select Passages of Holy Scripture, 1762, vol. i.. No. 188, in 2 stanzas of 8 lines and based on Lev. viii. 35. It was omitted from the second edition of the Short Hymns, &c, 1794, but included in the Wesleyan Hymn Book 1780, and in the P. Works of J. & C. Wesley, 1868-72, vol. ix., pp. 60, 61. Its use has been most extensive both in Great Britain and America, and usually it is given in an unaltered form, as in the Wesleyan Hymn Book No. 318; and the Evangelical Hymnal, New York, No. 320. The line, "From youth to hoary age," in the American Protestant Episcopal Hymnal No. 474, is from the American Prayer Book Collection, 1826.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Media

The United Methodist Hymnal #413
Worship and Rejoice #588
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Instances

Instances (33)TextImageAudioScore
The National Hymn Book of the American Churches: comprising the hymns which are common to the hymnaries of the Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians... #58Image
The Oxford Hymn Book #178
Hymns of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, as authorized by the General Convention: with an additional selection #179Image
Hymnal of the Church of God #208
The Hymnbook #301
Hymns Ancient & Modern, Revised #328
The Mennonite Hymnal #351
Baptist Hymnal 1956 #358
The Hymnary of the United Church of Canada #362
The Hymnary for use in Baptist churches #362
Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church #393
The United Methodist Hymnal #413TextImageAudioScore
Hymns Ancient & Modern, New Edition #432
Methodist Hymn-Book #441Image
African American Heritage Hymnal #468Image
Hymnal and Canticles of the Protestant Episcopal Church with Music (Gilbert & Goodrich) #474b
Hymnal: according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America : Revised edition (1874) #474Image
Hymnal and Canticles of the Protestant Episcopal Church with Music (Gilbert & Goodrich) #474a
Hymnal: according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America #474Text
Australian Hymn Book #487
Church Hymnal, Mennonite: a Collection of Hymns and Sacred Songs ... 1st ed. [with Deutscher Anhang] #488
Church Hymnal, Mennonite: a Collection of Hymns and Sacred Songs ... 1st ed. [with Deutscher Anhang] #489
Hymns for the Living Church #496TextImage
The Hymnal : published in 1895 and revised in 1911 by authority of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America : with the supplement of 1917 #496Image
The Hymnal, Revised and Enlarged, as adopted by the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America in the year of our Lord 1892 #501TextImage
The Church Hymnal: revised and enlarged in accordance with the action of the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America in the year of our Lord 1892. (Ed. B) #501Image
Together in Song: Australian Hymn Book II #573
Worship and Rejoice #588TextImageAudioScore
The Book of Praise #593
Baptist Hymnal 2008 #596TextImage
Celebrating Grace Hymnal #623Image
The Worshiping Church #659TextImage
Hymns Ancient & Modern, Standard Edition #702
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