CHRISTIAN LIFE >> PILGRIMAGE
SDAH 625
I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I’m onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
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For Worship Leaders
Make each hymn more meaningful with these helpful tools: Short, ready-to-use hymn introductions for church bulletins, multiple ways to introduce a hymn based on your worship theme and in-depth history and insights to enrich your song service.
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Introductions for Sabbath School Song Service (based on specific lesson quarterlies):
These words were written by Johnson Oatman, Jr. (1856-1922; see SDAH 302), and appeared in Songs of Love and Praise No. 5. compiled in 1898 by J. R. Sweney (see Biographies) and two collaborators. The songs draws a picture of a climber who seeks to leave the lowlands of this world and scale the peaks that pierce the clouds and give a vision of the bright glory land. Oatman also wrote SDAH 302, “Deeper Yet,” and SDAH 425, “Holy, Holy, Is What the Angels Sing.”
The tune, in some books called HIGHER GROUND, was composed in 1892 by Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (1856-1932; see SDAH 435), and was sold for $5.00. The strongest part of this simple song is the upward arpeggio on the tonic chord as the refrain begins on the words, “Lord, lift me up “Gabriel also composed the unnamed tunes to “The Glory Song,” SDAH 435, and “Just When I Need Him Most” SDAH 512.
📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.
Text
1
I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I’m onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
Refrain
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s table land,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
2
My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Though some may dwell where those abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.
3
I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.
4
I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till Heav’n I’ve found,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(a) Phil 3:14 (c) Eph 6:16
Author
Johnson Oatman, Jr. (1856-1922)
Metrical Number
L.M.Ref.
Composer
Charles H. Gabriel (1856-1932)
