Lord’s Day, Vol. 8 No. 13
He Leadeth Me
Hymn Story
This beloved gospel hymn was written on March 26, 1862. The author, Joseph H. Gilmore, has left the following account:
I had been speaking at the Wednesday evening service of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Corner of Broad and Arch Streets, about the 23rd Psalm, and had been especially impressed with the adjourned Deacon Watson’s pleasant home where we were accorded hospitality. During our conversation, the blessedness of God’s leading so grew upon me that I took out my pencil, wrote the hymn just as it stands today, handed to my wife, and thought no more of it. She sent it without my knowledge to the Watchman and Reflector magazine, and there it first appeared in print.
Three years later I went to Rochester, New York, to preach as a candidate for Second Baptist Church. Upon entering the chapel I took up at “He Leadeth Me,” and that was the first time I knew that my hymn found a place among the songs of the church.
Joseph H. Gilmore was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 29, 1834. His father was the governor of the state of New Hampshire for a period of time. Joseph graduated from Newton Theological Seminary in 1861. Throughout his lifetime he pastored several Baptist churches, served as a secretary to his father the governor, was a professor of Hebrew at Newton Seminary, and later taught English literature at Rochester University, where he published several college texts in these subjects. He also wrote other hymns, but none ever gained the acceptance that “He Leadeth Me” did. Although Gilmore was highly respected both in religion and educational circles, he is best remembered for this hurriedly written text when he was just twenty-eight years of age and a visiting supply preacher in Philadelphia.
William B. Bradbury, an important contributor to the development of early gospel hymnody, saw this text in the Watchman and Reflector Magazine in 1863 and wrote this fitting melody to match the words also added two additional lines to the chorus, “His faithful follower I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me”
This hymn, is perhaps more than any other modern hymn, has been translated into many different languages. Servicemen during World War II were greatly surprised to find it one of the favourite hymns sung by the primitive Polynesians in the South Pacific.
When the First Baptist Church building in Philadelphia at the busy Broad and Arch intersection was demolished in 1926, it was replaced by a large office building. In the corner of the building was placed a bronze tablet, which still remains today, containing the words of the first verse of “He Leadeth Me.” This was done, states the inscription, “in recognition of the beauty and fame of this beloved hymn, and in remembrance of its distinguished author.”
“… The sweetest words of the whole is the monosyllable, my. He does not say, The Lord is the shepherd of the world at large, and leadeth me forth the multitude as His flock. If He be a shepherd to no one else, He is a Shepherd to me. He cares for me, watches over me, and preserves me. The words are in the present tense. Whatever be the believer’s position, he is even now under the pastoral care of Jehovah…” Charles Haddon Spurgeon – Treasury of David
1 He lead-eth me O blessed thought
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught
What-e’er I do wher-e’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that lead-eth me
Chorus:
* He lead-eth me He lead-eth me
By His own hand He lead-eth me
His faithful fol-l’wer I would be
For by His hand He lead-eth me
2 Sometimes ’mid scenes of deepest gloom
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom
By waters still o’er troubled sea
Still ’tis His hand that lead-eth me
3 Lord I would clasp Thy hand in mine
Nor ever murmur nor repine
Content whatever lot I see
Since ’tis my God that lead-eth me
4 And when my task on earth is done
When by Thy grace the vic-t’ry’s won
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee
Since God thru Jordan lead-eth me
[Extracted and edited from 101 Hymn Stories by Kenneth W. Osbeck]
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee