"He Leadeth Me"
"He Leadeth Me" was written by Dr. Joseph H. Gilmore, son of the Governor of New Jersey during the Civil War (1862): "It was the darkest hour of the Civil War. I did not refer to that fact...but it may subconsciously have led me to realize that God's leadership is the one significant fact in human experience" (qtd. in Morgan 145). Its lines focus on great comfort: "whate'er I do, where-e'er I be, Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me" (v. 1). This extends to the lowest and highest moments of life: from "scenes of deepest gloom" to when "Eden's bowers bloom" (v. 2). And even when "my task on earth is done," when "death's cold wave I will not flee, Since God through Jordan leadeth me" (v. 4). These are powerful words for even children to sing. By the early 20th-century, it was in 60% of American children's hymnbooks (Clapp-Itnyre, "Children's...Hymns").
Sources: Robert J. Morgan, Then Sings My Soul (W Publishing, 2011).
& publication forthcoming: Clapp-Itnyre, Children's 19th and 20th Century Hymns.docx
Score: Hymn #242 from The Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: Methodist Publishing, 1932): #1 below
Choir: The Community Choristers, Hymn Camp 2025 (#2 below); soloist: Hope Royer
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- Part 7: Early 20th-Century Hymns Alisa Clapp-Itnyre