Gilmore gave this detailed account for the December 1911
issue of The Brown Alumni Monthly: “Nearly half a century ago, as
a young man who had recently graduated from Brown University
and Newton Theological Institution, I was supplying, for a couple of Sundays,
the pulpit of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia. At their
mid-week service—on the 26th of March, 1862—I set out to give the people
an exposition of the twenty-third Psalm, which I had given before
on three or four different occasions.
“But this time I did not
get farther than the words, ‘He leadeth me’—those words
took hold of me as they never had done before.
I saw in them a significance and beauty of which
I had never dreamed. It was the darkest hour of
the War of the Rebellion. I did not refer to that
fact (that is, I don't think I did), but it
may, subconsciously, have led me to realize that the fact
of God's leadership is the one significant fact in
human experience—that it makes no difference how
we are led, or whither we are led, so long as we are
sure that God is leading us.
“At the close of the meeting a few of us, in the parlor of
my host, good Deacon Wattson, who resided next door to the church, kept on talking
about the thought which I had emphasized; and then and there, on a blank page
of the brief from which I had intended to speak, I penciled the hymn, handed it
to my wife, and thought no more about it. It occurred to her months afterward
to send the hymn to “The Watchman and Reflector,” a paper published in Boston,
where it was first printed. In the paper it attracted the attention of William
B. Bradbury, who slightly modified the refrain and set the hymn to the music
which has done so much to promote its popularity. As I wrote the hymn, the
refrain consisted of only two lines: ‘He leadeth me! He leadeth me! By His own
hand He leadeth me.
"Mr.Bradbury added the lines: ‘His faithful follower I would
be, For by His hand He leadeth me.’
'In other respects, the hymn stands just as I wrote it
in Deacon Wattson’s parlor, talking and writing at the same time. I did not
know that my hymn had been set to music until 1865, when I went to
Rochester to preach as a candidate before the Second Baptist Church. Going
into their chapel on the day that I reached the city, I took up
a hymnal to see what they sang, and it opened to my
own hymn, ‘He Leadeth Me’ I accepted it as an indication of divine guidance
and have no doubt now that I was right.
“The hymn has been translated into
different languages—perhaps more than any other modern hymn, as
it appeals especially to the wanderer and the outcast—and I have received many
touching testimonials to the comfort and help it has rendered God’s
dear children. It was to that end, I take it, that He put it into my mind
and heart when, as it must be seen, I hadn’t the faintest conception of what I
was doing.”
Gilmore became a professor after serving churches in
Philadelphia, New Hampshire, and New York. He was also a professor of English
at the University of Rochester from 1868-1911. A prolific writer for newspapers
and periodicals, Gilmore also authored three books in his academic field: “The
Art of Expression” (1876) and “Outlines of English and American
Literature” (1905), as well as a book of poetry, “He Leadeth Me, and
Other Religious Poems” (1877).
Working as his father’s private secretary during the Civil War, he also edited
the Concord, New Hampshire “Daily Monitor.” Joseph Gilmore died on July
23, 1918, in Rochester, New York.
Biblehub.com, Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible: Under the Mighty Hand of God, a phrase expressive of His Omnipotence, which cannot be stayed, and it would be madness to oppose it; and which is able to cast down the proud, and dash them to pieces, as well as to exalt the humble.
Studylight.com, Dr. Constable’s Expository Notes: God’s Almighty Hand had permitted affliction to touch Peter’s readers. The apostle urged them to submit to God’s working in their lives as to the skillful hand of a surgeon. He assured them that God would raise them up eventually better off for their suffering. Peter had learned to submit to God’s Hand on his own life, though at times he had not been as submissive as he should have been. The Old Testament writers used God’s Hand as a symbol of discipline and deliverance.
Biblehub.com, Barnes’ Notes on the Bible: For the sake of Thine own Honor, or for the glory of Thy name. Since Thou art my Rock and my Defense - since I put my trust in Thee - show, by leading and guiding me, that my trust is well founded, or that this is Thy character, and that Thou wilt be true and faithful to those who commit their all to Thee.
Biblehub.com, Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible: The psalmist desires the Lord would lead him in the way of truth and paths of righteousness, according to His Word; and guide him with His counsel, and by His Spirit, that so he might walk in the way in which he should go; and this he entreats he would do "for His name's sake"; not for any merit or worthiness in him; but for the glory of His own Name, and for the honor of His free grace and mercy, for which the Lord often does many things; He defers His anger, He purges away the sins of His people, He forgives their transgressions, and remembers their sins no more, for His name's sake.
Bibleref.com: The person who "rests" in God exhibits a sense of contentment and security. This "fear" is not terror or panic. It's a reverent, humble respect which acknowledges who and what God is. The cornerstone of that recognition leads a person to Christ for salvation. To "fear" the Lord is to believe on Him. Christians do not lead trouble-free lives, but they have hope amidst suffering and teaches that God is ultimately on the side of Christians, therefore no one can gain ultimate victory over them.
Biblehib.com, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary: Thanks be to God that we know not the things which shall befall us during the year, the week, the day which has begun. It is enough for the child of God to know that his strength shall be equal to his day. He knows not what the day before him shall bring forth. The powerful influences of the Holy Spirit bind the true Christian to his duty. Even when he expects persecution and affliction, the love of Christ constrains him to proceed.
Studylight.org, Barnes’ Notes on the Whole Bible: The victory over sin, death, and the grave. God alone is the author of this victory. He formed the plan; he executed it in the gift of His Son; and He gives it to us personally when we come to die.
Studylight.org, Contending for the Faith: The Apostle Paul now connects the bodily resurrection and transformation of Christians to his central teaching of justification and forgiveness of sins. He teaches about Christians’ thankfulness to God because He gives us the "victory" through Christ’s death and resurrection. The expression "thanks be to God" seems to be an "exclamation of relief" (Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. II 943) because even though "the strength of sin is the law," death no longer has victory over us because our victory is through Christ.
Though Gilmore wrote other hymns, it is this hurriedly penned text for which he is remembered. The First Baptist Church of Philadelphia where Gilmore was speaking was demolished. However, the words to the first stanza of Gilmore’s hymn appear on a bronze tablet on the large office building that replaced the church with the inscription, “In recognition of the beauty and fame of this beloved hymn, and in remembrance of its distinguished author” (Osbeck, 1982, 88).
