My God and Father, while I stray

My God and Father, while I stray. Charlotte Elliott* (1789-1871). As JJ  points out, pp. 778-9, this hymn exists in four forms, three of which he prints, noting that the fourth text differs from the others in the first line only, which read ‘My God, my Father, while I stray’ (this is the first line in many books). The basic text, upon which the others are based, was published in an Appendix to the First Edition of The Invalid’s Hymn Book (1834). It had eight stanzas: My God and Father: while I stray Far from my home in life’s rough way, Oh! teach me from my heart to say,             ‘Thy will be done!’ Though dark my path, and sad my lot, Let me ‘be still’, and murmur not, Or breathe the...