Scripture Verse

As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Deuteronomy 33:25

Introduction

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Frances R. Havergal (1836–1879)

Words: Fran­ces R. Hav­er­gal, Ja­nu­ary 1, 1859. Ap­peared in the Sun­day Ma­ga­zine, Ju­ly 1867.

Music: Gott sei dank, Neu­es geist­reich­es Ge­sang­buch, by Jo­hann A. Frey­ling­hau­sen (Hal­le, Ger­ma­ny: 1704) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

  • Judah J. V. Watts, in the Me­tho­dist Tune Book (To­ron­to & Ha­li­fax Ca­na­da: Me­tho­dist Book and Pub­lish­ing House & Me­tho­dist Book Room, 1881), num­ber 272 (🔊 pdf nwc)
portrait
Johann A. Freylinghausen (1670–1739)

Origin of the Hymn

The New Year’s Bells were ring­ing in St. Nic­ho­las’ Church close to our rec­to­ry (Wor­ces­ter). I was sleep­ing with my sis­ter Ma­ria; she roused me to hear them and quot­ed the text As thy days thy strength shall be, as a New Year’s Mot­to.

I did not an­swer, but pre­sent­ly re­turned it to her in rhyme (the two first vers­es, I think). She was pleased, so I fi­nished it the next day and gave it to her.

The last verse, with a slight al­te­ra­tion, was placed by my cou­sins on Aunt Iz­ard’s tomb­stone, 1868.

The Ha­ver­gal Ma­nu­scripts
Julian, p. 85.

Lyrics

As thy days thy strength shall be!
This should be enough for thee,
He who knows thy frame will spare
Burdens more than thou canst bear.

When thy days are veiled in night,
Christ shall give thee hea­ven­ly light;
Seem they wea­ri­some and long,
Yet in Him thou shalt be strong.

Cold and win­try though they prove,
Thine, the sun­shine of His love;
Or, with fer­vid heat op­pressed,
In His sha­dow thou shalt rest.

When thy days on earth are past,
Christ shall call thee home at last,
His re­deem­ing love to praise,
Who hath strength­ened all thy days.