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By
Theodore Brown Hewitt, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of German
Williams College
New Haven
Yale University Press
London: Humphrey Milford
Oxford University Press
Mdccccxviii
First Edition Copyright 1918 by Yale University Press
Second Edition Copyright © Concordia Publishing House, 1976
A portion of the expense of printing this thesis has been borne by the Modern Language Club of Yale University from funds placed at its disposal by the generosity of Mr. George E. Dimock, of Elizabeth, N. J., a graduate of Yale in the class of 1874.
TO
B. A. F. H.
Das deutsche Lied ist einzig,
Ein Schatz für Geist und Herz, Gehoben aus den Tiefen, Wo Freude wohnt und Schmerz. Kein andres Volk auf Erden Genosz des Schicksals Gunst, Solch einen Schatz zu sammeln, Reich an Natur und Kunst. |
So far as is known to the writer of this thesis there has appeared hitherto no attempt to treat comprehensively and in detail the subject of the direct and indirect influence of Paul Gerhardt's hymns upon English and American sacred song. That there exists a very real influence is universally known, but how widely it has made itself felt is apparently a matter of little concern on the part of many, because we often find hymnals accrediting a hymn to the English translator with no mention of its original author. The present dissertation has been prompted by a desire to make some contribution to the subject of the relation of English and German hymnody in general, and in particular to show the great debt which the hymnody of England and America owes to the poetry of Paul Gerhardt. It was presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Yale University in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in June, 1917.
For great assistance rendered to me by way of suggestion of sources I
am under obligation to Dr. Bernard C. Steiner of the Enoch Pratt Free
Library of Baltimore, Professor Gustav Gruener of Yale University, Professor
Waldo S. Pratt of the Hartford Theological Seminary, Professor
H. C. G. von Jagemann of Harvard University and to Professor John G.
Robertson of the University of London; for help not only in this phase
New Haven, Connecticut,
April 9, 1918.
Allg. deutsche Biographie, 1875 ff: article by Berthau.
Bachmann, D. J. F.: Paul Gerhardt. Vortrag im Evangel. Verein für kirchliche Zwecke. Nebst 18 Liedern v. P. Gerhardt. Berlin, Schlawitz, 1863.
Bachmann, J. F.: Gerhardts Gedichte: Historisch-kritische Ausgabe. Berlin, 1866, 1886.
Benson, L. F.: The English Hymn. New York, 1915.
Blätter für Hymnologie: A. F. W. Fischer and J. Linke, 1883-1889.
Bode, Wilhelm: Quellennachweis über die Lieder des hannoverschen und des lüneburgischen Gesangbuches, samt den dazu gehörigen Singweisen. Hannover, 1881.
Bötticher, G.: Die Literatur d. 17. jh. Angew. u. erläutert, 3 verb. Auflage. (Denkmäler e. älteren dtsch. Lit. IV, i.)
Bunsen, Chr. Karl Josias, Freiherr von: Versuch eines allgemeinen Gesang- u. Gebetbuchs. Hamburg, 1833. Allgemeines evang. Gesang- u. Gebetbuch. Hamburg, 1846.
Burdach, A.: A monograph, in Deutsch-Evangelische Blätter 32. pp. 179-84 (giving reasons for fixing May 27, 1676, as the date of Gerhardt's death).
Crüger, Johann: Geistliche Kirchenmelodien, 1649.
" ": Praxis Pietatis Melica, 1648 etc.
" ": Geistliche Andachten, pub. by Ebeling, 1666-1667.
Cunz: Geschichte des Kirchenliedes. Leipzig, 1855.
Deutsche Nationallitteratur by J. Kürschner: Vol. 31,--Das deutsche Kirchenlied des 16. u. 17. Jahrhunderts.
Dietz: Tabellarische Nachweisung des Liederbestandes. Marburg, 1904.
Ebeling, J. G.: Pauli Gerhardi Geistliche Andachten. Berlin, 1667 etc.
Eckart, R.: P. Gerhardt--Bibliographie.
" ": Stimmen u. Schriften über P. Gerhardt.
" ": Ein Nachklang z. Jubiläumsjahr, 1907.
Feustking, Joh. Heinr.: Gerhardts Geistreiche Haus- und Kirchenlieder. Zerbst, 1707.
Fischer-Tümpel: Das deutsche evangel. Kirchenlied des 17. jahrh. Gütersloh, 1906.
Gerok, Karl: Gedichte von P. Gerhardt, mit Einleitung u. Lebensabrisz. 6. Auflage. Leipzig, 1907.
Gervinus, G. G. Geschichte der deutschen Nationalliteratur. ed. 1842, pt. III, p. 366.
" ": Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung, 1871, vol. III, p. 460 ff.
Geyer, P.: Paul Gerhardts Geistliche Lieder, in Neue Kirchliche Zeitschrift 18, pp. 177-199. 1907.
Goedeke, Karl: Gedichte von Paul Gerhardt mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen, in Deutsche Dichter des 17. Jahrhunderts, vol. XII. Leipzig, 1877.
" ": Zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung III, p. 182. Dresden.
" ": Grundrisz zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung, vol. II, III. Dresden, 1884, 1887.
Günther, R.: Über Deutung und Änderung einiger Stellen in Paul Gerhardts Liedern, in Monatsschrift für Gottesdienst und Kunst 11, pp. 343-348.
Hahne, F.: P. Gerhardt u. A. Buchner, in Euphorion 15, pp. 19-34, 1907. (A good article on Gerhardt's metre.)
Haupt, E.: Der Konflikt zwischen P. Gerhardt u. d. Groszen Kurfürsten, in Deutsch-Evangelische Blätter, 32, pp. 80-98.
Herford, C. H.: Studies in the literary relations of England and Germany in the sixteenth century. Cambridge, 1886.
Herrmann, P.: Deutsche Dichter u. Gedichte auf Island, in Unterhaltungsbeilage der Täglichen Rundschau. Berlin, 1907, N. 147-8. (Das Lied v. Kaiser Friedrich Rotbart--Paul Gerhardt--F. de la Motte-Fouqué.)
Jahresberichte für neuere deutsche Literaturgeschichte. Stuttgart, Leipzig, Berlin, 1890 ff.
Julian, J.: Dictionary of Hymnology. Scribners, New York, 1892.
Kaiser, Her. v. P.: Paul Gerhardts sämtl. Lieder. (Hessische Volksbücherei, vol. 339-345.)
Kawerau, G.: Paul Gerhardt: ein Erinnerungsblatt, in Schriften des Vereins für Reformationsgeschichte, pp. 92-97. Halle, 1907.
Kelly, J.: Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs. London, 1867.
Kirchner, J.: Die Lieder P. Gerhardts, in Evangelisches Schulblatt 55, pp. 31 ff.
" ": P. Gerhardts Gattin und Sohn: ib. pp. 236-242. (Anna Maria geb. Berthold u. Paul Friedrich Gerhardt.)
" ": Gerhardt inmitten seiner Leidensgenossen. In Studierstube 5, pp. 184-193.
" ": P. Gerhardt. In Beiträge zur Literaturgeschichte, Heft 51. Leipzig, 1907.
Knipfer, P.: Paul Gerhardt. Leipzig, 1906.
Koch, E. E.: Geschichte des Kirchenliedes und Kirchengesangs der christlichen insbesondere der deutschen evangelischen Kirche. 1847, 1852, 1866-9.
Kraft: an article in Ersch u. Gruber's Allg. Enzyklopädie. 1855.
Krapp, L.: a monograph in Gottesminne 5, pp. 540-560.
Krummacher, F. W.: an article in Piper's Evangelische Kalender, pp. 204 ff. Berlin, 1866.
Kübler, Theodore: Historical Notes to the Lyra Germanica. London, 1865.
Langbecker, E. Chr. C.: Leben und Lieder von Paulus Gerhardt. Berlin, 1842.
Lippelt, W.: Ein eigenhändiger Brief P. Gerhardts nach Lübben im Autographenhandel. Niederlausitz Mitt. 10, pp. 61-62.
Massie, R.: Lyra Domestica. London, 1860, 1864.
Monatsschrift für Gottesdienst und Kunst. (Paul Gerhardt Heft.) 1907, 12. N. 3. (Monographs on the relation of composers and artists to Gerhardt.)
Nelle, W.: Gerhardt, Rist, Tersteegen, Gellert in unseren heutigen Gesangbüchern, in Monatsschrift für Gottesdienst und Kunst 10, pp. 141-151; 189-191; 250.
Niebeling, F.: Paul Gerhardt u. seine Lieder nach Text u. Melodie, in Deutsch-evangelische Rundschau, 1907.
Pachaly, P.: Die Form der Gerhardtschen Lyrik. In Euphorion 14, pp. 502-506. 1907.
Pahnke, K. H.: Paul Gerhardt, ein Idealist des Glaubens, in Idealisten u. Idealismus des Christentums, pp. 100-128. Tübingen, 1903.
Petrich, Hermann: Paul Gerhardt, seine Lieder u. seine Zeit. Gütersloh, 1907.
" ": Der Dichter u. seine Kunst. Gütersloh, Bertelsmann, pp. 267-304.
" ": Paul Gerhardt. Ein Beitrag z. Gesch. d. deutschen Geistes. Gütersloh, Bertelsmann XIV, 360 p.
Pick, B.: Lyra Gerhardti; or selection of P. Gerhardt's spiritual songs: a memorial leaf. Burlington, Iowa, German Literary Board, 12°, 1907.
Reclam, Ph.: Gerhardts Gedichte, in the "Universal-Bibliothek."
Ritschl, A.: Geschichte des Pietismus. Bonn, 1880, 1884, 1885.
Rogge, B.: P. Gerhardt, der christl. Liederdichter. In Deutsch-evangel. Charakter-bilder. 2. Aufl. Altenburg, 1903, pp. 151-160.
Roth, E. G.: P. Gerhardt, nach seinem Leben und Wirken. Leipzig, 1829.
Schaff-Gilman: Library of Religious Poetry. 1881.
Schaff-Herzog: Encycl. of Religious Knowledge. New York, 1894.
Scherer, Wilhelm: Geschichte der deutschen Literatur. Berlin, 1899.
Schirks, W.: Paul Gerhardt, ein Lebens- und Charakterbild. In Theol. Stud. u. Kritik, 1855.
Schmidt, Friedrich: Paul Gerhardts Geistliche Lieder. Leipzig, Reclam, 1884.
Schultze, O.: Paul Gerhardt und der grosze Kurfürst. Berlin, 1840.
" ": Paul Gerhardts Geistliche Andachten. Berlin, 1842.
Smend, J.: Paul Gerhardt u. das evangelische Kirchenlied. In Der Protestantismus am Ende des 19. Jahrh. I, p. 301 ff.
Spitta, F.: Paul Gerhardt und S. Bach, in Monatsschrift für Pastoraltheologie.
Steinhausen, H.: P. Gerhardt u. sein Denkmal, in Kunstwart 161, pp. 538-541.
Trepte, E. W. H.: Paul Gerhardt: Eine biographische Skizze. Delitzsch, 1829.
Wackernagel, Philipp: Paul Gerhardts Geistliche Lieder, herausgegeben von Ph. Wackernagel. Stuttgart, 1843. (9. Aufl. herausg. v. W. Tümpel. Gütersloh, 1907.)
Wackernagel, Ph.: Das deutsche Kirchenlied von der ältesten Zeit bis zu Anfang des XVII Jahrhunderts. Leipzig, 1864-1877.
Wackernagel, Wilhelm: Geschichte d. deutschen Litteratur. Basel, 1894.
Waldberg, M. F.: Renaissance-Lyrik. Heidelberg, 1888.
Wernle, P.: Paulus Gerhardt, in Religionsgeschichtl. Volksbücher IV, Heft 2. Tübingen, 1907.
Wildenhahn, K. A.: Paul Gerhardt, Kirchengeschichtliches Lebensbild aus der Zeit des groszen Kurfürsten. 1845. (This has been translated by Mrs. Stanley Carr, 1856.)
Wimmer, C.: Gerhardts Leben. Altenburg, 1723.
Winkworth, Catherine: Lyra Germanica. First Series, 1855. Second Series, 1858.
" ": Chorale Book for England, 1863.
" ": Christian Singers of Germany. Macmillan, 1869.
Zschnarack: Paul Gerhardt, in Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart 2, pp. 1314-1317.
For a complete list of the biographical sketches, monographs, etc., which appeared in 1907 on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Gerhardt's birth, cf. Jahresberichte für neuere deutsche Literaturgeschichte, Vols. XVI-XVII, 1906-1907.
Paul Gerhardts Geistliche Lieder in neuen Weisen von Fr. Mergner. 30 ausgewählte Lieder von Karl Schmidt. Leipzig, C. Deichert, 1907.
1607 (
1622-1627 At school at Grimma.
1628-1642 (?) Student at Wittenberg. Teachers: Röber, Martini.
1637 Gräfenhainichen set on fire by Swedish soldiers.
1642-1651 (?) At Berlin; where he wrote Gelegenheitsgedichte, 18 of which Crüger published in his "Praxis pietatis melica."
1651 Proposed as minister at Mittenwalde.
1651 (Nov.) Ordained as Probst at Mittenwalde.
1655 (Feb. 11) Marriage with Anna Maria Barthold.
1656 (Oct.) Called to Berlin to the Nicolalkirche.
1657 (Summer) Entered upon work in Berlin.
1662 Elector issues edict.
1666 (Feb. 6th or 16th) Summoned to Consistory and threatened with deposition.
1668 (
1668 (Autumn) Called to Lübben.
1676 (May 27?) Death at Lübben.
Although Paul Gerhardt's poems have been so great a power in the
world, nevertheless facts concerning his own life are few. A fire set by the
Swedish soldiers in 1637
He was born in Gräfenhainichen a few miles southwest of Wittenberg in the direction of Halle on March 12th in the year 1607 probably. In this small town, of the electorate of Saxony, which was surrounded by a high mediaeval wall, Paul Gerhardt spent the first fifteen years of his life. His father, Christian Gerhardt, was burgomaster of Gräfenhainichen where the citizens earned their living by cattle-raising, agriculture and hopgrowing. His mother was Dorothea Starke, granddaughter of Gallas Döbler, a Lutheran pastor. Both of his parents died probably when he was very young; and of his many brothers and sisters little is known.
At the age of fifteen having passed the examinations and being especially well prepared in Latin Gerhardt entered the Fürstenschule at Grimma. The school was noted for its pious atmosphere and stern discipline: its chief aim was to inculcate in the pupils "Gottesfurcht und gute Sitte."
It is natural that Gerhardt on completing his course at Grimma in 1627
should choose Wittenberg as his university, for it was situated almost at
the gates of his native town. Furthermore since this was the place where
Luther
and Melanchthon had worked, the Protestant world looked toward
Wittenberg with great hopes. He entered the university in 1628. Two of
the teachers in particular had great influence on him, Paul Röber and Jacob
Martini. These men were guardians of Lutheranism, and Röber besides
composing hymns wrote many Latin disputations and polemics against
Rome and Calvinism; in his sermons he often took his text, not from
the Bible but from some religious poem, preaching for example on "Was
mein Gott will, das gescheh allzeit." In this way Gerhardt was taught the
More is not known concerning his university career. A Latin epigram
of the year 1642 points to the probability of his being still at Wittenberg,
vhile the certainty of his being in Berlin the next year 1643 is proved by a
Hochzeitsode.
Among his friends was the well
known choirmaster of the Nicolaikirche, Johann Crüger, who first
introduced Gerhardt's hymns into common worship by publishing
eighteen
"Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld"
Goed. 68.
"O du allersüszte Freude" Goed. 76.
"O Welt sieh hier dein Leben" Goed. 71.
"Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe" Goed. 59.
In these early poems Gerhardt's depth of feeling and natural warmth of character are present. Since his twelfth year the Thirty Years' War, a period of destruction unparalleled in Germany history, had been going on. The horrors of the epoch made deep impression upon his imaginative mind, and the strife, the struggle for freedom of the conscience enlisted his sympathy and strengthened his determined resistance to all religious compulsion. The hope and joy in this life were taken away and confidence in another world was needed. Gerhardt even in these early hymns gave fully that deep assurance in the guidance of God.
He himself had suffered individual loss. The Swedes in 1637 determined
to punish Johann Georg, the Elector of Saxony, because he, in spite of a
signed contract with them, had deserted the Protestant cause, and in their
ravages they appeared before Gräfenhainichen and demanded a war tax of
3000 Gulden. It was paid, but notwithstanding the payment the Swedish
Whether Gerhardt felt the pinch of distress of the war, or hesitated to
enter a field already crowded with a superabundance of young clergymen,
or for what reason he stayed so long in Berlin as tutor is not known, but
he was already forty-five years old when he began his first church work.
In a letter of the clerical cabinet ("Geistliches Ministerium") of Berlin to
the magistrate of Mittenwalde (Sept. 1651) Gerhardt was proposed as
minister and he is characterized as being of "well known diligence and
scholarship, of peace loving disposition and blameless life, besides being
loved and esteemed by both high and low in Berlin." Upon the successful
outcome of this recommendation Gerhardt was ordained "Propst"
The community of Mittenwalde had suffered severely in 1637 as had
Gräfenhainichen from the Swedish marauders and attacks of pestilence,
and Paul Gerhardt undertook his duties here with full understanding of
this universal suffering, and fulfilled them with all his strength. The poems
which he wrote at this time give evidence of a tender, yet strong pastoral
care. He was a spiritual guide and comforter, yet in spite of his ardent
work in Mittenwalde he apparently yearned for Berlin, and often returned
thither to visit. On February 11th, 1655, at the age of forty-eight he
married Anna Maria Barthold, daughter of Andreas Barthold and sister of
Frau Fromme.
That same year Gerhardt accepted the deaconry at the Nicolaikirche in Berlin, and began his work in the summer of 1657. He seems to have had some hesitation about leaving Mittenwalde, because it was only "after fervent prayer and mature deliberation," that he accepted the call to Berlin. However, without doubt he and Frau Gerhardt were glad to be again among such friends as Georg Lilius and Michael Schirmer whose tastes were so similar to their own.
When Gerhardt came to Berlin he entered a city full of sharp strife
between the Lutheran and the Reformed clergy; the Great Elector was by
inheritance and by education in the Netherlands where he spent four years
strongly in favor of the Reformed Church. Gerhardt on the other hand
Gerhardt did not seek the quarrel, but was drawn forcibly into it; he was concerned throughout the controversy in keeping a clear conscience and preserving the confession of the Lutheran Church. In all the documents that were issued in this period between the Magistrate, the "Stünde" and the Elector it is said of him that he was always pacific and conciliatory. Being a strong adherent of all the symbolic books, including the Book of Concord, he could not conscientiously sign the edict. He was accordingly dismissed. The citizens of Berlin espoused his cause and appealed to the Magistrate who testified that Gerhardt had never "scorned nor rebuked the faith of the Elector." Also his influential patron, Mayor Zarlang, tried to reinstate him, but Gerhardt could not renounce his adherence to the Concordienformel, so in 1666 his position was filled by another. Nor on the other hand can the Elector be blamed for his stand; he wished only to have peace between the adherents of the two beliefs, and was sincere in the thought that the Concordienformel merely fomented strife.
For some years Gerhardt lived in Berlin without any position, supported
by his friends in his congregation. He was, however, the victim of inevitable
circumstances, for although within a few months of his resignation the
edict was withdrawn, his patroness, Electress Luise Henriette, had died.
All of his children had died in infancy except Paul Friedrich who survived
him, and in March, 1668, his wife died who had been as strong a follower
of the Lutheran Faith as he, and had encouraged him in his stand of not
signing the edict.
Schreibt, liebe Herre, schreibt,
dasz Ihr in der Pfarre bleibt.
Gerhardt took into his home as housekeeper the widow of his brother-in-law
Fromme.
Gerhardt died the 27th of May, 1676, with the prayer on his lips:
Kann uns doch kein Tod nicht tödten,
Sondern reiszt unsern Geist Aus viel tausend Nöten; Schleuszt das Thor der bittern Leiden Und macht Balm, Da man kann Gehn zur Himmelsfreuden. |
He was buried in the vault of the Lübben church.
Shortly before his death, in his seventieth year, he composed a sort of
testament or will of a moral nature for his own Paul in which he hoped to
leave little of this world's goods, but an honorable name of which his son
might not be ashamed. He commends to the boy the study of theology at
reputable universities and also the avoidance of the
Syncretists,
In a memorial service to Gerhardt in 1876, a tablet was put up on the north wall of the chancel of the church at Lübben; and his portrait hung there bears this inscription:
Theologus in cribro Satanae versatus.
The Nicolaikirche in Berlin and the other churches where he held charge have portraits of Gerhardt on their walls. Also among the many memorials to him are charitable foundations in Mittenwalde, Wittenberg and Berlin bearing his name. To these tributes the present generation, now, three centuries later, adds its praise and gratitude.
The history of hymnody in Germany up to the time of Gerhardt falls naturally into two periods which might be called the Mediaeval Period, extending from the beginning of the eighth century to the end of the fifteenth century, and the Reformation Period covering the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth centuries.
The Hymns used in the services of the early church in Germany were, for obvious reasons, Latin hymns, for St. Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, though of English birth, entered Germany by the way of Rome. It was a Latin Christianity which he preached and the church services were, of course, those of the Mother Church. While the general use of the Latin language was favorable to preserving the unity of the Church and facilitated literary intercourse among scholars, this circumstance prevented for a long time the free and full development of a hymnody in the vernacular. The innate love of poetry, however, produced many sacred lyrics for private devotion and caused to be made metrical translations of Latin hymns and portions of the Psalter. In the consideration of the earlier period of hymnody reference will be made to a few Latin hymns, which though not of German authorship were yet used in the religious services of the Germans and had some influence in the development of the German vernacular hymnody. And in this consideration of hymns and hymn writers it will be convenient in the main to follow the chronological order.
Probably it cannot be known what and when Latin hymns were first translated into modern languages. If the statement made by Dean Milman in a footnote of his Latin Christianity, that the hymns of Ambrose were translated into German in the ninth century, is well founded, then probably the "Deus Creator omnium" and "Aeterne rerum Conditor," which are undoubtedly by Ambrose, were among the earliest of Latin poems to be so translated.
The oldest German poet is the Benedictine monk, Otfrid of Weissenburg,
who was born about the beginning of the ninth century, according to some
authorities in Franconia, according to others near the Lake of Constance.
A celebrated Latin hymn of early date, which is known to have been used
as early as 898, is the "Veni Creator Spiritus"; it has been constantly sung
throughout Christendom at the consecration of kings and at great ecclesiastical
solemnities. It has been ascribed to Charlemagne, Charles the Bald,
Gregory the Great and various others.
To this early period belongs Notker of St. Gall, called Balbulus, the "Stammerer," who was born in Switzerland about 840 and died in 912. He wrote in Latin and was the originator of a form of Latin hymnody called "sequentia" or "prosa," which, when translated into German, gave rise to the earliest German hymns with which we are acquainted. Whenever in the eucharistic service a "Hallelujah" was introduced it had been customary to prolong the last syllable and to sing on the vowel "ah" a series of elaborate passages to represent an outburst of jubilant feeling. These were termed "sequences" because they followed the "Hallelujah" and repeated its notes. They were of course without words and what Notker did was to write words for them. Notker was characterized as a man of gentle, contemplative nature and "accustomed to find spiritual and poetical suggestions in common sights and sounds." One of the most remarkable of his sequences, "Media vita in morte sumus," is said to have been suggested to him while observing some workmen constructing a bridge in a precipitous and most dangerous place. This sequence was long used as a battle-song; one of Luther's funeral hymns, "Mitten wir im Leben sind," is a translation of it and portions of the Burial Service of the Church of England are taken from it. St. Gall, which was for a long time the especial seat of German religious literature, produced besides Notker several distinguished sequence-writers, presumably his pupils, Hartmann, Hermann, and Gottschalk. To Gottschalk has been ascribed the "Alleluiatic Sequence ("Cantemus cuncti") well known in England by the translation, "The strain upraise of joy and praise."
An early example of the change of sequences from a rhythmical to a metrical form is seen in the so-called "Golden Sequence," "Veni Sancte Spiritus," called by Archbishop Trench "the loveliest of all the hymns in the whole circle of Latin sacred poetry." Tradition assigns its authorship to Robert II, King of France (997-1031). Its merit is attested by the many translations made of it into German, English and other Ianguages.
By the beginning of the tenth century the impulse given to the arts by
Charlemagne had gradually died out and the state of society had become so
disorganized that for two centuries after the time of Notker the field of
literature was comparatively barren. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
however, mark a great change and form an era of rapid growth. Germany
was now ruled by the Hohenstauffens, whose dream it was to prove themselves
true heirs of Charlemagne by re-establishing the Empire of the West.
As a result of their participation in the common life of Christendom, very
largely through the influence of the crusades, came the development of
chivalry and a national literature, the first great outburst of German poetry
and song. A large class (more than two hundred) of minnesingers sprang
up who glorified earthly and heavenly love and the Virgin Mary as the
type of pure womanhood. In the church too the voice of native song now
made itself heard. The "Kyrie eleison" and "Christe eleison" which
passed from the Greek church into the Latin, as a response of the people,
to be repeated over and over again, especially on the high festivals, were
popularly enlarged, and these brief poems were called from the refrain
"Kirleison" or "Leisen," also "Leichen."
Unser trohtin hat farsalt
sancte Petre giwalt Daz er mag ginerjan zeimo dingenten man. Kyrie eleyson! Christe eleison. |
The twelfth century produced the "Salve Caput cruentatum" of Bernard
of Clairvaux,--a hymn which has come to us by Paul
Gerhardt,
In the following century appeared two widely celebrated compositions, the "Dies irae" and the "Stabat Mater dolorosa." These, as well as many others of the best Latin hymns, such as the "Te Deum" and the "Gloria in excelsis," were repeatedly translated. Occasionally words of the original Latin were introduced into the vernacular as in the Christmas hymn:
In dulci jubilo
Nu singet und seyt fro! Unsres Herzens Wonne Leyt in presipio Und leuchtet in gremio. Alpha es et O. |
The mystic school of
Tauler,
in the fourteenth century produced a number
of hymns full of glowing love to God. Tauler is the author of the Christmas
poem,
"Uns kommt ein Schiff geladen"
and the hymn of Self Renunciation,
"Ich musz die Creaturen fliehen,"
both of which have passed into
English, the best versions being those of
Miss Winkworth.
Of unusual sweetness and abiding worth are the hymns of Heinrich von Laufenburg, the most important and prolific hymn writer of the fifteenth century. Many are in intricate metres, while others are transformations of secular songs into religious songs. His cradle hymn, "Ach lieber Herre Jesu Christ," is a beautiful prayer of a mother for her infant child, and has become well known in England through Miss Winkworth's translation.
German hymnody of the Middle Ages is, like the Latin, overflowing
with the worship of the saints and the Virgin who is even clothed with
divine attributes and is virtually accorded the place of Christ as the
fountain of grace. In characterizing the period Wackernagel
says
"Through all the centuries from Otfrid to Luther we meet with the idolatrous worship of the Virgin Mary. There are hymns which teach that she pre-existed with God at the creation, that all things are created in her and for her and that God rested in her on the seventh day."
One of the favorite hymns to the Virgin, "Dich Frau von Himmel, ruf ich an," Hans Sachs subsequently changed into "Christum vom Himmel ruf ich an," a change strikingly characteristic of the effect which the Reformation exerted upon the worship of the Virgin Mary. It substituted for it the worship of Christ as the sole Mediator through whom men attain eternal life.
Guizot in his History of European Civilization calls the Reformation an
insurrection of the human mind against the absolute power of spiritual
He began to write hymns soon after he had completed his New Testament
translation and from this time on he was an active reformer of church
music and hymns, enlisting in the same work the large circle of friends
whom he gathered about him. Luther had recourse to the Latin hymns,
adapting and translating many of those which would lend themselves best
to his purposes. Altogether he wrote thirty-seven hymns, most of them dating
from the year 1524; more are frequently ascribed to him though on
doubtful authority. Luther's hymns which are characterized by simplicity
and strength, had a popular churchly tone; his style is plain and often
rugged and quaint but he throws into his poems all his own fervent faith
and deep devotion. His most famous hymn
"Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott,"
written in 1529 when the German princes made their formal Protest
against the revocation of their liberties, thus gaining the name of
Protestants, has passed into English hymnody in no less than sixty-three
versions.
Of the many hymnists inspired by Luther's example the more eminent were Justus Jonas, Luther's friend and colleague in the preparation of metrical German versions of the Psalms, Paul Eber, the faithful assistant of Melanchthon, Markgraf Albrecht of Brandenburg, Hans Sachs, the shoemaker, and later Gerhardt.
The German hymnody of the Reformation period was enriched by the
hymns of the
Bohemian and Moravian Brethren,
who as followers of John
Huss, had in 1467 formed themselves into a separate and organized church;
their archbishop Lucas in 1501 collected hymns and published the first hymn
book in the vernacular to be found in Bohemia or Germany. The adherents
of this cult are commonly called Moravians, because the first founders of
the settlement in Saxony immigrated from Moravia. They assumed this
name in England and America and it is very largely through their hymn
book
The Lutheran hymnody which followed closely upon the Moravian contributions
concluded its productive period with the
Formula of Concord
The hymns from this time to the close of the Thirty Years' War are of
a more subjective
Near the close of the war, when the hope of peace had begun to dawn,
Martin Rinckart
(1586-1649) composed that noble expression of trust and praise,
"Nun danket alle Gott."
It has been translated many times and is
included in nearly all American and English hymnals. The hymn of trust
in Providence by Neumarck (1621-1681),
"Wer nur den lieben Gott läszt walten,"
is hardly inferior to that of Gerhardt on the same
theme.
The two most famous and most copious hymn writers of this time were
however
Rist and
Heermann;
the former wrote between 600 and 700 hymns,
such as were intended to supply every possible requirement of public worship
or private experience. In so great a mass of writings it is inevitable
that there should be much that is poor, but over 200 may be said to be in
While the Lutheran churches were superior to the Reformed churches
of Germany and Switzerland in original hymnody, they were inferior to
them in the matter of psalmody. Zwingli and Calvin held firmly to the
principle that in public worship the word God should have supreme
dominion, a principle which raised the Psalter to new dignity and power.
Versified versions of the Psalms became the first hymn books of the Reformed
Churches.
Simon Dach was the last poet of any note to write in the Reformation period of German hymnody. After him a new era of poetry, the Confessional (1648-1680), opens and it is at this time that Paul Gerhardt appears. He, however, although living in the midst of this churchly atmosphere, profound in Lutheran orthodoxy, feels the tendencies of a still later period, that of the Devotional era. Like many other great men he saw beyond his time. He combined in his poems all the strong qualities of the century in which he lived, and of the later epoch, the period of the Pietists.
From the close of the Thirty Years' War until 1680 there occurred in
German hymnody a transition from the churchly and confessional to
the pietistic and devotional hymns.
"He went back to Luther's most genuine type of hymn in such a manner as no one else had done, only so far modified as the requirements of his time demanded. In Luther's time the belief in Free Grace and the work of the Atonement in Redemption and the bursting of the gates of Hell was the inspiration of his joyful confidence; with Gerhardt it is the belief in the Love of God. With Luther the old wrathful God of the Romanists assumed the heavenly aspect of grace and mercy; with Gerhardt the merciful Righteous One is a gentle loving man. Like the old poets of the people he is sincerely and unconstrainedly pious, naive and hearty; the blissfulness of his faith makes him benign and amiable; in his way of writing he is as attractive, simple and pleasing as in his way of thinking."
Scherer
"Geistlicher Ernst des Vortrags schlieszt Heiterkeit des Gemütes nicht
aus, und diese bildet in der That den sittlichen Grundcharakter von Gethardts
Poesie. Wenn bei Luther die Welt voll Sturm und Gewitter ist,
so liegt sie bei Gerhardt in beständigem Sonnenglanz; die Wohltaten des
Gerhardt sings his hymns with conviction, embodying in them such phases of feeling as might be experienced by any large body of sincere Christians. In all the religious lyrics even in the congregational hymns from the middle of the seventeenth century on we note a more personal and individual tone and with it a tendency to reproduce special forms of Christian experience often of a mystical character. Gerhardt's whole tone and style of thought belong to the confessional school, but the distinct individuality and expression of personal sentiment which are impressed on his poems already point to the devotional school.
Many of our poet's hymns show the influence of
Opitz' Trostgedichte in
Widerwärtigkeit des Krieges. Critics
Compared with most authors of his time Gerhardt wrote but little. His
contemporary,
Rist (1607-1667), and his successor,
Schmolk (1672-1737),
composed respectively 659 and 1188 hymns, while Gerhardt has the modest
number of 132 poems in all.
Of these 132 poems a large proportion have become embodied in church
music of Germany and many of them may be counted among the most
beautiful in German hymnody. How widely they have been adopted into
general use is shown by the fact that in modern hymnals in Germany there
appear either in expanded or cento form,
Rarely has there been, taking all in all, a time when there existed a
greater gulf between poets and their effusions than in the XVIIth century.
Most poets of that time gave forth what they had learned and what they
knew,--not what they really were. Theirs was a play of the intellect and
imagination on objects outside them. Hence their works displayed a universal
lack of inner truth. In the biographical sketch of Gerhardt we have
given a broken account of his life. Different from this is the story of the
individual in his poems which are his very personality. His work is not
what he learned from others. Instead, he gives us his own life unadorned
Luther sang: "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott," but Gerhardt has:
"Ist Gott für mich, so trete,"
Mention has several times been made of Luther
Although Gerhardt's hymns are written in the vernacular of the XVIIth
century, at a time when many of the forms characteristic of the writers of
the two preceding centuries still survived, nevertheless his hymns are
remarkably free from the tendency of this period to use words coined from
foreign tongues. He belongs to no poetic school or literary circle of the
"Er war ein Gast auf Erden
Gerhardt's poems are all permeated with this hope for future happiness in Heaven and with a childlike joy in this hope. He may sing of the beauties of summer, yet with that his thoughts go further and he soon begins to reflect upon the greater beauties of Heaven. In his "Reiselied" (Goed. 248) he begins by urging on his horse; suddenly he changes from the beauties of the hill and vale to the joy of eternity. Even in an uncouth poem about health (Goed. 244) appear the lines:
"Gib mir meine Lebenszeit
Ohne sonderm Leide, Und dort in der Ewigkeit Die vollkommene Freude!" |
We have said that biblical phraseology plays a large part in Gerhardt's
hymns. In fact many lines are a direct translation of passages in scripture.
In two or three of them a single dogma appears very plainly, but elsewhere
pure doctrine is the basis of each poem. God is a friendly and gracious
God, not a "bear or lion,"
"Sollt aber dein und unser Feind
An dem, was dein Herz gut gemeint, Beginnen sich zu rächen: Ist das mein Trost, dasz seinen Zorn Du leichtlich könnest brechen." |
The Redeemer is mentioned in barely half of Gerhardt's poems. It has therefore been often said that the poet esteemed the graces of Redemption less than those of Creation. He is fully conscious of the former, hence he can resign himself to the latter and dwell upon them in all their phases. On the basis of the Atonement there springs up in his mind the whole Christian life with all its experiences of salvation, consolation, patience, mastery of sin and suffering. Since he does not sing solely for church worship, but for family devotion and for personal edification, he necessarily must observe and discourse upon the various vicissitudes of life in sickness and health, in strife and peace.
Inasmuch as Gerhardt is a poet of unusually fine feeling for the rhythmical and melodious peculiarities of the German tongue, he appreciates the interdependence of verse rhythm and thought showing always a nicety in choosing the right word to suit the measure. The lines:
"Nun ruhen aller Wälder,
Vieh, Menschen, Stadt, und Felder . . ." |
are at once suggestive of Nature in repose. The harmonious connection of
words of kindred meaning, "Ruh und Rast," "Gnad und Gunst,"
In observing certain defects such as the awkwardness and imperfect rhyme in the couplet:
"Aber nun steh ich
Bin munter und frölich." |
even Gerhardt's most devoted admirers must regret that he did not feel the
necessity of giving to his verses the final rounding-off, or did not possess
the ability to do so. Yet what many critics have regarded as faults, must,
when fairly analyzed, be recognized as contributing much to the effect and as
being in accord with the Sprachpoesie of the people. For example, the
richness in alliteration, "Ich mein Heil und Hülfe
hab,"
"Dasz ich dich möge Eir und für
In, bei und an mir tragen." |
Just as Gerhardt was a loyal devotee to his mother-tongue, so also he stood
aloof from the tendency of his time to adopt foreign characteristics in
verse. Only twice
Our poet has shown preference for the older German strophes which
belong to popular poetry and had most firmly held their own in the spiritual
song because of its relation to the Volkslied and also for the Nibelungen
strophe of eight lines. Eighteen
Gerhardt was essentially a "Gelegenheitsdichter," a poet of occasions,
choosing for his themes the various vicissitudes of life and such events
as would present themselves to an earnest pastor devoted to the flock under
his care. We may define him more precisely as a poet of consolation, for
at least seventeen of his hymns are to be classed as "Songs of the Cross and
Consolation,"
Merkst du nicht des Satans List?
Er will durch sein Kämpfen Deinen Trost, Dir erworben, dämpfen. |
At other times the meaning is apparently the ground of confidence or
reliance, as in the line: "Dein Arm ist mein Trost gewesen."
Lasz deine Frömmigkeit
Sein meinen Trost und Freud. |
By enumeration we find the use of "Freude" 161 times; of "Freudenlicht" (-quell, -schein, etc.) 33 times; of "freuen" and "erfreuen" 22 times; of "froh," "frö(h)lich," "freudig," "freudenvoll," "selig," etc. 50 times; of other kindred expressions, such as "Lust," "Wonne," "Seligkeit," "Freudigkeit," etc. 8 times. Stanza VI of the "Adventgesang" (Goed. 108) is a fair example of Gerhardt's fondness for singing of joys both temporal and spiritual:
Aller Trost und aller Freude
Ruht in dir, Herr Jesu Christ; Dein Erfreuen ist die Weide, Da man sich recht frölich iszt. Leuchte mir, o Freudenlicht, Ehe mir mein Herze bricht; Lasz mich, Herr, an dir erquicken! Jesu, komm, lasz dich erblicken! |
Compare with this the lines from the hymn based on Johann Arndt's "Gebet um Geduld in groszem Creutz" (Goed. 209):
St. XIV. |
"O heilger Geist, du Freudenöl,
Das Gott vom Himmel schicket, Erfreue mich, gib meiner Seel Was Mark und Bein erquicket! Du bist der Geist der Herrlichkeit, Weiszt, was für Freud und Seligkeit Mein in dem Himmel warte." |
A pastor and poet whose spirit amidst the hardships of the war can not only remain undaunted but bring so large a measure of cheer to his flock is indeed destined to have an immortal name. It was the everpresent hardships of war, however, that made him long not merely for an earthly peace but also for spiritual rest. As an advocate of peace and contentment he has among his contemporaries no equal. Having hoped and prayed during the war for a cessation of hostilities and horrors he could at last burst forth at the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia in his magnificent
Gott Lob! nun ist erschollen
Das edle Fried- und Freudenswort." |
Furthermore he preaches patience and contentment with life's experiences.
Notably does this appear in the poem "Gib dich zufrieden"
(Goed. 274)
where each stanza has these words as the refrain. Taking as his theme "Rest
in the Lord, and wait patiently for him"
(
Aside from the hymns of Cross and Consolation discussed
above,
However, within this limited knowledge nature appears to him as of independent grandeur, wholly subservient to God and freely enjoyed by all Christians. In his life, too, as well as in his songs, Gerhardt is open to all the world and is at all times sensible to the appreciation of nature. It is a noteworthy characteristic of him that in one glance he includes with sense of fitness and artistic certainty both large and small, the most sublime and the most commonplace. In this wise he sings:
Die Erd ist fruchtbar, bringt herfür
Korn, Oel, Most, Brot, Wein und Bier, Was Gott gefällt. |
(Goed. 139, 49 ff.) |
To Gerhardt the world lies in continual sunshine.
The other direction of the subjectivity of Gerhardt's writing is that of
the family life. In a time so bereft of virtues as the XVIIth century the
firmly grounded idea of the home must be given first place. His own family
life, cheered by domestic felicity, and the many contributions he made to
occasional poetry bear testimony to this. For married life he sings the
Die Werke, die sie hie verrichtt,
Sind wie ein schönes helles Licht; Sie dringen bis zu Himmelspfort Und werden leuchten hier und dort. |
Before Gerhardt,
Mathesius
For the dying he allays the fear of death; man is but a stranger on
earth,
Was solls denn nun, O Jesu, sein,
Dasz mich der Tod so schrecket? Hat doch Elisa Todtenbein, Was todt war, auferwecket: Viel mehr wirst du, den Trost hab ich, Zum Leben kräftig rüsten mich; Drum schlaf ich ein mit Freuden. |
In hymnody both before and since Gerhardt there has often been a vivid
portrayal of the tortures of hell to terrify the soul. Gerhardt scrupulously
avoids this and is therefore able to reduce everything to the simplicity of
beauty. Every pain and every punishment in which his poems abound at once
lose their bitterness because on them is reflected the sunlight of God's
love. Gerhardt towers above his time in that amid all his despondent
fellow-men he is always fearless and shows a cheerful heart reliant on God;
The candid reader must admit that there is evident in some passages of
Gerhardt's poetry a certain dogmatic constraint, ("Gebundenheit"). The
devil
Der alles schuf und noch erhält;" (Goed.
310, 37-38).
Critics have sought in vain for traces of poetic development in Gerhardt's work. Such findings as have been claimed can be regarded only as more or less probable conjecture, a fact which shows that his personality was immediately poetically endowed, giving itself out whenever it composed poetry. If his individuality shows no development as such, his poetry can bear no marks of development.
It has often been said that "Gerhardt had and sought no laurels"; nor was he ever "hailed as the Homer or Vergil of his time." As he knew neither himself nor the greatness of his gift, so his contemporaries failed to appreciate him. He never regarded himself as a poet by calling as did Opitz, Johann Franck and Rist, but only a poet by avocation. To quote Goethe, he sang "as the bird sings that lives in the branches." In the same proportion that Gerhardt's poetry brought strength and comfort in the grievous period of the Thirty Years' War and later eras of confusion, it is destined through the present world disaster to bring its message of hope.
Any direct traces of literary intercourse between Germany and England before the XVIth century are hard to find; however, with the invention of printing, the establishment of the universities, the Renaissance and the Reformation the literary relations were increased and became important.
In the wide region of satire which was at that time serious and often steeped in theological ideas Germany's works left enduring traces. Brant's "Narrenschiff" translated in the first years of the century helped essentially in accelerating the development of this type of literature in England: reprinted there after an interval of sixty years it was still an inexhaustible model of satire. Another source of dramatic effect destined to have great success on the English stage was found in some hero endowed with supernatural powers, such as Faustus. Thus by introducing a new class of situations into English drama the unusually gifted Germany of the sixteenth century was of great moment for its neighbor, England. Not a little of the quality of the Minnelied, too, reappears in much of the verse of the English lyric writers of this century, when the rose, the nightingale and daisy serve as interpretations of the play of love. In the Mystery Plays there existed doubtless germs of the Meistersänger school: the occasional strophic passages in the Towneley plays resembled to a great extent the normal Meistergesang. This germ, however, did not develop markedly because in England the cultivation of poetry never became a serious occupation. These literary influences from Germany in satire, in Minnelied and in Meistergesang had direct effect upon English intellectual life, and continued uninterrupted through the centuries. The record, on the other hand, of German influence in History, Lyrics and Hymns was more broken and disconnected.
In order to get the story of the development of the hymn we must go back a little. Church music in the mediaeval times belonged to the choir, not to the congregation. The choral hymns in England, as in Germany, were in Latin and many of them were exceedingly beautiful. Although the early English Church received from the continent the most of the Latin hymns used in its service, nevertheless there were a few English authors of Latin hymns. Among this number were Bede, commonly called Venerable Bede (673-735?) who wrote "Adeste, Christi, vocibus," and Anselm of Canterbury, a great architect and theologian, and Thomas à Becket. While psalms and hymns have been used by the Christian Church since its beginning, the particular form of psalms and hymns now in use originated with the Reformation. A wonderful development of this religious lyric poetry sprang up in England and Germany at the beginning of the XVIth century. The reformers in both countries were chiefly concerned in simplifying religious worship, and in giving to the laity a more active participation in it; the choir and anthem, the old liturgic hymn and antiphonal chant gave way to a great extent to hymns in the vernacular, set to the simplest music and sung by the whole congregation. This change was first made by Luther and eagerly copied in England.
When Miles Coverdale in his ungifted way translated Luther's hymns into English his unpoetical and lumbering versions were ill received and were soon proscribed by the Crown. Sternhold and Hopkins who were translators of the psalms became more noticed, but their versions too seem to have been deficient in taste and feeling of lyric poetry. The criticism of the poet Campbell seems to be justified when he says of the authors that "with the best intentions and the worst taste they degraded the spirit of Hebrew Psalmody by flat and homely phraseology; and mistaking vulgarity for simplicity turned into bathos what they found sublime." Although these bleak translations were read in England for a time, they soon disappeared leaving only small traces which were picked up by Wesley more than two centuries later.
So with the royal proscription of Coverdale's work
An example will show the nature and degree of Coverdale's imitation.
Here is the first stanza of his version of "Ein' feste Burg":
"Oure God is a defence and towre
A good armour and good weapen,
He hath ben ever oure helpe and sucoure
In all the troubles that we have ben in.
Therefore wyl we never drede
For any wonderous dede
By water or by londe
In hilles or the sea-sonde.
Our God hath them al i his hond."
This disappearance in England of the work of the Reformers in church
music was due not only to the lack of great translators but also to many
other causes. Early in the Renaissance England came to think of the Reformation
as her own movement, and therefore casting aside all suggestions
from other countries wished to study history and hymns of English sources
only. The few men at this time who recognized Germany as the mother
country of the Reformation and a seat of literary accomplishments had no
wide influence in England. All German residents in England belonged
exclusively to the commercial class and brought no literary influence with
them; also a reason for the literary alienation at this time was the fact
that Germany did not enter the religious wars in which Englishmen were so
deeply interested. To men like Jonson and Fletcher Germany was famous only
as a land of magicians and conjurers such as Paracelsus and Dr. Faustus. In
short, for nearly two centuries England knew little of Germany except what
booksellers found it to their profit to advertise on their sign directories
as the "wonderful strange Newes from Germany," and the satires of Brant,
Dedekind, and Fischart.
Another most vital cause of the retardation of the development of hymnody
in Great Britain so soon after the Reformation was the example and
influence of Geneva. Calvin was organizing his ecclesiastical system at
Geneva, and introduced into it Marot's Psalter
In spite of the fact that Luther had little influence on English literature in the early Reformation his hymns came to their own in England in the middle of the XVIIIth century. In the meantime, although the English people used the stern canons of Calvin, they began to feel the want of a more lyric hymn. While German Protestantism had developed at once a rich hymnody there was actually no English hymnody until the XVIIIth century. Isaac Watts, a representative of the English Independents, may be justly considered the real founder of modern English hymnody. He was the first to understand the nature of the want, and by the publication of his Hymns in 1707-1709 and Psalms (hymns founded on psalms) he led the way in providing for this want. His immediate followers were Simon Browne and Doddridge; and later in the century Grigg, Miss Steele, Beddome and Swain succeeded them. Of these writers Watts and Doddridge are certainly preeminent, the hymns of the former are of unusual fervor and strong simplicity, and those of Doddridge while perhaps more artificial in general than those of his predecessor Watts are nevertheless distinguished by their graceful style.
About 1738 came the "Methodist" movement which afterward became divided
into three sects, the Arminian under John Wesley,
those who adhered to the Moravians,
After determining upon missionary lives John and Charles Wesley embarked on October 14, 1735, for the new colony of Georgia. Among their fellow passengers were twenty-six Moravian colonists, who in all the changes of weather, especially during storms, made a great deal of hymn singing. John Wesley was much impressed with the fervor and piety of these hymns and with their spiritual possibilities. One of the German sources which had great influence upon Wesleyan hymnody was Freylinghausen's Geist-reiches Gesang-Buch (Halle 1704 and 1714). John Wesley introduced hymn singing into the "companies" formed in Georgia and his first hymn book appeared as a Collection of Psalms and Hymns. Charles-Town 1737, without his name. Of the seventy lyrics in the book, one half are from Watts, fifteen of the remainder are hymns of the Wesleys, five of which were translated from the German by John Wesley. In his third collection printed in England in 1750 the immediate impression the hymns produce is that of foreignness because of the many lengthy stanzas and the unusual metres. The reason for this is the fact that the authorities insisted that the melodies sung at Herrnhut be kept, irrespective of the language in which they might be sung. Although Charles Wesley knew no German, and therefore derived his impressions of the Moravian hymnody indirectly, nevertheless he caught much of its tone and manner and its atmosphere of confiding love. In all he wrote about 6500 hymns, through a large portion of which may be traced this Moravian influence.
Of great value to English hymnody are the contributions of the Calvinistic Methodists, and few writers of hymns have had higher gifts than A. M. Toplady, the author of "Rock of Ages." His hymns have the same warmth, richness and spirituality as German hymns, and are meditations after the German manner, owing direct obligation to German originals. During the first quarter of the nineteenth century came the practice of hymnodists of altering without scruple the compositions of other men, notably Latin and German hymn writers, to suit their own doctrines and tastes, with the result all too often of spoiling the originals thus altered, though English hymnody was undoubtedly enriched by this process of adaptation.
Two publications in 1827, Bishop Heber's Hymns and Keble's
Christian Year
introduced a new epoch into English hymnody, destroying the barrier
Beside the improvement in the standard of taste, additional interest in
hymnody had been aroused by the prominence given to congregational
singing in English churches. "To love hymns in eighteenth century Scotland
was to be accused of heresy: in England, it was to be convicted of
that worse thing, 'enthusiasm.'" Since the days of Luther Germany had
given her hymns general esteem, but in England it was the middle of the
nineteenth century before hymns won anything like popular favor. The
congregational hymn in England is the direct although exceedingly slow
outgrowth of the German Reformation but it must be borne in mind that
the foundations of congregational singing were laid even before Luther.
When the Hussites in Bohemia created this hymnody in the vernacular
their hymns were designed for worshippers rather than for the
choir.
German hymns and chorals had a place in the Church Psalter and Hymn
Book of William Mercer of Sheffield (1854). One who took much interest in
its preparation was
James Montgomery of whom mention has already been
made.
If general congregational singing after the manner that prevailed in
Germany for so long has been an incentive to the development of English
hymnody, the interest in German hymnody has at the same time been
quickened by the good work done in Frances E. Cox's Sacred Hymns from
the German (1841) and Henry J. Buckoll's Hymns translated from the
Bachmann = Bachmann: Gerhardts Geistliche Lieder, 1866.
C.B. = Chorale Book for England, by Catherine Winkworth, 1863.
C.P.&H.Bk. = Mercer's Church Psalter and Hymn Book, 1854 etc.
Crü.Praxis = Crüger's Praxis pietatis melica, Berlin and Frankfurt a/M. 1648 etc.
Crü.--Runge = Runge's edition of the above.
Ebeling = P. Gerhardi Geistliche Andachten, 1667 etc. (The numbers following the date refer to the "dozen" in which the poem appeared. Cf. p. 15 and note 6 [elec. ed. note 2].)
G.B. = Gesangbuch.
G.L.S. = Geistlicher Liederschatz, 1832.
Goed. = Goedeke: Gedichte von Paulus Gerhardt, 1877. (In this thesis the poems are numbered according to the page on which they begin in this Goedeke text.)
H.L.L. = Hymns from the Land of Luther, by Mrs. Findlater and Miss Jane Borthwick, 1854 etc.
H.Bk. = Hymn Book.
Kelly = J. Kelly: Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs, 1867.
Lib.R.P. = Library of Religious Poetry, 1881.
Lyra Ger. = Lyra Germanica, by Miss Winkworth, 1855 etc.
Songs of G. and G. = Songs of Grace and Glory, by Charles B. Snepp, 1872.
st. = stanza.
Unv.L.S. = Unverfälschter Liedersegen, Berlin, 1851.
Wackernagel = Wackernagel: Gerhardts Geistliche Lieder, 1843.
When merely the translator's name is given, the complete title of the work is usually to be found in the respective biographical note in the Appendix, pp. 144 ff.
The citation of hymn books is by no means exhaustive. Selections from Gerhardt's hymns are to be found in nearly all modern hymnals. The aim has been to give mainly those which first included versions of his hymns.
As a rule, the German stanzas are indicated by the Roman numerals I, II, III, etc., the English stanzas by the Arabic 1, 2, 3, etc.
While the first influence of Gerhardt on English hymnody dates from
the earlier part of the XVIIIth century it was not until the middle
of the following century
A parallel arrangement of these various versions reveals the following interesting facts. First, that literalness has been rarely attained for the reason that a certain measure of freedom has to be used in any metrical rendering. Some, as for example, Dr. J. Kelly, have striven to maintain fidelity to the sense of the original and thereby have often sacrificed euphony to fidelity. Secondly, there has been made necessary the frequent use of the double rhymes which are as common in the German language, on account of its peculiar structure, as monosyllabic rhymes are in English. The limited number of double rhymes in English has presented a serious obstacle in the way of rendering German hymns with their native force and simplicity without which qualities the hymns cannot become truly naturalized. In so many cases have the German hymns and tunes been considered as one and inseparable, that the translators have sought to preserve the original metres for the sake of the tunes which would not of course admit of any deviation without harm to their characteristic beauty.
In the following pages we shall discuss those of Gerhardt's hymns (84
in number) which have been translated into English, and cite in most cases
the hymn books which have been among the first to recognize the excellence
of the English versions.
Appeared in the Crü. Praxis, 1656, p. 650.
1. By J. Kelly, under the heading, "Under the vexations of the wicked prosperous world," the first stanza as follows:
Ah! lovely innocence, how evil art thou deemed,
How lightly oft thy work by all the world's esteem'd! Thou servest God, thy Lord, and to His word thou cleavest. For this, from men thou nought but scorn and hate receivest. |
This translation is somewhat labored as is especially evident in line 4 above for the German:
"Darüber höhnt man dich und drückt dich aller Orten." |
Goedeke in his note to this hymn points out that from the use of the
Alexandrine verse, the freedom from biblical phraseology and from the
generality of the expressions it is probable that this is one of Gerhardt's
earliest poems composed at a time when he patterned his writings after the
model of Opitz.
Appeared in Crü.--Runge, 1653, no. 299.
This fervent appeal for protection during the Thirty Years' War has been translated into English only by J. Kelly 1867, p. 246. In line 36 he renders (from the Wackernagel text which he used):
"Behold! my heart, on every hand." |
As mein Herr is very evidently the proper reading from the sense of the context and the character of the other stanzas, it is unfortunate that his otherwise excellent rendering should be made to suffer by this one weak stanza.
"Protection of God in hitherto dangerous times of war."
Stanza 1. |
How heavy is the burden made
That Thou upon our backs hast laid, O God! the Lord of Hosts, O God, whose anger rises high 'Gainst workers of iniquity. |
Appeared in Crü.--Runge, 1653, no. 315.
This poem and "Nun ist der Regen hin" (cf. Goed. 17, below) were both written during the Thirty Years' War and inspired by the same occasion. Gerhardt in two instances uses the same set of rhymes:
Goed. 15 | Goed. 17 | ||||
l. | 1 | zelt | l. | 31 | feld |
2 | feld | 32 | zelt | ||
51 | bekehrt | 5 | gekehrt | ||
52 | erhört | 6 | erhöret |
The long metre lends itself well to English translation, and Kelly in his English version has observed with precision the pleading and melancholy tone of the original.
Stanza 1. | O God! who dost Heav'n's sceptre wield,
What is it that now makes our field, And everything that it doth bear, Such sad and ruined aspect wear? |
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 294. |
His last stanza forms by its fervor an even stronger conclusion than Gerhardt's. The alteration from "bis in unsern Tod" to "as long as we may live" is a decided improvement, and more consistent with the thought of the context:
Verleih uns bis in unsern Tod
Alltäglich unser liebes Brot Und dermaleins nach diser Zeit Das süsze Brot der Ewigkeit! |
And, Lord, as long as we may live
Our daily bread in bounty give And when the end of time we see The bread give of eternity. |
First published in Crü.--Runge, 1653, no. 315.
This simple nature poem expressing to the Almighty thanks for gracious sunshine after a storm has appeared but once in English verse, the version of J. Kelly, 1867, p. 298. The many poetic allusions and references to nature he has imitated very acceptably, at times even surpassing the thought of the original. In the first stanza the rhymes "gekehret" and "erhöret" have been especially aptly rendered by the accented ed in "turnéd" and spurnéd."
Stanza 1. |
Now gone is all the rain,
Rejoice my heart again, Sing after times of sadness To God thy Lord with gladness! Our God His heart hath turned Our pray'r He hath not spurned |
How successfully Kelly has caught the spirit of Gerhardt's nature description is evident in stanza 9:
Die Bäume werden schön
In ihrer Fülle stehen, Die Berge werden flieszen, Und Wein und Oele gieszen, Das Bienlein wird wol tragen Bei guten warmen Tagen. |
The trees so very fair
Fruit-laden will stand there; From hill-sides like a river Will wine and oil flow ever In warm and quiet weather Will bees their honey gather. |
[New Year.]
Evidently written during the Thirty Years' War. It first appeared in Crü.--Runge, 1653, no. 106, in 15 stanzas of 4 lines; thence in Wackernagel: no. 12; Bachmann: no. 24; Berlin G. L. S.: 1863, no. 200.
In full, by J. Kelly,
1867, p. 45. From this 8 stanzas are included
in the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880.
In the Suppl. to Ger. Psal., 1765, p. 4, and Select Hymns from Ger. Psal., Tranquebar, 1754, p. 7. In the Moravian Hymn Bk., 1789, no. 507 (1849, no. 1106) greatly altered and beginning, "Year after year commenceth."
R. Massie in the British Herald, Jan., 1865, p. 8.
E. Massie, 1867, p. 168.
Dr. R. Maguire, 1883, p. 24.
Appeared in the Crü. Praxis, 1656, no. 814.
This hymn of consolation seems to refer to some particular disaster that
had befallen the community during the Thirty Years' War. The "drum"
The poem has been well translated in full by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 230. He makes no attempt to render the doubtful meaning above referred to in the word "drum." On the other hand his interpretations of several rather obscure lines (cf. lines 29 and 43 below) are undoubtedly correct.
Stanza 1. | Thou must not altogether be
O'ercome by sad vexation, God soon will cause to shine on thee The light of consolation. In patience wait, and be thou still And let the Lord do what He will, He never can do evil. |
Lines 29, 30
Drum fährt uns Gott durch unsern Sinn
Und läszt uns Weh geschehen;
God therefore all our joys doth blight.
Lets trials overtake us, |
and lines 43, 44:
Drum falle, du betrübtes Heer,
In Demut für Ihm nieder;
Afflicted band! oh, fall ye now
With contrite hearts before Him, |
In this last citation Kelly is right in assuming it is not literally the "army" but rather the congregation or community that Gerhardt is here addressing.
This poem was appended to an address delivered in Berlin on the 23d of March, 1648, at the funeral of Peter Fritzen, the President of the Consistory.
1. | On thy bier how calm thou'rt sleeping
Yet thou livest, oh our crown! Watch eternal art thou keeping, Standing near thy Savior's throne. Endless joy thy portion now! Why should tears so freely flow? What should thus in sorrow sink us? Up! aright let us bethink us! |
A complete translation by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 338.
Taken from the "Salve mundi salutare," ascribed to St. Bernard of
Clairvaux.
The whole poem has been frequently translated into German. The best known translations are those by Paul Gerhardt, which are free versions of all the seven parts from the Latin text of 1609. Of Gerhardt's versions, nos. I, V, VI, and VII have passed into English, as follows:
This appeared in the 5th ed., Berlin, 1653, and the Frankfort ed., 1656, of Crü. Praxis, no. 150; thence in Wackernagel: no. 16; Bachmann: no. 48; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 116.
In pt. I of the Moravian H. Bk. 1754. Repeated in later editions.
A. T. Russell in his Psalms and Hymns, 1851.
Appeared in the Frankf. ed., 1656, of Crü. Praxis; thence in Wackernagel: no. 20; Bachmann: no. 52.
Mrs. Stanley Carr in her translation of Wildenhahn's Paul Gerhardt, ed. 1856, p. 116.
R. Massie in the British Herald, Feb., 1865, p. 18.
Appeared in the Frankf. ed., 1656, of Crü. Praxis, no. 155; thence in Wackernagel: no. 21; Bachmann: no. 53; Berlin, G. L. S.: 1863, no. 258.
R. Massie in the British Herald, May, 1866, p. 260.
[Lent.]
Founded on
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 83.
Miss Winkworth, 1869, p. 210.
[See Appendix.]
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1648, no. 37.
This Prayer for favor in judgment is based on
1. | Lord, lend a gracious ear
To my desire sincere From heart all free from guile And glad me with Thy smile, Accept my petition. |
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 92. |
His rendering of the similes and metaphors of this hymn is especially good. Cf. stanza VI:
Betrachte, wer ich bin,
Im Hui fahr ich dahin, Zerbrechlich wie ein Glas, Vergänglich wie ein Gras Ein Wind kann mich fällen. |
Consider what we be--
A moment, what are we? As brittle as frail glass As fading as the grass, By a breath we're swept off. |
and in stanza X:
Ich lechze wie ein Land, | I'm like a thirsty land, |
also stanza XI:
Gleich wie auf der Heid
Ein Hirsch . . . | Like hart upon the heath . . . |
[New Year.]
Based on
Miss Cox, 1841, p. 21, from Bunsen.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 43.
[Passiontide.]
Cf. Koch IV, 161, 711, 787. First published in Crü. Praxis,
1648, no. 119, in 16 stanzas of 8 lines, reprinted in Wackernagel:
no. 15; Bachmann: no. 8; Unv. L. S.:
A free translation in long metre by J. Wesley, of stanzas I, III, IV, VI, VIII-XI, XVI, in Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1740 (P. Works, 1868-72, Vol. I, p. 232), and thence in the Wesleyan H. Bk., 1780, and since in other hymn books of the Methodists. The translation of stanzas IX-XI, XVI, beginning "My Savior, how shall I proclaim" were included in the American Sabbath Hymn Book, 1858, and the Baptist Service of Song, Boston, 1871.
A translation by P. H. Molther of stanzas I-X in the Moravian H. Bk., 1742, 1754. In the 1789 and 1886 eds. it is altered to "See, World, upon the shameful tree." The hymn appears in several English hymn books in different abridged forms.
A good translation omitting stanza VII, by Miss Winkworth, in the 2d Series, 1858, of her Lyra Ger., and thence in Schaff's Christ in Song ed. 1869, p. 174, and slightly altered and beginning:
"Lord, be Thy Cross before our sight." |
In Kennedy, 1863. |
In the Suppl. to Ger. Psalmody, ed. 1765, p. 16.
J. Gambold, as no. 442 in pt. I of the Moravian H. Bk., 1754. Altered to "O World, see thy Creator." (1886, no. 94.)
J. D. Burns, in the Family Treasury, 1859, pt. I, p. 54, also in his Memoir and Remains, 1869, p. 246.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 54.
Dr. J. Guthrie, 1869, p. 87.
In Reid's Praise Book, 1872, no. 1009.
Dr. R. Maguire, 1883, p. 143.
J. Gambold in Part I of the 1734 edition of the Moravian Hymn Book.
1. | O World! attention lend it,
Thy Life's on Cross suspended Thy Healer sinks in death: The sov'reign Prince of Glory (Tis no fictitious story) With Shame and torment yields his Breath. |
P. H. Molther in Part I of the 1754 edition of the Moravian Hymn Book.
1. | See, world, upon the bloody tree
Thy Life there sinks in Death, Cover'd with Stripes and wounds for thee Thy Savior yields his breath. |
2. | Behold his Body swims in blood;
Out of his tender Heart, Deep sighs and Groans he sends to God In his excessive smart. |
Note in the above stanzas the inconsistencies in capitalization.
Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica, 1858.
1. | Oh world! behold upon the tree
Thy Life is hanging now for thee, Thy Savior yields His dying breath; The mighty Prince of glory now For thee doth unresisting bow To cruel stripes, to scorn and death. |
[Easter.]
It appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1648, no. 141, in 9 stanzas.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 71.
H. L. Frothingham, in his Metrical Pieces, 1870, p. 228.
[Whitsuntide.]
First published in the 3d ed., 1648, of Crü. Praxis, no. 155 in 10 stanzas of 8 lines; thence in Wackernagel: no. 30; Bachmann: no. 10. Cf. Koch IV, 232.
This is a fine hymn of supplication to the Holy Spirit for His gifts and graces. It is widely popular in Germany, and is included in the Berlin G. L. S.: 1863, no. 366. Through the version of J. C. Jacobi it has also been very largely used in various forms, in Great Britain and America.
A full and good translation by J. C. Jacobi, in his Psal. Ger., 1725, pt. II, p. 6. Jacobi's stanzas I-IV, IX, X, were considerably altered, as "Holy Ghost, dispel our sadness," by A. M. Toplady, in the Gospel Magazine, June, 1776. In Sedgwick's ed. of Toplady's Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1860, p. 169, these stanzas appear:
The alteration in Sedgwick is, therefore, as follows:
Gerhardt: | I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | (VIII | IX) | X |
Toplady: | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
The hymn appears in many centos, though it usually begins with the first stanza of the text above, "Holy Ghost, dispel our sadness." There are many centos in the original metre, but other metre has been employed also, as:
(1) 8.7.8.7.4.7 metre. Cf. a greatly altered version of stanzas I, III, in Bickersteth's Christian Psalmody, 1883.
(2) 8.7.8.7. metre. 10 centos. Cf. Cong. H. Book, 1836, 2 stanzas, and Pennsylvania Lutheran Ch. Book, 1868, in 3 stanzas of 8 lines.
Other centos are:
(1) Holy Spirit, Source of gladness, in the American Unitarian Bk. of Hymns 1848, and other collections.
(2) Come, Thou Source of sweetest gladness, in Stopford Brooke's Christian Hymns, 1881. Both these centos are altered forms of the Jacobi-Toplady text.
A good translation, omitting stanzas VIII and IX, by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Ger., 2d Series, 1858, p. 55, and again, altered in metre, as "Sweetest Fount of holy gladness," in her C. B. for England, 1863, no. 73. In this, stanzas II and IV, as in Lyra Ger., are omitted. From this text is derived no. 408 of the American Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. Cf. also no. 105 in Stryker's Christian Chorals, N. Y., 1885, which is taken from the Chorale Book text.
J. C. Jacobi, 1722, altered by A. M. Toplady, 1776, in the Schaff-Gilman Library of Religious Poetry, 1881.
1. | Holy Ghost, dispel my sadness,
Pierce the clouds of sinful night; Come, thou source of sweetest gladness, Loving Spirit, God of peace! Great distributer of grace! Rest upon this congregation, Hear, oh, hear our supplication! |
Miss Winkworth, in her Chorale Book for England, 1863.
1. | Sweetest Fount of holy gladness,
Fairest light was ever shed Who alike in joy and sadness Leavest none unvisited; Spirit of the Highest God, Lord, from whom is life bestow'd, Who upholdest ev'rything, Hear me, hear me, while I sing. |
Appeared in Ebeling, 1648, no. 181.
It is based on the Apocryphal book Sirach I. 24, and inspired also
of course by the famous hymn of
Martin Rinckart
The only English version published is that of
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 238.
Stanza 1. | In grateful songs your voices raise,
All people here below, To Him whom angels ever praise In heav'n His glory show. |
The translation has much more flowery language than the original and is
far less direct, cf. "In grateful songs" as compared with "Nun danket all,"
and in the second stanza a virtual repetition of this "with gladsome songs
now fill the air" for the very forceful reflexive construction "Ermuntert
And may his blessing ever rest. |
and the last two lines of stanza 8:
Our portion when from earth we part,
To all eternity. |
In the closing stanza the translation by losing the fervor of Gerhardt's
verses is almost anticlimactic. The German is a fervent prayer that God
may close our eyes and appear to us in eternity, while the English, in too
evident an effort to effect a rhyme with rest, would seem to assign to the
Deity a place almost secondary in importance to "our eyes." Cf. stanza
9.
Uns unsre Augen zu
Und zeig uns drauf sein Angesicht
Dort in der ewign Ruh.
When sinks the heart, when strength decays,
By Him our eyes be press'd Then may we see His open face, In everlasting rest. |
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1648, no. 240.
Based on
1. | Twofold, Father, is my pray'r,
Twofold the desire I there Lay before Thee, who dost give What's good for us to receive; Grant the pray'r that Thou dost know, Ere my soul to Thee must go From the body's bands below. |
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 107. |
The rhyme of the German has offered great difficulties in the last three lines of each stanza. The translator's success in meeting this obstacle has been indifferent. Cf.:
stanza 2 | stanza 3 | stanza 4 | stanza 5 | stanza 6 |
poverty | mood | swell | artifice | graciously |
may | good | well | practices | me |
lay | bestowed | extol | is | be |
Based on the Apocryphal book Sirach, XXIII 1-6. It appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1648, no. 248.
1. | Creator, Father, Prince of might!
Who life to me art giving, Unless Thou guid'st my life aright In vain here am I living. For while I'm living I am dead, To sin devoted ever; Whose life in mire of sin is led, The true life he hath never Beheld one moment even. |
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 109. | |
2. | God, my Creator, and my Lord,
Thou Father of my spirit, To me thy constant grace afford, Or life--I well may fear it:-- Nay, e'en while living were I dead, And in my sins must perish; Whose with Christ, the living bread, Shall fail his soul to nourish, Must sink to death eternal. |
Dr. H. Mills in his Horae Germanicae, 1856. |
[Resignation]
It appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1648, no. 249, in 12 stanzas.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 219.
[Christian Contentment.]
Founded on
A free rendering by Mrs. Findlater and Miss Borthwick of stanzas I, II, VII-X, XIII, XV, in the first Series, 1854, of the H. L. L., p. 48 (1884, p. 50).
Miss Dunn, 1857, p. 85.
Miss Warner, 1858 (1861, p. 58).
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 155.
Mrs. Findlater (and Miss Borthwick) in their Hymns from the Land of Luther, 1884.
1. | Ah! grieve not so, nor so lament,
My soul! nor troubled sigh, Because some joys to others sent Thy Father may deny; Take all as love that seems severe-- There is no want if God is near. |
Based on
1. | For thee, Lord, pants my longing heart,
My hope and confidence Thou art; My hope can never shaken be, Nor e'er be put to shame by Thee. |
A full translation by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 88. This is one of the best pieces of interpretation as regards harmony and rhythm and the spirit of the original, that he has given us. Kelly is at his best in rendering the "long metre" hymns (cf. Goed. 260, 287, etc.). Stanza 9 is especially noteworthy:
Nun, Herr, ich bin dir wolbekannt,
Mein Geist, der schwebt in deiner Hand; Du siehst, wie meine Seele thränt Und sich nach deiner Hülfe selint. |
Ah! Lord full well Thou knowest me,
My spirit lives and moves in Thee; Thou seest how my bleeding heart Longs for the help Thou canst impart. |
Based on
1. | Lord! to Thee alone I raise
Evermore mine eager eyes, Upturn'd is my constant gaze To the hills that pierce the skies: To the hills whence flow to me Help and saving health from Thee! |
Stanza 1 of the complete translation by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 135.
[Thanksgiving for the Proclamation of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 after the Thirty Years' War.]
It appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1653, no. 401, 1656, no. 409, in 6 stanzas of 12 lines; Wackernagel: no. 64; Bachmann: no. 84; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 589.
1. | Thank God it hath resounded,
The blessed voice of joy and Peace! And murder's reign is bounded, And spear and sword at last may cease. Bright hope is breaking o'er us Arise, my land once more, And sing in full-toned chorus Thy happy songs of yore; . . . |
Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Ger., 1858, p. 156, and her Chorale Book, 1863. Stanzas I, V, VI, form no. 49, in M. W. Stryker's Christian Chorals, 1885.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 251.
[For the Bereaved.]
This is a beautiful hymn for consolation of parents on the loss of a son The occasion of the poem was the death of Constantin Andreas, younger son of Johannes Berkov, pastor of St. Mary's Church, Berlin. It was first printed as one of the Dulcia amicorum solatia at the end of the funeral sermon by Georg Lilius, Berlin, 1650. Included in Ebeling, 1667, 6, no. 72, in 12 stanzas.
Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Ger., 1858, p. 123.
J. D. Burns, in the Family Treasury, p. 8, and his Remains, 1869, p. 249.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 333.
Dr. J. Guthrie, 1869, p. 100.
1. | Thou'rt mine, yes, still thou art mine own!
Who tells me thou art lost? But yet thou art not mine alone, I own that He who cross'd My hopes, hath greatest right in thee; Yea, though He ask and take from me Thee, O my son, my heart's delight, My wish, my thought, by day and night. |
Miss Winkworth, 1858. |
[Morning.]
Included in the Crü.--Runge, 1653, no. 7, in 10 stanzas of 5 lines; thence in Wackernagel: no. 100; Bachmann: no. 21; Berlin G. L. S.: 1863, no. 1063.
This is from the version in Bunsen's AlIg. G. B., 1846, no. 167; stanza 1 being from Gerhardt and stanzas 2, 3, from "Lobet den Herren, denn er ist sehr freundlich" (which Wackernagel quotes from a Nürnberg broadsheet about 1560). It appeared in the Dalston Hospital H. Bk., 1848, no. 55, signed "A. G."
H. J. Buckoll, 1842, p. 27.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 279.
[Advent.]
Suggested by
Miss Winkworth, omitting stanzas VIII-X, in her Lyra Ger., 2d Series, 1858, p. 6. In her C. B. for England, 1863, no. 153, the translation of stanzas III, V, XI, are omitted.
R. Massie, in Lyra Domestica, 1864, p. 90.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 5.
1. |
Wherefore dost Thou longer tarry
Blessed of the Lord afar? Would it were Thy will to enter To my heart, O Thou my Star, Thou my Jesus, Fount of pow'r, Helper in the needful hour! Sharpest wounds my heart is feeling, Touch them, Savior, with Thy healing! |
Miss Winkworth, 1858. |
[Whitsuntide.]
Cf. Koch IV, 231. Appeared in Crü.--Runge, 1653, no. 157, in 12 stanzas, viz: stanzas I-VIII, XII, XIII, XIV, XVI, of the full poem. Stanza XV was added in Ebeling, 1666-67, no. LXXX, and stanzas IX-XI in J. H. Feustking's ed., 1707. The full form in 16 stanzas is in Wackernagel: no. 32; and Bachmann: no. 25; and the Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 184. The hymn was undoubtedly written during the Thirty Years' War.
This is a free translation omitting stanzas X-XII, in pt. II, 1725, of J. C. Jacobi's Psalmodia Germanica, p. 9. In his ed. of 1732, it is greatly altered, and begins "In me resume thy dwelling." From this form the translations of stanzas I, VI, XVI, were included unaltered in the Scottish Evang. Union H. Bk., 1856.
A good translation omitting stanza IV, by Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Ger., 1st Series, 1855, p. 113. From this the translations of stanzas I, II, VIII, XII, were repeated in the Pennsylvania Luth. H. Bk., 1865.
A good translation by Miss Winkworth in her Chorale Book, of stanza I, II, V-VIII, XIV, XVI, based on her Lyra Ger. version. Included in full and unaltered as no. 482, 483 in Dr. Thomas' Augustine H. Bk., 1866. No. 483 begins "All love is thine, O Spirit" (stanza VII). In the Pennsylvania Luth. Ch. Bk., 1868, no. 250, is stanzas I-III, VI, VIII, and in the Ohio Luth. Hyl., 1880, no. 106, is stanzas I, II, V, XIV, XVI.
In Select H. from Ger. Psal., Tranquebar, 1754, p. 43, and the Suppl. to Ger. Psalt., ed. 1765, p. 26.
Miss Dunn, 1857, p. 104.
Miss Cox, 1864, p. 117.
Stanzas 1 of Miss Winkworth's versions are given below:
Come to Thy temple here on earth,
Be Thou my spirit's guest, Who givest us of mortal birth A second birth more blest; Spirit beloved, Thou mighty Lord, Who with the Father and the Son Reignest upon an equal throne, Art equally adored! |
O enter, Lord, Thy temple,
Be Thou my spirit's guest! Who at my birth didst give me A second birth more blest. Thou in the Godhead, Lord, Though here to dwell Thou deignest, Forever equal reignest, Art equally adored. | |
Lyra Ger., 1855. | Chorale Book, 1863. |
[
Appeared in Crü.--Runge, 1653, no. 183, in 10 stanzas.
Miss Burlingham, in the British Herald, Jan., 1866, p. 207, and as no. 423 in Reid's Praise Bk., 1872.
[Thanksgiving.]
Cf. Koch IV, p. 95. First published in Crü.--Runge, 1653, no. 186, in 18 stanzas of 4 lines; thence in Wackernagel: no. 85; Bachmann: no. 27; Crü. Praxis: 1656; Berlin G. L. S.: 1863.
Translated in full by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 225. A cento
in 6 stanzas is found in the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880, no. 364.
Stanzas XVII, XVIII, as no. 475, in part I of the Moravian H. Bk., 1754.
Appeared in the Suppl. to Ger. Psalmody, ed. 1765, p. 65. Included in the Moravian H. Bk., 1789, no. 802 (1886, no. 647), altered, and beginning: "I'll praise Thee with my heart and tongue."
Miss Manington, 1863, p. 108.
E. Massie, 1867.
Founded on
Stanza 1. | The Lord, the earth who ruleth,
And with His hand controlleth, Whose goodness never endeth, He watcheth me and tendeth. . . . |
A good and full translation by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 266, with a rather unusual combining of literality and metre, especially in stanza 9:
Du salbst mein Haupt mit Oele
Und füllest meine Seele, Die leer und dürstig sasze, Mit vollgeschenktem Masze. |
My head with oil anointest
My empty soul appointest Of every good and pleasure A full o'erflowing measure. |
(Cf. p. 108 ff.)
Appeared in Crü.--Runge, 1653, no. 241.
It would be inconceivable that Gerhardt should omit the
Stanza 1. | Bless'd is he who never taketh
Counsel of ungodly men! Bless'd, the right who ne'er forsaketh, Nor in sinners' paths is seen, Who the scorners' friendship spurns, From their seats away who turns, Who delight in God's word taketh, This his meditation maketh. |
Stanza 2. (Lines 1 & 2.) |
Bless'd is he who pleasure taketh
In God's laws' most perfect way. |
(Lines 1 & 2.) |
He will truly ever flourish
Who God's word delights to do. |
Stanza 4. (Lines 1 & 2) |
But he who in sin's ways goeth
Is like chaff the wind before. |
Appeared in Crü.--Runge, 1653, no. 243.
The
Stanza 1. | Bless'd is he the Lord who loveth,
At His word doth tremble aye! Bless'd whose heart him freely moveth God's commandments to obey. Who the Highest loves and fears, Findeth increase with the years. Of all that to him is given By the bounteous band of Heaven. |
Stanza 5. | When the black clouds o'er them lighten,
And the pealing thunders shock They shall sit and nought shall frighten, Like the dove hid in the rock; They'll remain eternally, And their memory shall be Upon every side extending, As their branches trees are sending. |
Cf. also lines 1 and 2 of stanza 2:
His dear children shall stand ever Wie die Rosen in der Blät. Like to roses in their blow; . . . |
Appeared in Crü.--Runge, 1653, no.*288, under the title "Trost in schwerer Anfechtung."
The only English version of this fervent hymn of consolation in despondency and temptation is that of J. Kelly, 1867, p. 195. Nearly every line has the force and directness of the original especially in the verses addressed to the Soul, charging it to defy the wiles of Satan and to seek strength and consolation in Nature's bounties. Gerhardt's poem is one of close introspection and self analysis, and the translator interprets with feeling its spirit of "Trost."
