The Pilgrim's Song

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Leader of faithful souls, and Guide

Author: Charles Wesley
Published in 92 hymnals

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1 Leader of faithful souls, and Guide
Of all who travel to the sky,
Come, and with us, even us, abide,
Who would on Thee alone rely;
On Thee alone our spirits stay,
While held in life's uneven way.

2 Strangers and pilgrims here below,
This earth, we know is not our place;
But hasten through the vale of woe,
And, restless to behold Thy face,
Swift to our heavenly country move,
Our everlasting home above.

3 We've no abiding city here,
But seek a city out of sight;
Thither our steady course we steer,
Aspiring to the plains of light,
Jerusalem, the saints' abode,
Whose founder is the living God.

4 Through Thee, who all our sins hast borne,
Freely and graciously forgiven,
With songs to Zion we return,
Contending for our native heaven,
That palace of our glorious King,
We find it nearer while we sing.

5 Raised by the breath of love divine,
We urge our way with strength renewed;
The church of the first-born to join,
We travel to the mount of God;
With joy upon our heads arise,
And meet our Captain in the skies.

Source: Methodist Hymn and Tune Book: official hymn book of the Methodist Church #561

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Author: Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, M.A. was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, and was born at Epworth Rectory, Dec. 18, 1707. In 1716 he went to Westminster School, being provided with a home and board by his elder brother Samuel, then usher at the school, until 1721, when he was elected King's Scholar, and as such received his board and education free. In 1726 Charles Wesley was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1729, and became a college tutor. In the early part of the same year his religious impressions were much deepene… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Leader of faithful souls, and Guide
Title:	The Pilgrim's Song
Author:	Charles Wesley
Meter:	8.8.8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Leader of faithful souls, and Guide. C. Wesley. [The Christian Race.] Appeared in Hymns for those that Seek, and, those that Have Redemption, 1747, No. 41, in 8 st.anzas of 6 lines, and entitled "The Traveller" (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. iv. p. 262). In 1776, Toplady included 7 stanzas in his Psalms & Hymns as No. 269, and from thence it passed into various collections of the Church of England, including Bickersteth's Christian Psalmody, 1833, and others. As found in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, No. 69, and later editions, and in the collections of other Methodist bodies, stanzas v. and vii. are omitted. Its American use is great.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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