Blessed Lord, in Thee Is Refuge
Blessed Lord, in Thee is refuge,
Safety for my trembling soul,
Power to lift my head when drooping
’Midst the angry billows’ roll.
I will trust Thee, (3x)
All my life Thou shalt control.
In the past too unbelieving
’Midst the tempest I have been,
And my heart has slowly trusted
What my eyes have never seen.
Blessed Jesus, (3x)
Teach me on Thy arm to lean.
Herbert Booth, son of William and Catherine Booth, was born in Cornwall, England, in 1862. This song of his appeared in a booklet called “Songs of the Nations”, published for the 1886 International Congress of the Salvation Army. It was also included in Herbert Booth’s 1890 collection, “Songs of Peace and War”. He began writing the words while waiting, discouraged, for funds for the new “Men’s Training Garrison” in London. When an unexpected cheque arrived, he wrote the third verse:
O for trust that brings the triumph
When defeat seems strangely near!
O for faith that changes fighting
Into victory’s ringing cheer;
Faith triumphant, (3x)
Knowing not defeat or fear!
In the early 1880’s, Herbert Booth was active in Salvation Army work in France, and wrote some of his early songs in French. He developed “The Salvation Soldier’s Song Book”
in 1897. Well-educated, he had attended Allesley Park College, Coventry, and the Congregational Institute, Nottingham. In 1883, Herbert helped found the Salvation Army’s Music Department at Clapton. He directed various aspects of Salvation Army work in England, Canada and Australia, and around 1902 went on extensive lecture tours in the U.S., South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Little known is the fact that in Australia, he wrote scripts and directed films along with Joseph Perry, as part of the Army’s “Limelight Department” there. The Salvation Army was – and is – always glad to find new means of telling people how Jesus can affect their lives.
