He bids us come; His voice we know,
Charles Wesley
And boldly on the waters go,
To Him our Lord and God;
We walk on life’s tempestuous sea,
For He who died to set us free,
Hath call’d us by His word.
Secure on troubled waves we tread,
Nor all the storms around us heed,
While to our Lord we look;
O’er every fierce temptation bound,
The billows yield a solid ground,
The wave is firm as rock.
But if from Him we turn our eye.
And see the raging floods run high,
And feel our fears within;
Our foes so strong, our flesh so frail,
Reason and unbelief prevail,
And sink us into sin.
Lord, we our unbelief confess,
Our little spark of faith increase,
That we may doubt no more;
But fix on thee our steady eye,
And on thine outstretched arm rely,
’Till all the storm is o’er.
This hymn is from J. C. Ryle’s little book Spiritual Songs, published in 1849, when he was rector of Helmingham, Suffolk. The hymns Ryle selected were not found in the most common hymnbooks of the day.
Suggested tune: Purleigh.
Download a .pdf file of the hymnal.
And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
Matthew 14:28-29