IN DESPONDENCY AND TEMPTATION. | |
Stanza 1. | Look up to thy God again,
Soul, sunk in affliction! Shall He be reproach'd by men Through thy sore dejection? Satan's wiles dost thou not see? By severe temptation, Gladly would he keep from thee Jesu's consolation. |
[Resignation to "what pleases God."]
First appeared in Crü.--Runge, 1653, no. 290, in 20 stanzas of 5 lines; thence in Wackernagel: no. 60; Bachmann: no. 37; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 723.
A good rendering of stanzas I, II, V, VI, VIII, XII, XV, XVIII, XX, by Mrs. Findlater in the 3d Series, 1858, of the H. L. L., p. 49 (1884, p. 170). Included in full in Bishop Ryle's Collection, 1860, no. 171, and abridged in Christian Hymns, Adelaide, 1872, and beginning "What God decrees, take patiently," in Kennedy, 1863, no. 1344.
Miss Dunn, 1857, p. 94.
Miss Winkworth, 1858, p. 193.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 189.
Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica, 1858. | Mrs. Findlater in her Hymns from the Land of Luther, 1884. | |||
1. | What pleases God, O pious soul,
Accept with joy; though thunders roll And tempests lower on every side, Thou knowest nought can thee betide But pleases God. | 1. | What God decrees, child of his love,
Take patiently, though it may prove The storm that wrecks thy treasure here;-- Be comforted! thou needst not fear What pleases God. | |
The best will is our Father's will,
And we may rest there calm and still, Oh make it hour by hour thine own, And wish for nought but that alone, Which pleases God. | 2. | The wisest will is God's own will:
Rest on this anchor, and be still; For peace around thy path shall flow, When only wishing here below What pleases God. | ||
3. | His thought is aye the wisest thought;
How oft man's wisdom comes to nought; Mistake or weakness in it lurks, It brings forth ill, and seldom works What pleases God. |
[Day of Judgment--Second Advent.]
Based on
A translation of stanzas III, IV, VI, VII, X-XIII, XVII, by Mrs. Charles in her Voice of Christian Life in Song, 1858, p. 242.
A translation of stanzas VII, VIII, in the Moravian H. Bk., 1789, (in later eds.) "I shall when time is o'er."
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 341.
[Christmas.]
At the Manger in Bethlehem. It appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1653, 1656, no. 101, in 15 stanzas.
(Stanza XI) in the Moravian H. Bk., 1789, no. 236.
Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Ger., 1858, p. 18.
Miss Manington, 1864, p. 41.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 26.
Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Germanica, 1858, p. 18.
GOD WITH US. | |
Stanza 1. | O Blessed Jesus! This
Thy lowly manger is The Paradise where oft my soul would feed: Here is the place, my Lord, Where lies the Eternal Word Clothed with our flesh, made like to us indeed. |
[Christmas.]
(Cf. Koch IV, p. 130.)
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1653 and 1656, no. 104, in 15 stanzas of 8 lines; reprinted in Wackernagel: no. 5; and Bachmann: no. 44; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 35.
Lauxmann, in Koch, VIII, 26, thus analyses it:
"First a trumpet blast: Christ is born, God's Champion
has appeared as
a Bridegroom from his chamber (I, II). In the following 4 stanzas the
poet seeks to set forth the mighty value of the Incarnation: is it not love
when God gives us the Son of His Love (III), the Kingdom of Joy (IV)
and His Fellowship (V)? Yes, it is indeed the Lamb of God who bears
the sin of the world (VI). Now he places himself as herald by the cradle
of the Divine Child (VII). He bids, as in
Crüger gave the hymn an original melody in 1656
(as in L. Erk's Choralbuch, 1863, no. 86), but the melody
generally used (in Church Hymns called
"Bonn") is that by J. G. Ebeling in the Geistliche Andachten, 1666, to
"Warum sollt ich mich derm grämen."
A good translation of stanzas I-III, VI-IX, by A. T. Russell, as no. 15, in the Dalston Hospital Hymn Bk., 1848, and repeated, in part, as no. 56, in his own Psalms and Hymns, 1851.
A beautiful, but rather free translation omitting stanzas III-V, XIII, XIV, by Miss Winkworth in the 2d series of her Lyra Ger., 1858, p. 13. In America it appeared in the Dutch Reformed Hymns of the Church, 1869, the Hymns and Songs of Praise, N. Y., 1874, etc. Parts have appeared also in the New Zealand Hymnal, 1872, the Evangelistic Hymnal, N. Y., 1890, and Laudes Domini, N. Y., 1884, etc. It is very generally included in cento form in nearly all current American hymnals.
A free translation by Dr. Kennedy in his Hymnologia Christiana, 1863, no. 100, omitting stanzas III-V, IX, XIII, XIV.
A translation in full, by Dr. M. Loy, in the Ohio Luth. Hymnal, 1880.
A translation of stanza V in the Moravian H. Bk., 1754, no. 435.
As a broadsheet for Christmas, 1770.
P. H. Molther, in the Moravian H. Bk., 1789 and 1886.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 18.
E. Massie, 1867, p. 24.
N. L. Frothingham, 1870, p. 260.
M. W. Stryker, 1883, p. 30.
A. T. Russell, in his Psalms and Hymns, 1851.
1. | Let the voice of glad thanksgiving
Upward rise, to the skies-- Praises from all living. Hark! the angel-choirs from heaven Hither fly! hark! they cry, Christ to earth is given! |
Miss Winkworth, 1858, in her Lyra Germanica.
1. | All my heart this night rejoices,
As I hear, far and near, Sweetest angel voices: "Christ is born," their choirs are singing, Till the air everywhere Now with joy is ringing. |
[Christmas.]
Included in Crü. Praxis: 1653, no. 105, 1656, no. 105, in 15 stanzas of 7 lines; Wackernagel: no. 9; Bachmann: no. 45; Berlin G. L. S.: 1863, no. 167.
This is a beautiful hymn in which the poet puts himself in the place of the shepherds and the wise men visiting Bethlehem; and in praise and adoration tenders his devotion, his love and his all to the Infant Savior in the manger.
1. Stanzas I, IV, VII, XV, have been translated by Rev. A. T. Russell in his Ps. and Hys., 1851, no. 57. His translation of stanza I is as follows:
My faith Thy lowly bed beholds,
My Life and my Salvation; Thee in my heart my faith enfolds, And brings Thee her oblation. My heart and soul, will, spirit, mind, Oh, take them all, to Thee resign'd: Make all to Thee well-pleasing. |
Miss Manington, 1864, p. 38.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 32.
[Passiontide. (The seven words from the Cross.)]
Founded on the hymn of J. Böschenstein: "Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund" (which was called a translation from the Latin of Peter Bolandus, "Stabat ad lignum crucis"). It appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1653, no. 137, 1656, no. 137, in 15 stanzas.
Dr. H. Mills, 1845, 1856, p. 309.
R. Massie, in the British Herald, Sept., 1865, p. 133.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 63.
Dr. H. Mills in his Horae Germanicae, 1856.
1. | Come now, my soul, thy thoughts engage
On what by Christ was spoken, When on the cross man's deadly rage With griefs his heart had broken. His words may prove A gift of love, The best his love could offer; Keep them in store, And learn their pow'r, When call'd thyself to suffer. |
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1656, no. 171.
1. | Be joyful all, both far and near,
Who lost were and dejected: To-day the Lord of glory here, Whom God Himself elected As our Redeemer, who His blood Upon the cross shed for our good, Hath from the grave arisen. |
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 75. |
This is stanza 1 of a complete translation of the seven stanzas of Gerhardt's Easter hymn, keeping well the spirit and fervor of the original, at the same time observing the literality in an unusually difficult metre. Cf. stanza 7:
Nu Gott sei Dank, der uns den Sieg
Durch Jesum hat gegeben Und uns den Frieden für den Krieg Und für den Tod das Leben Erworben, der die Sünd und Tod, Welt, Teufel, Höll und was in Not Uns stürzet, überwunden. |
Now praised be God, who vict'ry hath
To us through Jesus given, Who peace for war, and life for death, With entrance into Heaven, Hath purchas'd, who death, sin, and woe, World, devil, what our overthrow Would seek, for aye hath vanquish'd. |
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1656, no. 198.
Stanza 1. | O Father! send Thy spirit down,
Whom we are bidden by Thy Son To seek, from Thy high heaven; . . . |
A complete translation by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 78, a version of very varying excellence. For example, stanza 15 seems hopelessly weak when compared with the vigorous and simple German:
O selig, wer in dieser Welt
Läszt diesem Gaste Haus und Zelt In seiner Seel aufschlagen! Wer Ihn aufnimmt in dieser Zeit Den wird er dort zur ewgen Freud In Gottes Hütte tragen. |
Oh! happy are the souls and bless'd
Who while on earth permit this Guest To make in them His dwelling; Who now receive him joyfully, He'll take up to God's house on high, Their souls with rapture filling. |
On the other hand in stanza 5 the translator has coped very successfully with the many difficulties of rhyme and metre:
Und das ist auch ein Gnadenwerk
Und deines heilgen Geistes Stärk; In uns ist kein Vermögen. Wie bald würd unser Glaub und Treu, Herr, wo du uns nicht stündest bei Sich in die Aschen legen! |
This is a work of grace indeed,
The Holy Spirit's strength we need, Our pow'r is unavailing; Our faith and our sincerity Would soon, O Lord! in ashes lie Were not Thy help unfailing. |
[Trinity Sunday.]
Appeared in Crü. Praxis: 1653, no. 206, 1656, no. 212, in 8 stanzas of 9 lines; thence in Wackernagel: no. 1; Bachmann: no. 59; Berlin G. L. S.: 1863, no. 50.
A translation in full, by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 1.
R. Massie, in his Lyra Domestica, 1864, p. 87.
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1656, no. 365.
Translated by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 235, in seven stanzas of seven lines each.
The rhyme and metre have been altered after the first four lines in each
Stanza 1. | How long, Lord, in forgetfullness
And darkness wilt Thou leave me? How long will sorrow on me press And deep heart-anguish grieve me? Wilt Thou Thy face, Lord, utterly Turn from me? wilt ne'er look on me In grace and in compassion? |
[Love of Christ.]
Cf. Koch IV, 402, VIII, 294. Included in the 5th ed.,
Berlin, 1653, and the Frankfurt
ed., 1656, of Crü. Praxis, in 16 stanzas of 9 lines;
thence in Wackernagel: no. 45;
Bachmann: no. 73; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 771. This
is one of the finest hymns on
the Love of Christ. It is founded on Prayer V of Class II in
Johann Arndt's Paradiszgärtlein, 1612.
(A.) Wesley.
A full and very fine translation by
J. Wesley in Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739
(P. Works, 1868-72, vol. I, p. 138).
Centos of the Wesley version are:
(1.) O Love, how cheering is Thy ray. (Stanza III.)
Bk. of Hymns, Boston, U. S. A., 1848.
(2.) My Savior, Thou Thy love to me. (Stanza V.)
Moravian H. Bk., 1789.
(3.) More hard than marble is my heart. (Stanza VI.)
American Sabbath H. Bk., 1858.
(4.) O draw me, Savior, after Thee. (Stanza IX.)
Snepp's Songs of G. and G. Pennsylvania Luth. Ch. Bk., 1868.
(5.) O draw me, Father, after Thee. (Stanza IX altered.)
Bk. of Hymns, Boston, U. S. A., 1848. Amer. Unitarian H. Bk., 1869.
(6.) Still nigh me, O my Savior stand.
This stanza is taken from a hymn "Peace, doubting heart, my God's I am," by C. Wesley. To this is added in Snepp's Songs of G. and G., stanzas XII, XIV, XVI, and in J. L. Porter's Collection, 1876, stanzas XII, XV, XVI, of this translation of J. Wesley.
(7.) Thou Friend of Sinners! Who hast bought.
This is stanzas V, IV, XVI, rewritten by E. Osler and published in the Mitre H. Bk., 1836.
(B.) Other English versions:
In the Suppl. to German Psal., ed. 1765, p. 29, and the Moravian H. Bk., 1754 (and with slight change in the ed. of 1789, and 1849), viz: In the 1746 ed. in part II there appear as a separate hymn stanzas V-VII, beginning "Thou cam'st in love to my relief." In the 1789, and 1849 ed., it begins "O Christ, my only Life and Light."
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 122.
In the Moravian H. Bk., 1886.
In the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754 (author's name not given).
1. | O Christ my sweetest Life and Light!
Whose loving Condescension Embraces me by day and night Beyond my comprehension: Lord! grant me to return thy Love With due and true devotion, That my notion Of Mercy may improve With ev'ry thought and motion. |
J. Wesley, 1739, in the 1754 ed., Part I, of the Moravian Hymn Book.
1. | Jesu, thy boundless Love to me
No thought can reach, no tongue declare: O knit my thankful heart to Thee And reign without a rival there. Thine wholly, thine alone I am: Be thou alone my constant Flame. |
J. Wesley, 1739, in Snepp's Songs of Grace and Glory, 1872. It is stanza 2 of a hymn beginning "Still nigh me, O my Savior stand" in Snepp, and Gerhardt's stanza XII: "Was ists, o Schönster, dasz ich nicht / In deiner Liebe habe?" etc.
Stanza 1. | What in Thy love possess I not?
My star by night, my sun by day; My spring of life, when parched with drought, My wine to cheer, my bread to stay, My strength, my shield, my safe abode, My robe before the throne of God! |
Appeared in the Crü. Praxis, 1656, no. 318. From Johann Arndt's Paradiszgärtlein (Goslar, 1621, 4), 3, 17, p. 294, "Gebet um zeitliche und ewige Wolfahrt."
Stanza 1. | O God, my Father! thanks to Thee
I bring with deep humility, That Thou Thine anger endest, And that Thy Son Our joy and Crown Into the world Thou sendest. . . . |
A complete translation by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 117. In stanza 14 the translator has, in honor to Queen Victoria, altered the original which reads:
Insonderheit nimin wol in Acht
Den Fürsten . . . etc. |
to
Make Her Thy care especially,
Whom Thou as monarch hast raised high This land and nation over; . . . etc. |
[Cross and Consolation.]
Founded on a prayer "for patience under great trial,"
no. XXV in Class III of J. Arndt's
A good adaptation in 4 stanzas by Rev. A. T. Russell in his Psalms and Hymns, as follows: &
Gerhardt stanza | I | (II III) | IV | V | (VI VII VIII IX) | X XI |
Russell stanza | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
This version appears in an altered form in Kennedy, 1863, no. 665. "O God of mercy full and free."
A good translation in 11 stanzas by Miss Winkworth in the 2d Series, 1858, of her Lyra Ger., and thence in the Gilman-Schaff Lib. of R. P., 1883, p. 837. The correspondence of stanzas is as follows:
Gerhardt stanzas | I | II | (III) | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | (IX) | X | (XI) | XII | (XIII) | XIV | XV XVI |
Winkworth stanzas | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
The translation of stanzas X, XII, XIV, XVI, beginning "O Thou, who diedst to give us life," appear as no. 327, in Church Praise, 1883.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 164.
Based on Joh. Arndt's Creutzgebet. It appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1656, no. 382.
Stanza 1. | Father of mercies! God most high,
Deign graciously to hear me, Thou say'st, "Knock at my door and cry, In time of need draw near to me. As urgently Thou long'st, to thee, That with thy mouth, In very truth, Thou joyfully may'st praise me." etc. |
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 175. |
[Supplication.]
A prayer for success in all Christian works and purpose;
founded on
In the Ebeling edition the hymn has the title: "Um Glück und Segen zu allem christlichen Thun und Vorhaben." It has on many occasions been given as a farewell injunction by parents to their children on leaving home.
(Stanzas I-III, VIII, XI, IX) by Miss Winkworth in her Chorale Book, 1863, no. 121.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 102.
Miss Winkworth in her Chorale Book, 1863.
1. | I know, my God, and I rejoice
That on Thy righteous will and choice All human works and schemes must rest: Success and blessing are of Thee, What Thou shalt send is surely best. |
2. |
It stands not in the power of man
To bring to pass the wisest plan So surely that it cannot fail; Thy counsel, Highest, must ensure That our poor wisdom shall avail. |
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1656, no. 330.
