The hymn was written after Dr. Gilmore had conducted the Wednesday evening service at the First Baptist Church, Philadelphia, where he expounded the twenty-third Psalm. After the service, the discussion of the subject was continued in the home where he was stopping. The author says: During the conversation, the blessedness of God’s leadership so grew upon me that I took out my pencil, wrote the hymn just as it stands today, handed it to my wife, and thought no more about it. She sent it, without my knowledge, to the _Watchman and Reflector_. Three years later, I went to Rochester to preach for the Second Baptist Church. On entering the chapel, I took up a hymn book, thinking: “I wonder what they sing.” The book opened at “He Leadeth Me,” and that was the first I knew my hymn had found a place among the songs of the Church. _MUSIC._ HE LEADETH ME. Finding the hymn in a Christian periodical, Bradbury composed for it this popular tune with which it has since been associated. In singing the tune, holds should be observed at the end of lines 2, 3, and 4 of the stanzas, and at the end of lines 2 and 4 of the refrain. “Few composers have so exactly caught the tone and spirit of their text as Bradbury did when he vocalized the gliding measures of ‘He Leadeth Me.’” For comments on the composer, Wm. Bradbury, see Hymn 103. 479. Joys are flowing like a river _M. P. Ferguson_ A song of comfort and joy useful for the quiet hour. The presence of Jesus brings to the trusting soul a blessed quietness as it did to the disciples on the stormy lake when He awoke and spoke the word of peace (Mark 4:37-41). No information has been traced concerning the author of the words, M. P. Ferguson, or the composer, W. S. Marshall, from whose work the tune is an arrangement. 480. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine _Fanny J. Crosby_, 1820-1915 Another of Fanny Crosby’s fine lyrics, sung the world over, in which is revealed the secret of the author’s own serene trust and cheerful faith. In her _Memories of Eighty Years_, Miss Crosby makes the following reference to this hymn: