No. 205 Warrenton or I Am Bound for the Kingdom, Gos 275
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
Whither goest thou, pilgrim stranger,
Passing thro’ this darksome vale?
Know’st thou not ’tis full of danger,
And will not thy courage fail?
Chorus
I am bound for the kingdom,
Will you go to glory with me?
Hallelujah, praise the Lord.
Pilgrim, thou dost justly call me,
Wand’ring o’er this waste so wide;
Yet no harm will e’er befall me,
While I’m blessed with such a Guide.
Chorus
Such a Guide!—no guide attends thee,
Hence for thee my fears arise;
If a guardian pow’r befriend thee,
’Tis unseen by mortal eyes.
Chorus
Four more stanzas are in Good Old Songs. It is found also as ‘Pilgrim Stranger’ in Dadmun’s Melodeon, Boston, 1861, and as ‘Female Pilgrim’ in the Christian Lyre, 18th edition, New York, 1835. The song is apparently one of the so called dialogue hymns of the early English Methodists. The men sitting on one side of the meeting house, and the women sitting opposite, sang alternate stanzas. Lightwood cites one as follows:
Men:
Tell us, O women, we would know
Whither so fast ye move.
Women:
We’re called to leave the world below,
Are seeking one above.
Chorus:
Hallelujah.
See Hymn Tunes and Their Story, p. 144.