A Charge To Keep I Have

According to Dr. C. Michael Hawn, professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology, SMU, the brothers, John and Charles Wesley, had a tremendous impact in the 18th century – an impact that continues even today. John was the great preacher and evangelist. Charles was the great writer of hymns. His hymns include “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today,” and “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” and at least six thousand more.
If you were looking for poetic inspiration, you would not likely go to a commentary on one of the Biblical books – and especially not a commentary on the book of Leviticus. But that is where Wesley found his inspiration for this hymn. Leviticus 8:35 says:
“Therefore, shall ye abide
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
day and night seven days,
and keep the charge of the Lord,
that ye die not:
for so I am commanded” (KJV).
In his commentary on that verse, Matthew Henry said:
“We shall everyone of us have a charge to keep,
an eternal God to glorify,
an immortal soul to provide for,
our generation to serve,
and it must be our daily care to keep this charge,
for it is the charge of the Lord and Master,
who will shortly call us to an account about it,
and it is our utmost peril if we neglect it.”
So, it takes very little imagination to see how Wesley derived the following lines from Henry’s commentary:
“A charge to keep I have, a God to glorify,
a never-dying soul to save, and fit it for the sky.
“To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill;
O may it all my powers engage to do my Master’s will.”
Wesley first published this hymn in his Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures in 1762.
A charge to keep I have,
a God to glorify,
a never dying soul to save,
and fit it for the sky.
In their recent book, Presidential Praise: Our Presidents and Their Hymns (Mercer University Press, 2008), authors C. Edward Spann and Michael E. Williams Sr. note that the title of President George W. Bush’s autobiography, A Charge to Keep, was drawn from Charles Wesley’s hymn.
The choice of this title is but one indication of the role this hymn has played in the life of President Bush, as well as the influence of this hymn 250 years beyond its composition.
As is the case with hymns by the Wesleys, “A charge to keep I have” is grounded in Scripture. In this case, Leviticus 8:36 is the primary source: “Keep the charge of the Lord, that ye die not” (KJV).
The hymn was included in Short Hymns on Select Passages of Holy Scripture (1762), a massive two-volume collection of 2,030 hymns based on biblical texts from Genesis to Revelation. UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young also points out additional references: 2 Peter 1:10, Hosea 6:2, and Matthew 25:30 and 26:41.
Wesley scholars F. Hildebrandt and Oliver A. Beckerlegge propose in their commentary on the important Wesley hymnbook A Collection of Hymns for Use of the People Called Methodists (1780) that Charles Wesley (1708-1788) based his text on Mathew Henry’s Commentary on Leviticus. Henry notes:
“We have every one of us a charge to keep, an eternal God to glorify, an immortal soul to provide for, needful duty to be done, our generation to serve; and it must be our daily care to keep this charge, for it is the charge of the Lord our Master, who will shortly call us to an account about it, and it is our peril if we neglect it. Keep it ‘that ye die not’; it is death, eternal death, to betray the truth we are charged with.”
This hymn is an unequivocal call to commitment to follow the Master and to fulfill our vocation through service. The language is unambiguous. Our calling is to save a “never dying soul” and “fit it for the sky” – that is for eternal life with Christ. This eschatological goal is central to Charles Wesley’s hymns: Our goal is heaven.
In the second stanza, we find that we fulfill this calling by our service to “the present age.” Fulfilling this calling requires us to engage “all [our] powers.” The third stanza is a petition that God should “arm [us] with jealous care” as we live in God’s sight. Wesley is not afraid to offer a stern admonition that we will one day be required to give “a strict account” of our activities in pursuit of our calling.
The final stanza is perhaps the most uncompromising. The singer begins with the imperative verb – a petition to the unnamed Holy Spirit – to “Help me to watch and pray . . . ” Rather than suggesting a positive reward for faithfulness, Wesley warns us of the outcome “if [we] our trust betray”: we “shall forever die.”
Hymnology scholar Fred D. Gealy notes that there have been several attempts to alter the final lines in order to soften the ominous judgment that is implied. The Historical Companion to the influential Hymns Ancient and Modern concludes the hymn with these two lines:
And let me ne’er my trust betray,
But press to realms on high.
The British Methodist hymnal, Hymns and Psalms (1983) altered the final two lines as follows:
So, shall I not my trust betray,
nor love within me die.
Professor Gealy notes that the “alteration [of these lines] weakens the intensity of the hymn. The Gospel always comes with [both] threat and promise.”
This hymn has traditionally been a favorite at annual conferences, or in African-American congregations at the conclusion of Holy Communion. The tune BOYLSTON was composed by the famous New England music educator Lowell Mason (1792-1872) and was first found in his The Choir, or Union Collection of Church Music (1832).
Dr. Hawn is professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology, SMU.
These are some Scriptures that seem to be appropriate for this hymn.
Deuteronomy 10:12 So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
John 12:26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
John 15:8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
Acts 2:40 And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
Romans 14:12 So then, each of us will be accountable to God.
1 Corinthians 4:2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.
1 Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 9:16 If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.
Galatians 6:10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
Ephesians 5:17 So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Ephesians 6:10 Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.
Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 2:1-3 You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; 2 and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well. 3 Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
1 Peter 4:10-11 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 11 Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.