"God Be with You Till We Meet Again" Choral Arrangement by Daniel Carter

Jeremiah E. Rankin, author of the lyric of "God Be with You Till We Meet Again" said that his only purpose in writing such a hymn was to provide a "goodbye song" for Christians. The universal phrase which first came to mind that suited his idea was God Be with You Till We Meet Again.

Text: Jeremiah E. Rankin, 1828–1904
Music: William G. Tomer, 1833–1896

1. God be with you till we meet again;
by his counsels guide, uphold you,
with his sheep securely fold you;
God be with you till we meet again.
Refrain:
Till we meet, till we meet,
till we meet at Jesus' feet;
till we meet, till we meet,
God be with you till we meet again.

2. God be with you till we meet again;
neath his wings securely hide you,
daily manna still provide you;
God be with you till we meet again.
(Refrain)

3. God be with you till we meet again;
when life's perils thick confound you,
put his arms unfailing round you;
God be with you till we meet again.
(Refrain)

4. God be with you till we meet again;
keep love's banner floating o'er you,
smite death's threatening wave before you;
God be with you till we meet again.
(Refrain)

Jeremiah Rankin was born January 2, 1828 in Thornton, New Hampshire. Working in the ministry attracted him from a fairly early age. He studied for the ministry at Andover Theological Seminary in Newtonville, Massachusetts. After his ordination, he served as pastor all along the east coast, churning out numerous hymn texts. But then came the idea for a "goodbye song" for Christian services. One might think there was a special story behind God Be with You till We Meet Again, but there really wasn't.

In Rankin's own words, he said:
"Written…as a Christian good-bye, it was called forth by no per­son or oc­ca­sion, but was de­lib­er­ate­ly com­posed as a Christ­ian hymn on the ba­sis of the ety­mol­o­gy of “good-bye,” which is “God be with you.” The first stan­za was writ­ten and sent to two com­pos­ers—one of un­u­su­al note, the other whol­ly un­known and not tho­rough­ly ed­u­cat­ed in mu­sic. I se­lect­ed the com­po­si­tion of the lat­ter, sub­mit­ted it to J. W. Bischoff—the mu­sic­al di­rect­or of a lit­tle book we were pre­par­ing—who ap­proved of it, but made some cri­ti­cisms, which were adopt­ed. It was sung for the first time one ev­en­ing in the First Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church in Wash­ing­ton, of which I was then the pas­tor and Mr. Bis­choff the org­an­ist. I at­trib­ut­ed its pop­u­lar­i­ty in no lit­tle part to the mu­sic to which it was set. It was a wed­ding of words and mu­sic, at which it was my func­tion to pre­side; but Mr. To­mer should have his full share of the fam­i­ly hon­or."

The hymn was published, in 1882, by Rankin, who at the time, was pastor of the First Congregational Church of Washington D.C. The poem that Rankin originally wrote had eight verses. However, only three or four of those verses are commonly used today, which most often include the second, fourth and seventh.

Rankin also wrote Tell it to Jesus, which is almost as popular as God Be with You.

Little is known of the composer, William Gould Tomer. He was born on October 5, 1833. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War and then became a public school teacher in New Jersey. Serving as music director at the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington D.C., he was contacted by Ranking who sent him the text of the hymn, and Tomer set the tune as we sing it today. Later Tomer returned to New Jersey, where he spent the remainder of his life teaching school. His beloved hymn was sung at his own funeral, in 1896.

The single vocal solo and choral version of God Be With You Till We Meet Again are available at HolySheetMusic.com.