Hymn of the Week: September 11, 2023

Hymn of the Week: O Jesus I Have Promised

This week's Hymn was originally sent on September 13, 2021.

O Jesus I Have Promised
John Ernest Bode 1869

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.

John Ernest Bode (1816-1874) has given the church one of its most enduring hymns of Christian discipleship. It was so popular that Bishops in the Church of England were weary of singing it and discouraged its use at confirmations. Born in London, John Ernest Bode was educated at both Eton and Charterhouse, as well as Christ Church, Oxford (B.A., 1837; M.A., 1840). His service as a Fellow of Christ Church (1841-1847) included taking Holy Orders as a deacon in 1841 and priest, 1843. Bode served as a vicar at Westwell, Oxfordshire and Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire.

A high point in his life was an invitation to deliver the prestigious Bampton Lectures at Oxford (1855). The lectures were later published as The Absence of Precision in the Formularies of the Church of England, scriptural and favorable to a State of Probation, and anti-Catholicism tract delivered in the face of the rising success of Catholicism in England at the time. His academic aspirations were sidetracked when he was defeated for a Professorship of Poetry at Oxford in 1857 by the distinguished and influential poet Matthew Arnold (1822-1888). In addition to books of poetry, his major hymn publication was Hymns from the Gospel of the Day for each Sunday and Festivals of our Lord (1860).

Our hymn has its origins in the confirmation of the poet’s daughter and two sons in 1866. It was published two years later as a leaflet by SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge) entitled “Hymn for the newly Confirmed” and later in the New Appendix to the New and Enlarged Edition of Hymns for Public Worship (1870), and in Church Hymns and Tunes (1874). When it was published in the second edition of the popular Hymns Ancient and Modern (1875), the success of the hymn was assured. Most major hymnals have included it since then.

The text is based on a verse in John 12 following Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his travel to Bethsaida of Galilee just before his impending passion when he shares with his disciples: “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor” (John 12:23-26, KJV).

Stanza two is particularly appropriate for confirmation, discouraging the ways of the world – “the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear” – and evil influences – “my foes are ever near me, around me and within.” Stanza three dissuades the confirmand from the ways of the flesh: to rise “above the storms of passion, the murmurs of self will.”

More than fifty years after its publication, composer and hymnal editor Percy Dearmer noted its overuse in his Songs of Praise Discussed (1933), “Bishops have been known to implore their clergy that this hymn should not be sung at all the Confirmations they attend.”

C. Michael Hawn is a University Distinguished Professor of Church Music, Perkins School of Theology, SMU.