"Oh, that I Had a Thousand Voices"
                    by Johann Mentzer, 1658-1734
                                    Text From:
                     THE LUTHERAN HYMNAL
        (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941)



        1. Oh, that I Had a Thousand Voices
        To praise my God with thousand tongues!
        My heart, which in the Lord rejoices,
        Would then proclaim in grateful songs
        To all, wherever I might be,
        What great things God hath done for me.

        2. Dear Father, endless praise I render
        For soul and body, strangely joined;
        I praise Thee Guardian kind and tender,
        For all the noble joys I find
        So richly spread on every side
        And freely for my use supplied.

        3. I praise Thee, Savior, whose compassion
        Hath brought Thee down to ransom me;
        Thy pitying heart sought my salvation,
        Though keenest woes were heaped on Thee,
        Brought me from bondage full release,
        Made me Thine own and gave me peace.

        4. Glory and praise, still onward reaching,
        Be Thine, O Spirit of all grace,
        Whose holy power and faithful teaching
        Give me among Thy saints a place!
        Whate'er of good by me is done
        Is of Thy grace and light alone.

        5. Shall I not, then, be filled with gladness?
        Shall I not praise Thee evermore
        And triumph over fear and sadness,
        E'en when my cup of woe runs o'er?
        Though heaven and earth shall pass away,
        Thy loving'kindness stands for aye.

        

        Notes:
        Hymn #243 from _The Lutheran Hymnal_
        Text: Ps. 148:1
        Author: Johann Mentzer, 1704, cento
        Translated by: composite
        Titled: "O dass ich tausend Zungen haette"
        Composer: Kornelius Dretzel, 1731
        Tune: "O dass ich tausend"