This hymn in four stanzas of eight lines each appears in Mrs. Herbert Mayo’s Selection of Hymns and Poetry for the Use of Infant and Juvenile Schools, 1838, but is unsigned. In the 1846 edition it is again without signature, but several other selections bear the signature D.A.T. These are the initials of Dorothy Ann Thrupp (1779-1847), who had included a hymn in her Hymns for the Young, fourth edition, 1836, but with no credit given. The Reverend W. Carus Wilson attributed it to Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847; see SDAH 4), who had contributed another hymn to a previous number of the same magazine. The title of the hymn is “Seeking the Savior’s Guidance.” Slight changes have been made in the last lines of stanzas 2 and 3, which originally read: “Hear young children when they pray,” and “Let us early turn to Thee,” respectively.

SHEPHERD was composed in 1859 by William Batchelder Bradbury (1816-1868; see Biographies) and is so named for the title given to the Savior in the first line of the hymn.

📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.