My faith, it is an oaken staff
My faith, it is an oaken staff. Thomas Toke Lynch* (1818-1871).
From Lynch’s The Rivulet (1856), with the title ‘Faith in Christ’. It had four stanzas, all of which are found in CP and BHB . ‘staid’ (stanza 1 line 8) is used here in the old sense of ‘settled in faith, purpose, etc.’ (Oxford English Dictionary, sense 1b).
My faith, it is an oaken staff, The traveller’s well-loved aid;My faith, it is a weapon stout, The soldier’s trusty blade.I’ll travel on, and still be stirredBy silent thought or social word;By all my perils undeterred A soldier-pilgrim staid.
I have a Captain, and the heart
Of every private man
Has drunk in valour from his eyes
Since first the war began:
He is...
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The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 22 Jan. 2026.<
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Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "My faith, it is an oaken staff."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed January 22, 2026,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/m/my-faith,-it-is-an-oaken-staff.