Hymns A&M was the brainchild of Herefordshire Vicar Henry Williams Baker (see my blog on Monkland). It proved a very useful book, but did of course involve editorial choices. One was to omit a verse from Charles Wesley’s “Forth in thy name I go” that gives us pause for the thought - both the verse and the decision to omit it:

“Preserve me from my calling’s snare,

And hide my simple heart above,

Above the thorns of choking care,

The gilded baits of worldly love.”