Christ My Song - 1706
Rule thou my portion, Lord; my skill - Trust in God
(Christian Fürchtegott Gellert/Henry Mills/
Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
Trust in God.
1. Rule thou my portion, Lord; my skill
I could not trust to guide it:
to my Creator's gracious will
I cheerfully confide it;
thou by whose hands
all nature stands,
through all the days decreed me,
my God and Father, lead me! PDF - Midi
2. Thou sawest from Eternity
how much would best befit me;
didst fix what here my days should be,
what joys and griefs should meet me.
Why shrink my heart?
Wouldst thou have part
in faith's rich blessings tendered,
without faith's service rendered?
3. Thou knowest, Lord, my every want,
and, ere my prayer is pleaded,
art ready my requests to grant,
as wisdom sees 't is needed.
Thy love to me
is fatherly: –
be not my wish the measure,
but, Father, thy good pleasure.
4. Full oft a course of wished success
prepares for sorrows – firmer
than any wrought by such distress
at which we're prone to murmur.
From earthly grief
death brings relief, –
while cherished idols – failing,
then bring remorse and wailing.
5. What 't is that forms our highest good,
all know who wish to hear it:
nor honours, wealth, nor pamp'ring food
can cheer the deathless spirit:
but if thy Word
we will regard,
we hence may pleasures borrow,
to sweeten every sorrow.
6. What is life's glory here below?
Soon it will all have vanished.
What is the grief we suffer now?
'T will soon be ever banished.
Trust in the Lord!
for his reward
to endless glory raises, –
ye righteous, sing his praises!
Henry Mills, Horæ Germanicæ, 1856, hymn 87.
Translated from the German Auf Gott, und nicht auf meinen Rat - Vertrauen auf Gottes Vorsehung
of Christian Fürchtegott Gellert.