Words: , Po­és­ies et Can­tiques Spir­it­u­els, 1722; trans­lat­ed from French to Eng­lish by in his post­hu­mous Po­ems Trans­lat­ed from the French of Ma­dame de la Mothe Gui­on, 1801. The lyr­ics may be part­ly au­to­bi­o­graph­ic­al, re­flect­ing Guyon’s per­i­ods of im­pris­on­ment and ban­ish­ment.

Music: Ham­burg, , 1824; first ap­peared in The Bos­ton Han­del and Haydn So­ci­e­ty Col­lect­ion of Church Mu­sic, third ed­i­tion, 1825.


My Lord, how full of sweet content;
I pass my years of banishment!
Where’er I dwell, I dwell with Thee,
In Heaven, in earth, or on the sea.

To me remains nor place nor time;
My country is in every clime;
I can be calm and free from care
On any shore, since God is there.

While place we seek, or place we shun
The soul finds happiness in none;
But with a God to guide our way,
’Tis equal joy, to go or stay.

Could I be cast where Thou are not,
That were indeed a dreadful lot:
But regions none remote I call,
Secure of finding God in all.