A hymn of self-abnegation, even self-denunciation, emphasizing the frailty
and insignificance of mortals, and closing with an admonition of resignation
to God's wise dispensations. Though Gerhardt frequently employs this
form of rhyme
Stanza 1. | Thou art but man, to thee 'tis known,
Why dost thou then endeavor To do what God should do alone, Or can accomplish ever? A thousand griefs thou goest through, In spite of all thy wit can do; Upon thine end thou pond'rest What it will be thou wond'rest. |
Appeared in the Crü. Praxis, 1656, 817, no. 374.
Stanza 1. | I have deserv'd it, cease t'oppose
The Lord's will, shall I never? Thou bitter cup, thou heavy cross, Come hither to me ever! From pain all free May never be He 'gainst the Lord who fighteth, As I each day, Who trod the way Wherein the world delighteth. . . . |
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 165. |
This is one of the least adaptable poems of Gerhardt and it is evident that the translator has struggled with the many difficulties of metre and frequent rhyme.
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1656, no. 331.
Stanza 1. | Full often as I meditate
Upon the world's disordered state, I ask myself if earthly life Be good, and worthy of the strife, Has he not acted for the best Who laid himself betimes to rest? |
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 143. |
A free, but very acceptable rendering in which the easy colloquial style of the original has been well retained. Cf. lines 7 and 8:
"Denn, Lieber, denk und sage mir:
Was für ein Stand ist wol allhier." |
"Reflect, my friend, say, if you know
What station is there here below . . ." |
[Thanksgiving after great sorrow and affliction.]
It appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1653, no. 236, and 1656, no. 249, in 15 stanzas of 7 lines; thence in Wackernagel: no. 87; Bachmann: no. 64; Unv. L. S.: no. 402. Cf. Koch IV, 545.
Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Ger., 1st Series, 1855, p. 100 (omitting stanzas IV-VII, X, XI). In her 1856 ed. the translation of stanzas X and XI is added. In the Christian H. Bk., Cincinnati, 1865, no. 799 begins with her stanza no. XIII "Now as long as here I roam."
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 261.
Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Ger., 1855.
1. | Cometh sunshine after rain,
After mourning joy again. After heavy bitter grief Dawneth surely sweet relief; And my soul, who from her height Sank to realms of woe and night, Wingeth now to heav'n her flight. |
2. | He, whom this world dares not face,
Hath refreshed me with his grace, And his mighty hand unbound Chains of hell, about me wound; Quicker, stronger, leaps my blood, Since his mercy, like a flood, Poured o'er all my heart for good. |
[Thanksgiving.] Cf. Koch, IV, 91 ff.
One of Gerhardt's finest hymns, setting forth God's love in His creation, redemption and sanctification of the world, His care in trouble. It closes with a prayer which R. Massie renders:
Grant me grace, O God, I pray Thee,
That I may with all my might Love and trust Thee and obey Thee, All the day and all the night; And when this brief life is o'er Love and praise Thee evermore. |
The hymn was included in the 5th ed., Berlin, 1653, and in the Frankfurt ed., 1656, of Crü. Praxis, no. 230; thence in Wackernagel: no. 81; Bachmann: no. 60; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 722.
Dr. Mills in his Horae Germanicae, 1845, p. 141, and 1856, p. 195.
This is a mediocre version, as it misses the characteristic points of the German. His stanzas II, IV-VII beginning "As the eagle fondly hovers," were included in the Amer. Luth. Gen. Synod's Collection, 1850-52, no. 35.
A full and good translation by Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Ger., 1st Series, 1855; p. 200; also, omitting stanzas III-VI, VIII in her C. B. for England, 1863, no. 10. Included in full in Cantate Domino, Boston, U. S. A., 1859.
A good translation omitting stanzas VI, VIII, contributed by
R. Massie to the 1857
ed. of Mercer's C. P. & H. Bk., no. 185, reprinted in his own
Lyra Domestica, 1864.
A translation of stanzas I, III, IV, by F. C. C., as no. 218, in Dr. Pagenstecher's Collection, 1864.
A translation of stanzas I-III by M. W. Stryker in his Hymns & Verses, 1883, p. 38, and Christian Chorals, 1885, no. 36.
In Lyra Davidica, 1708, p. 22.
J. C. Jacobi, 1732, p. 153. Repeated in the Moravian Hymn Books, 1754-1886, in some editions beginning, "I will sing to my Creator."
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 240.
Dr. Mills in his Horae Germanicae, 1856.
1. | Shall I not His praise be singing
Who in glory reigns above:-- Him my thanks and honors bringing, For the blessings of his love? Those, who with sincere endeavor Keep the way that He has shown, He will as his children own, Yielding them a father's favor. All things else their time will last But His love, when Time is past. |
Miss Winkworth, in her Chorale Book for England, 1863.
1. |
Shall I not sing praise to Thee,
Shall I not give thanks, O Lord? Since for us in all I see How thou keepest watch and ward; How the truest tend'rest love Ever fills Thy heart, my God, Helping, cheering, on their road All who in Thy service move. |
M. W. Stryker, 1882, in his Christian Chorals, 1885.
1. |
Should I not, in meek adoring,
Thank my gracious God above Whom I see on all things pouring Forth the sunshine of His love? For 'tis naught but Love's own loving In his constant heart, doth care Endlessly to love and bear Those their love, in service proving. All things last their portioned day-- God's love to eternity. |
[Good Friday.]
Founded on
P. H. Molther, of stanza 16, as no. 181 in the Moravian H. Bk., 1789 (1886, no. 217).
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1661, 576, no. 373.
O God! from Thee doth wisdom flow,
All I can do Thou well dost know; If Thine own grace doth not sustain, Then all my labor is in vain. . . . |
A complete and very good translation by J. Kelly. The long metre of 8 syllables seems to lend itself more readily to adaptation into English. In the fourth stanza, first line, Kelly has resorted to a device common to translators, that of making up the extra accent where the corresponding English cognate has lost the ending, by selecting instead of a monosyllabic adverb an adverb of two syllables. Here, of course, "very" for "sehr" makes literality and meter perfect.
Mein Leben ist sehr kurz und schwach
My life is very short and weak. |
As exact and appropriate translation as is possible word for word is found in stanza ???:
Ich lieb ihr Sie ist meins Herzens Freud und Licht; Sie ist die schönste, die mich halt Und meinen Augen wolgefällt. |
I love her lovely face so bright.
She is my joy and heart's delight The fairest is that holdeth me Mine eyes she pleaseth wondrously. |
Based on Johann Arndt's Paradiszgärtlein, 1, 33, 92. It appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1661, no. 374.
1. |
Jesus! Thou, my dearest Brother,
Who dost well to me intend, Thou mine Anchor, Mast, and Rudder And my truest Bosom-Friend. To Thee, ere was earth or heaven, Had the race of man been given; Thou, e'en me, poor guest of earth, Chosen hadst before my birth. . . . |
A complete translation by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 112. The translator has well rendered a hymn of rather unusual difficulty of interpretation in a foreign tongue.
An unavoidable weakening by translation appears in the last stanza:
Nun, Herr lasz dirs wolgefallen,
Bleib mein Freund bis in mein Grab! Bleib mein Freund und unter allen Mein getreuster stärkster Stab! |
Gracious Savior! let it please Thee,
Be my Friend in every hour Be my Friend, till death release me Be my faithful Staff of pow'r! |
Based on
1. |
'Tis patience must support you
When sorrow, grief, or smart, Or whate'er else may hurt you Doth rend your aching heart. Belov'd and chosen seed! If not a death will kill you, Yet once again I tell you 'Tis patience that you need. . . . |
By J. Kelly, 1867, p. 184. A complete translation of the 14 stanzas, and in general very true to the original. It is noteworthy that the first line of each stanza contains the word "patience" as does the poem of Gerhardt the word "Geduld." Kelly's rendering of the last four lines illustrates as well as any the faithfulness of his version.
Kommt dann der letzte Zug,
So gib durch deine Hände Auch ein geduldigs Ende! So hab ich alles gnug. |
And in my dying hour,
Thy mercy still extending, Oh! grant a patient ending Then need I nothing more. |
Subjoined to a funeral address by Johann Meiszner.
This is one of Gerhardt's many "Trostgesänge," and though less well known than most of his hymns is deserving of wider recognition than it has hitherto received. As far as is at present known there has been published but one English version, that of J. Kelly, 1867, p. 329, the first stanza of which is as follows:
"JOYFUL RESIGNATION TO A HAPPY DEPARTURE FROM THIS WEARY WORLD."
Stanza 1. | Be glad, my heart! now fear no more,
Let nothing ever grieve thee; Christ lives, who lov'd thee long before Thy being He did give thee, And ere He made thy wondrous frame; His love remaineth still the same, It ne'er can change to hatred. |
It is unfortunate that the translator has been satisfied with "glad" for
the forceful "getrost" which connotes "confidence" and "trust" (to which
it is indeed cognate)
Stanza 7 preserves more of the "Stimmung" of the original:
Thou Jesus! O thou sweetest Friend,
My light and life art ever! Thou boldest me, dost me defend, The foe can move Thee never. In Thee I am, Thou art in me, As we are here, we'll ever be, Nought here or there can part us. |
It is difficult to see, however, why "allerliebster Freund" (line 43) could
not have its logical equivalent
"dearest Friend";
[Cross and Consolation.]
Founded on
Miss Winkworth, 1855, p. 156, and in Bishop Ryle's Collection, 1860, no. 269.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 202.
N. L. Frothingham, 1870, p. 246.
Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Germanica, 1855, p. 156.
Stanza 1. | Be thou content; be still before
His face, at whose right hand doth reign Fulness of joy forever more, Without whom all thy toil is vain. He is thy living spring, thy sun, whose rays Make glad with life and light thy dreary days. Be thou content. |
[Eternal Life.]
Based on
A good translation in 7 stanzas by
Miss Jane Borthwick, in
H. L. L., 3d Series, 1858, p. 13, 1884, p. 139
Gerhardt: | I | II | III | IV | (V) | VI | VII | VIII | IX | (X) | XI | XII | XIII | XIV |
Borthwick: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
A translation in 10 stanzas by Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Ger., 2d Series, 1858, p. 173, and in her Chorale Book, 1863, no. 148, altered by stanzas as follows:
Gerhardt: | I | II | III | (IV | V | VI | VII) | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV |
Winkworth: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
In Holy Song, 1869, it begins: "As pilgrims here we wander."
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 316.
G. Wade in the U. P. Juvenile Missionary Magazine, 1859, p. 252.
Miss Winkworth in her Chorale Book, 1863. | Miss Borthwick in her Hymns from the Land of Luther, 1858,1884. | ||
Stanza 1. | Stanza 1. | ||
A pilgrim here I wander,
On earth have no abode, My fatherland is yonder, My home is with my God, For here I journey to and fro, There in eternal rest Will God his gracious gift bestow On all the toil-oppress'd. | A Pilgrim and a stranger,
I journey here below; Far distant is my country, The home to which I go. Here I must toil and travel, Oft weary and opprest; But there my God shall lead me To everlasting rest. |
Appeared in Ebeling, 1666, 2, no. 23.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 138. &
In his last stanza Kelly has nearly equalled the original in happily choosing for many of the words the exact English cognate:
Erforsch, Herr, all mein Herz und Mut
Sieh, ob mein Weg sei recht und gut, Und führe mich bald himmelan Den ewgen Weg, die Freudenbahn. |
Lord, search and know my heart and mood,
See if my way be right and good, The everlasting joyful road Lead me that brings me home to God. |
Appeared in Ebeling, 1666, 2, 24.
Of Gerhardt's hymns treating of Death, the Last Day, and Eternal Life, this is one of the least well known, and has not been retained in many German hymn books, mainly because of the mixed metaphor and the many unpoetic lines. It is translated in full by J. Kelly, 1867, no. 322, in stanzas of 7 lines, the long fifth line with the double rhyme being written as two short lines,
Stanza 1. | My face, why should'st thou troubled be
When thou of death art hearing? Know it, it cannot injure thee, Contemplate it, ne'er fearing. When thou dost know Death, all its woe Will soon be disappearing. |
In stanza 19 Kelly has made the first personal pronoun predominant with the result that greater smoothness is obtained. He has, however, been obliged to omit what in the German are the best touches, namely the thoughts contained in "mein Hirt," "leiten" and "immergrün":
O süsze Lust, o edle Ruh,
O fromme Seelen Freude, Komm, schleusz mir meine Augen zu, Dasz ich mit Fried abscheide Hin, da mein Hirt mich leiten wird Zur immergrimen Weide. |
O sweetest joy, O blessed rest!
To all true-hearted given, Come, let mine eyes by Thee be pressed, In peace take me to heaven. May I roam there 'Mong pastures fair Where day ne'er knoweth even. |
[Morning.]
First appeared in Ebeling, 1666, 3, no. 25, entitled "Morgensegen"; thence * in Wackernagel: no. 98; Bachmann: no. 101; Crü. Praxis: 1672; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 449. (The melody is by Ebeling. It is called in the Irish Ch. Hymnal "Franconia.")
Lauxmann in Koch, VIII, 185, calls this "A splendid hymn of our poet, golden as the sun going forth in his beauty, full of force and blessed peace in the Lord, full of sparkling thoughts of God."
A translation by Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Ger., 1855. Her translations of verses as follows:
Gerhardt: | I | II | III | IV | (V | VI | VII) | VIII | IX | (X | XI) | XII |
Winkworth: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
A good translation beginning with stanza IV ("Abend und Morgen") by R. Massie in the 1857 ed. of Mercer's Church Psalter and Hymn Book. The version has these stanzas:
Gerhardt: | IV | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII |
R. Massie: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
This version in whole or in part appears in various hymn books. In Kennedy, 1863, no. 636, it begins with the translation of stanza IX ("Gott, meine Krone") "Father, O hear me." Massie subsequently added a translation of stanzas I, II, III, and included it in his Lyra Domestica, 1864, p. 106, and this full form appears in Reid's Praise Bk., 1872, no. 379.
Miss Dunn, 1857, p. 21.
Miss Cox, 1864, p. 13.
(Beginning with stanza VII) by E. Massie, 1866, p. 87.
E. Massie, 1867, p. 8.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 270.
Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Germanica, 1855, p. 216.
Stanza 1. | The golden sunbeams with their joyous gleams,
Are kindling o'er earth, her life and mirth, Shedding forth lovely and heart-cheering light; Through the dark hours' chill I lay silent and still, But risen at length to gladness and strength, I gaze on the heavens all glowing and bright. |
Appeared in Ebeling, 1666, 3, 26.
Compare with this:
(a) The hymn of J. A. Freylinghausen (1704)
"Der Tag ist hin, mein Geist und Sinn."
(This has been translated by Miss Winkworth, R. Massie, Miss Borthwick and others, and has much similarity of thought to Gerhardt's hymns.)
also (b) "Der Tag vergeht, die müde Sonne sinket" in Knapp's Evang. Liederschatz, 1837.
1. |
The daylight disappeareth,
It fleeth and night neareth, Its gloom is spreading o'er us. With slumber to o'erpower us And all the wearied earth. . . etc. |
Stanza 1 of a complete translation by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 282.
Based on
Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Ger., 2d Series, 1858, p. 149. The translation omits Gerhardt's stanzas II, III, IV. An alteration and adaptation of stanzas VI, VIII, IX, XI, beginning "O God! how many thankful songs," appeared as no. 168 in Holy Song, 1869.
A translation of stanza VIII as stanza 4 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1886, no. 537.
Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica, 1855.
1. | I who so oft in deep distress
And bitter grief must dwell, Will now my God with gladness bless, And all His mercies tell; Oh hear me then, my God and King, While of Thy Holy Name I sing, Who doest all things well. |
[Marriage.]
Founded on
In full by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 307; repeated altered, and omitting stanzas III-V, in the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880, no. 339.
[Holy Matrimony.]
First published in Ebeling, 1666, 4, no. 40, in 17 stanzas. The hymn is often used in Germany at marriages.
Dr. H. Mills, 1845, 1836, p. 215.
Mrs. Stanley Carr, in her translation of Wildenhahn's Paul Gerhardt, ed. 1856, p. 52.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 302.
Miss Winkworth in her Christian Singers of Germany, 1869, p. 215.
Dr. H. Mills in his Horae Germanicae, 1856.
