Be thou my guardian and my guide
Be thou my guardian and my guide. Isaac Williams* (1802-1865).
First published in Williams’s Hymns on the Catechism (1842), based on the petition in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘And lead us not into temptation’. The first line was ‘Be Thou our Guardian and our Guide’, and the hymn was in the first person plural throughout. It was changed to ‘Be Thou my Guardian’ in the Appendix (1868) to the First Edition of A&M, where it was also given a doxology, thus making a hymn of five stanzas. The four before the doxology were:
Be thou my guardian and my guide, And hear me when I call;Let not my slippery footsteps slide, And hold me lest I fall.
The world, the flesh, and Satan dwell Around the path I...
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MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "Be thou my guardian and my guide."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 22 Jan. 2026.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/b/be-thou-my-guardian-and-my-guide>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Be thou my guardian and my guide."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed January 22, 2026,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/b/be-thou-my-guardian-and-my-guide.