Hymn: “O Jesus, I Have Promised” by John E. Bode

 

Lyrics & short biography

 

 

O Jesus, I have promised

Author: John Ernest Bode (1869)
Tune: ANGEL’S STORY
Published in 559 hymnals

Printable scores: PDFMusicXML
Playable presentation: Lyrics onlylyrics + music

https://youtu.be/kQFLOCoYaPI

O Jesus, I have promised
To serve Thee to the end;
Be Thou forever near me,
My Master and my Friend;
I shall not fear the battle
If Thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway
If Thou wilt be my guide.

O let me feel Thee near me!
The world is ever near:
I see the sights that dazzle,
The tempting sounds I hear.
My foes are ever near me,
Around me and within;
But, Jesus, draw Thou nearer,
And shield my soul from sin.

O let me hear Thee speaking
In accents clear and still,
Above the storms of passion,
The murmurs of self-will.
O speak to reassure me,
To hasten or control;
O speak, and make me listen,
Thou guardian of my soul.

O Jesus, Thou hast promised
To all who follow Thee
That where Thou art in glory
There shall Thy servant be.
And, Jesus, I have promised
To serve Thee to the end;
O give me grace to follow,
My Master and my Friend.

 

Short Name: John Ernest Bode

Full Name: Bode, John Ernest, 1816-1874

Birth Year: 1816

Death Year: 1874

John E. Bode (b. St. Pancras, England, 1816; d. Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire, England, 1874) A fine student at Christ Church, Oxford, England, and a prominent scholar who gave the famous Bampton Lectures (“for the exposition and defense of the Christian faith”) at Oxford in 1855, was a rector in Westwell, Oxfordshire, and in Castle Camps. This gifted poet and hymn writer published Hymns for the Gospel of the Day, for Each Sunday and Festivals of Our Lord in 1860.

Bert Polman
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Bode, John Ernest, M.A., son of Mr. William Bode, late of the General Post Office, b. 1816, and educated at Eton, the Charter House, and at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating B.A. 1837, and M.A. in due course. Taking Holy Orders in 1841, he became Rector of Westwell, Oxfordshire, 1847; and then of Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire, 1860. He was also for a time Tutor of his College, and Classical Examiner. His Bampton Lectures were delivered in 1855. He d. at Castle Camps, Oct. 6, 1874. In addition to his Bampton Lectures, and Ballads from Herodotus, he published Hymns from the Gospel of the Day for each Sunday and Festivals of our Lord, 1860; and Short Occasional Poems, Lond., Longmans, 1858. In addition to his well-known hymn, “O Jesu, I have promised ” (q. v.), the following from his Hys. from the Gospel are also in common use:—
1. God of heaven, enthroned in mightH. Trinity.
2. Spirit of Truth, indwelling LightWhitsuntide.

-John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Bode, John E. , p. 151, ii. Additional pieces from his Hys.from the Gospel of the Day, &c, 1800, are in common use :— (1) “Sweetly the Sabbath bell” (Sunday); (2) “Thou Who hast called us by Thy word” (20th S. after Trinity).

–John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Notes

O Jesus, I have promised, p. 839, i. The original text of this hymn, as in the 1869 Appendix to the S.P.C.K. Psalms & Hymns, has been restored in the 1904 edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern “O let me feel Thee near me,” in the Boston Hymns for Church & Home, 1895, is composed of stanzas ii. and iii. of this hymn. The original appeared as a leaflet (No. 1468), issued by the S.P.C K. in 1868 as “Hymn for the Newly Confirmed.”

–John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

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