Thou art my life; if thou but turn away

Thou art my life; if thou but turn away. Francis Quarles* (1592-1644). This hymn is an extract, consisting of verses 3-5 and 16, from a longer poem, ‘Why dost thou shade thy lovely face?’, which appeared as no.vii in book 3 of Quarles’s Emblemes (1635). The poem was accompanied by a quotation from Job 13:24 ‘Wherefore hidest thou thy face and holdest me for thine enemy?’. The extract was included in MHB and was selected for SofPE by Percy Dearmer* , who considered it a better hymn on John 14:6 than ‘Thou art the way; to Thee alone’*, by George Washington Doane*. It has appeared in several hymnbooks since, and a sensitive modern adaptation by Anthony Petti*, ‘My God, you are my way, my...