O God, my refuge, keep me safe

Like the following Psalm, this one claims wholehearted devotion in the face of persecution and lies. Like the previous one, this is a revision (1994 and 1998) of a 1985 text in BP, where David Preston adds a footnote: ‘In stanza 5 (Psalm 16:9–10) the writer expresses his faith in God’s power to save him from the grave. Preaching on the Day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter argued that this hope was fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:24–32). The Psalmist was saying more than he knew, as did other prophets (1 Peter 1:10–12).’ Ultimately, ‘for me to live is Christ’. Stzs 2 and 5, and stz 6 line 1, survive unchanged from the earlier version. Weiser calls prayer such as this ‘one of the indispensable necessaries of life required by faith’, not least ‘when the bustle of the day dies down’. Let’s Praise 2 (1994) includes Paul Inwood’s version O Lord, you are the centre of my life; Martin Leckebusch wrote God beyond earth’s finest treasures (2001: see no.1, note). DUBLIN and WETHERBY were the recommended tunes; here GODRE’R COED (126) is cross-referenced, but WETHERBY retains its place. Currently best known in Free Church books, it comes like most of S S Wesley’s hymn tunes from his The European Psalmist (1872) where it was set to Doddridge’s Awake, ye saints, lift up your eyes. Wetherby is a few miles NE of Leeds, where the composer was organist 1841–49, between his various cathedral appointments.

b London 1939. d 2020. Archbishop Tenison’s Grammar School, Kennington, London; Keble College Oxford (MA Mod Langs.) He worked as a French Teacher, including 11 years at Ahmadu Bello Univ, Nigeria, and gained a PhD on the French Christian poet Pierre Emmanuel (1916 84). A member of Carey Baptist Ch, Reading, for many years, he later moved to Alweston, nr Sherborne, Dorset. He compiled The Book of Praises (Carey Publications, Liverpool) in 1987, with versions of 71 Psalms; these include modified texts of Watts and a few other classic paraphrasers, but most are by contemporary writers including himself. 60 of his metrical Psalm versions are so far published, including one each in Sing Glory (2000), the Scottish Church Hymnary 4th Edn (2005) and Sing Praise (2010), and 3 in the 2004 edn of CH; also 10 tunes. His writing and composing has taken place in Leicester, Reading, Nigeria and his present home; he was a member of the editorial board throughout the preparation of Praise! and had a major share in the choice of music for the Psalm texts (1-150). His convictions about the Psalms, as expressed in the Introduction to BP, are that ‘There is nothing to compare with their blend of the subjective and the objective, the inner life and practical goodness, the knowledge of one’s own rebellious heart and the knowledge of God…Today’s general neglect of congregational Psalm singing is a symptom of the spiritual malaise of our churches. When the preaching of the Gospel has prospered, bringing into being churches vibrant with spiritual life, men and women have taken great delight in praising their Maker and Redeemer through these scriptural hymns’. 15 of his own, self-selected, feature as his share of ‘contemporary hymns’ in the 2009 Come Celebrate; he has also served as a meticulous proof-reader. Nos.1, 2A, 5*, 6, 7, 11, 15, 16, 17, 19A, 24A, 27A, 30B, 32*, 33*, 38, 40, 42, 43, 47, 51*, 52, 55, 57*, 64, 66, 74, 76, 77, 84, 90, 91A, 96*, 97, 99, 100B, 101, 114*, 120, 126, 132, 139, 142*, 143, 145A, 147*, 824*, 830*, 963*.