Author: James Montgomery Meter: 8.8.8.8.8.8 Appears in 2 hymnals First Line: Now weigh the anchor, hoist the sail Lyrics:
1 Now weigh the anchor, hoist the sail,
Launch out upon the pathless deep,
Resolved, however veers the gale,
The destined port in mind to keep;
Through all the dangers of the way,
Deliver us, good Lord, we pray.
2 When tempests mingle sea and sky,
And winds like lions rage and rend,
Ships o’er the mountain-waters fly,
Or down unfathomed depths descend,
Though skill avail not, strength decay,
Deliver us, good Lord, we pray.
3 If lightnings from embattled clouds
Strike, or a spark in secret nursed,
From stem to stern, o’er masts and shrouds,
Like doomsday’s conflagration burst,
Amid the fire Thy power display,
Deliver us, good Lord, we pray.
4 Through yielding planks, should ocean urge
Rude entrance, flooding all below,
Speak, ere we founder in the surge—
"Thus far, nor farther shall ye go;
Here, ye proud waves, your fury stay";
Deliver us, good Lord, we pray.
5 With cordage snapped, and canvas riv’n,
Through straits thick-strewn with rock and shoal,
Along some gulf-stream, darkly driven,
Fast wedged ’midst icebergs at the pole,
Or on low breakers cast away,
Deliver us, good Lord, we pray.
6 Save, or we perish—calms or storms,
By day, by night, at home, afar,
Death walks the waves in all his forms,
And shoots his darts from every star;
Want, pain, and woe man’s path waylay,
Deliver us, good Lord, we pray.
Used With Tune: ST. CATHERINE Text Sources: Sacred Poems and Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (New York: D. Appleton, 1854)
Now Weigh The Anchor
My Starred Hymns
My FlexScores
My Hymnals
My Purchased Files