1. | Full of wonder, full of skill,
Full of wisdom, full of might, Full of mercy and good will, Full of comfort and delight,-- Full of wonder--once again-- Is of love the marriage chain. |
[Christmas.]
First published in Ebeling, 1667, 5, 55, in 18 stanzas of 4 lines; thence in Wackernagel: no. 4; Bachmann: no. 109.
In full by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 14. From this 12 stanzas were included in the Ohio Lutheran Hyl., 1880, as no. 25, no. 26: no. 26 beginning with the translation of stanza XIII, "It is a time of joy today."
[Christmas.]
Founded on
(Omitting stanzas VI, VII.) Contributed by Rev. A. T. Russell to Maurice's Choral H. Bk., 1861, no. 707.
A full and good translation by R. Massie in his Lyra Domestica, 1864, p. 96; repeated in Snepp's Songs of Grace and Glory, and Reid's Praise Bk., 1872.
Miss Manington, 1864, p. 25.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 24.
[Composite, The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941, p. 90.]
Based on
1. |
Lord God! Thou art forevermore
Thy people's habitation, And Thou existence hadst before Was laid the earth's foundation! Ere yet the hills began to be Thou livedst in eternity, Of all things the beginning. |
Stanza 1 of a complete translation by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 312.
In this version the translator has lost much of the poetry and spirit not only of Gerhardt but of the ninetieth Psalm on which Gerhardt's poem is based. Witness the second and fourth lines above, where Kelly offers the feeble Latin derivatives for the virile "Die Zuflucht deiner Heerde" and "Grund."
Based on
1. |
By John was seen a wondrous sight,
A noble light, A picture very glorious: A multitude stood 'fore him there All bright and fair, On heav'nly plain victorious; Their heart and mood Were full of good, That mortal man With gold ne'er can Procure, so high 'tis o'er us. . . . |
Stanza 1 of a complete translation by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 347.
Appeared in Ebeling, 8, 96.
The English version by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 259, is throughout more
moderate in tone and does not reflect the utter self-abnegation of
Gerhardt.
Stanza 1. | How can it be, my highest Light!
That as before Thy face so bright All things must pale and vanish, That my poor feeble flesh and blood Can summon a courageous mood To meet Thee, and fear banish? |
[Easter.]
Founded on
A full and spirited translation by J. Oxenford, in Lays of the Sanctuary, 1859, p. 122. His translation of stanzas I, III, VII-IX were included, altered as no. 779 in Kennedy, 1863.
Miss Manington, 1863, p. 78.
From the foregoing statements it is evident that even of Gerhardt's less well-known hymns there has been a comparatively large representation in English and American hymnals. The ten hymns which follow are so widely known through the excellent versions of Miss Winkworth and others, that making the treatment more detailed, I shall discuss the individual merits of the different versions and compare their relative values as interpretations of the originals.
[Advent.]
First published in Crü.--Runge, 1653, no. 77, in 10 stanzas of 8 lines; thence in Wackernagel: no. 3; Bachmann: no. 22; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 21. Cf. Koch IV, 119 ff.
The hymn is founded on
A translation in full, by J. C. Jacobi, in his Psalmodia Germanica, 722, p. 3 (1732, slightly altered). Included in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754, and also in later editions with alterations. Varying centos of this version are found in Montgomery's Christian Psalmist, 1825; Dr. Pagenstecher's Collections, 1864; and Bishop Ryle's Collection, 1860. Other forms are:
(a.) "We go to meet Thee, Savior" (stanza I altered), in Reid's Praise Book, 1872, mainly from the Moravian H. Bk., 1801.
(b.) "Love caused Thine Incarnation" (stanza V altered), in Walker's Collection, 1855, and Snepp's Songs of G. and G., 1872, from the Moravian H. Bk., 1801.
A good translation of stanzas I, II, VII, VIII, X, by A. T. Russell in his Ps. and Hys., 1851, no. 36. Repeated in Kennedy, 1863, and the People's H., 1867; and abridged in J. L. Porter's Collection, 1876; H. and Songs of Praise, N. Y., 1874; Laudes Domini, N. Y., 1884, etc.
In the 1857 ed. of Mercer's C. P. and H. Bk. Stanzas 1, 2, are based on A. T. Russell's version and stanzas 3, 4, 5 (Gerhardt's IV, V, VI), are based on Jacobi, as altered in the Moravian H. Bk., 1801. Altered forms have appeared in other hymnals.
A translation of stanzas I, II, V, VI, VIII, X, by Miss Winkworth, in her C. B. for England, 1863, no. 21.
In full by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 10; repeated, abridged, in the Ohio Luth. Hyl., 1880.
J. W. Alexander, in Schaff's Kirchenfreund, 1850, p. 176, and his Christ in Song, 1869, p. 20, and his own Breaking Crucible, 1861, p. 11.
Miss Manington, 1863, p. 65.
R. Massie, 1864, p. 93.
The first hymn in the Psalmodia Germanica
"The present Specimen hopes for a charitable Allowance from those, that may happen to use it. A Version of this Kind lies under various Disadvantages, known only to those, who in any degree are acquainted with any Poetical Translations of this Kind. A great Deal is lost of the Life and Spirit of an Hymn, when it appears in another Language."
In this effort as well as in the case of "Befiehl du deine Wege" Jacobi has left out so much, and incorporated so many ideas of his own which are at variance with Gerhardt's theme that it is difficult to recognize its kinship with the original. The effect Gerhardt produces in the first line by the use of the direct form of address is entirely lost by Jacobi; also the translator creates an unpleasant impression by abruptly changing from the third person in the opening line to the second person in the next line.
Bishop Ryle has altered the last quatrain to this form:
I wait for Thy salvation;
Grant me Thy Spirit's light, Thus will my preparation Be pleasing in Thy sight. |
Again, the diction of stanza two is particularly strange, at least to modern readers.
I'll raise with all my Powers
More Notes than Unison, |
would be quite bewildering if we did not have at hand the German which is so forceful in its very simplicity:
Mein Herze soll dir grünen
In stetem Lob und Preis. |
It is plain that Jacobi had not much appreciation of the spirit of Gerhardt, for the distinctive touches of alliteration, repetition for emphasis, the prevailing note of joy and peace accompanying the Savior's advent are certainly not adequately reproduced. In fact the impression he leaves is almost one of gloom!
Contrast with this the translation by A. T. Russell, a
cento of which
(stanzas 1, 2, 7, 8, 10) is given in most American hymnals. Far more cheerful
My heart to praise awaking,
Her anthem shall prepare, (stanza 2) |
and
That in the light eternal our
Joyous home may be. (stanza 5) |
It is apt renderings like these that have won for Gerhardt a place in English hymnody.
Kelly's rendering (1867) is characteristically accurate, but, excepting such lines as:
My heart shall blossom ever
O'erflow with praises new (stanza 2) |
and
O come Thou Sun and lead us
To everlasting light, (stanza 10) |
it is uninspired and lacking in fervor.
Of the 20 hymns of Gerhardt which Miss Winkworth
translated there are three for which she has made two renderings:
"O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden,"
"Nun ruhen alle Wälder,"
and for this Advent hymn. The
earlier version (1855) of the Advent hymn omits only the third stanza
("Was hast du unterlassen"). The later one (1863) is written in the
original metre for church use to be sung to the traditional melody
"Wie soll ich dich empfangen" by Johann Crüger
In heavy bonds I languished long (1855, stanza 3, 1)
This weary world and all her woe (1855, stanza 4, 5) And labor longer thus (1855, stanza 6, 2) |
The original has been characterized as the best German Advent hymn and Miss Winkworth has transfused it in her earlier version undiminished into her own language so that it reads like an original poem. Her final quatrain is worthy of Gerhardt:
O Sun of Righteousness! arise,
And guide us on our way To yon fair mansion in the skies Of joyous cloudless day. |
C. Jacobi, 1722, in Psalmodia Germanica.
To the Tune: "COMMIT THY WAYS AND
GOINGS." I |
How shall I meet my Savior?
How shall I welcome Thee? What manner of Behavior Is now requir'd of me? Lord, thine Illumination Set Heart and Hands aright, That this my Preparation Be pleasing in thy Sight. |
A. T. Russell, 1851, in his Psalms and
Hymns.
1. |
O how shall I receive Thee, How meet Thee on Thy way;
Blest hope of every nation, My soul's delight and stay? O Jesus *(Jesu), Jesus *(Jesu), give me Now by thine (*Thy) own pure light, To know whate'er is pleasing And welcome in Thy sight. |
2. |
Thy Zion (*Sion) palms is strewing, With (*and) branches fresh and fair;
My soul in praise (*My heart to praise) awaking, Her anthem shall prepare. Perpetual thanks and praises Forth from my heart shall spring. And (*I) to Thy Name the service Of all my powers I (*will) bring. |
(*3.) | (Omitted.) |
(*4.) 3. |
Ye who with guilty terror Are trembling, fear no more:
With love and grace the Savior Shall you to hope restore. He comes, who contrite sinners Will (*shall) with the children place, The children of His Father, The heirs of life and grace. |
(*5.) | Omitted. |
Miss Winkworth, 1855, in her Lyra Germanica.
Stanza 1. | How shall I meet Thee? How my heart
Receive her Lord aright? Desire of all the earth Thou art! My hope, my sole delight! Kindle the lamp, Thou Lord, alone, Half-dying in my breast, And make Thy gracious pleasure known How I may greet Thee best. |
Miss Winkworth, 1863, in her Chorale Book.
Stanza 1. | Ah! Lord, how shall I meet Thee,
How welcome Thee aright? All nations long to greet Thee My hope, my sole delight! Brighten the lamp that burneth But dimly in my breast, And teach my soul, that yearneth To honour such high guest. |
[Passiontide.]
A beautiful but very free translation of the "Salve Caput Cruentatum,"
which is part VII of the "Rhythmica Oratio," 1153, ascribed to St. Bernard
of Clairvaux.
DE PASSIONE DOMINI: AD FACIEM. | |
1. | Salve, caput cruentatum,
Totum spinis coronatum, Conquassatum, vulneratum, Arundine sic verberatum Facie sputis illita Salve, cuius dulcis vultus, Immutatus et incultus Immutavit suum florem Totus versus in pallorem Quem coeli tremit curia. |
2. | Omnis vigor atque viror
Hinc recessit, non admiror, Mors apparet in aspectu, Totus pendens in defectu, Attritus aegra macie. Sic affectus, sic despectus Propter me sic interfectus, Peccatori tam indigno Cum amoris intersigno Appare clara facie. |
3. | In hac tua passione
Me agnosce, pastor bone, Cuius sumpsi mel ex ore, Haustum lactis ex dulcore Prae omnibus deliciis, Non me reum asperneris, Nec indignum dedigneris Morte tibi iam vicina Tuum caput hic acclina, In meis pausa brachiis. |
4. | Tuae sanctae passioni
Me gauderem interponi, In hac cruce tecum mori Praesta crucis amatori, Sub cruce tua moriar. Morti tuae iam amarae Grates ago, Jesu care, Qui es clemens, pie Deus, Fac quod petit tuns reus, Ut absque te non finiar. |
5. | Dum me mori est necesse,
Noli mihi tune deesse; In tremenda mortis hora Veni, Jesu, absque mora, Tuere me et libera. Quum me jubes emigrare, Jesu care, tune appare; O amator amplectende, Temet ipsum tune ostende In cruce salutifera. |
Gerhardt's version appeared in the 1656 ed. of Crü. Praxis, no. 156, in 10 stanzas of 8 lines; thence in Wackernagel: no. 22; Bachmann: no. 54; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 109. Cf. Koch, IV, 163; VIII, 47.
In Koch VIII, 47, Lauxmann thus characterizes it:
"Bernard's original is powerful and searching, but Gerhardt's hymn is still more powerful and profound, as redrawn from the deeper spring of evangelical Lutheran, Scriptural, knowledge, and fervency of faith."
Stanza X Lauxmann traces not only to Bernard but to stanza II of "Valet Will ich dir geben" of Herberger, and to Luther's words on the death of his daughter Magdalen "Who thus dies, dies well."
The melody to which the hymn is sung, usually called "Passion Chorale," first appeared in Hans Leo Hassler's "Lustgarten," Nürnberg, 1601, set to a love song, beginning "Mein G'müth ist mir verwirret."
The hymn has often been signally blessed. The story is told that a Roman
Catholic from Bohemia on hearing this hymn sung in a Protestant church
was so overpowered that he shed tears of joy, for he saw clearer than ever
The English versions are many, and of some of the versions there are several centos:
In full, by J. Gambold, in Some other Hymns and Poems, London, 1752, p. 12. Repeated in the Moravian H. Book, 1754, pt. 1, no. 222 (1789 greatly altered). In the 1789 ed. a new translation of stanza IX was substituted for Gambold's version, his translation of stanza IX "When I shall gain permission" being given as a separate hymn.
Centos of the above version are:
a. "O Head, so pierced and wounded" in Dr. Pagenstecher's Collection, 1864.
b. "O Christ! what consolation" in the Amer. Bapt. H. Bk., 1871.
c. "I yield Thee thanks unfeigned" (based on Gambold's version of stanza IX) in E. Bickersteth's Christian Psalmody, 1833.
d. "I give Thee thanks unfeigned" in Bishop Ryle's Collection, 1860.
A very beautiful translation by
Dr. J. W. Alexander. His translations of
stanzas I, II, IV, VII-X, were first published in the Christian Lyre,
N. Y., 1830, no. 136. These stanzas were revised, and translations of stanzas
III, VI, were added by Dr. Alexander for Schaff's Deutscher
Kirchenfreund, 1849, p. 91. The full text is in Dr. Alexander's
Breaking Crucible, N. Y., 1861, p. 7; in Schaff's Christ in Song,
1869; and the Cantate Domino, Boston, U. S. A., 1850.
"This classical hymn has shown an imperishable vitality in passing from the Latin into the German, and from the German into the English, and proclaiming in three tongues, and in the name of three Confessions--the Catholic, the Lutheran, and the Reformed--with equal effect, the dying love of our Savior and our boundless indebtedness to Him."
Dr. Alexander's version has passed into very many English and American hymnals, and in very varying centos, some of which follow:
a. "O sacred Head, now wounded," People's H., 1867; Hymnary, 1872; Hatfield's Church H. Bk., 1872; Hymns and Songs of Praise, N. Y., 1874, etc.
b. "O Sacred Head! once wounded" (stanza I altered), Bapt. Ps. and Hys., 1858, etc.
c. "O Sacred Head, sore wounded" (stanza I altered), in the Stoke Hymn Book, 1878.
d. "O Sacred Head, so wounded" (stanza I altered), in J. L. Porter's Collection, 1876.
e. "O blessed Christ, once wounded" (stanza I altered), in Dr. Thomas's Augustine H. Book, 1866.
f. "O Lamb of God, once wounded" (stanza I altered), in Scottish Presb. Hyl., 1876.
g. "O Lamb of God, sore wounded" (stanza I altered), in the Ibrox Hymnal, 1871.
A good translation by R. Massie, omitting stanza VI, in his Lyra Domestica, 1864, p. 14. This version was abridged in Mercer's Oxford edition, 1864, and in Kennedy, 1863. A cento of this beginning with stanza VIII, line 5, "Oh! that Thy cross may ever," appears in J. H. Wilson's Series of Praise, 1865.
Miss Winkworth, omitting stanza VI, in her C. B. for England, 1863, no. 51.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 59.
Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Ger., 1855, p. 80.
Miss Dunn, 1857, p. 39.
In the Schaff-Gilman Lib. of Religious Poetry, translated by Samuel M. Jackson, 1873, 1880. This version is among those that adhere most closely to the original, at the same time showing traces of the Latin of Bernard.
A translation in 3 stanzas by Sir H. W. Baker of stanzas I, III, VII, and X, in the Schaff-Gilman Lib. of Religious Poetry.
A good translation omitting stanzas II, III, V, IX, by Miss Margarete Münsterberg in her Harvest of German Verse, 1916.
The earliest known English translation of Gerhardt's Passiontide hymn
is that of J. Gambold, published in 1752.
Witness the first quatrain of stanza 7:
It gives me solid pleasure
My heart does not recoil When I dive in some measure Into thy Pangs and Toil. Es dient zu meiner Freuden Und kömmt mir herzlich wol, Warm ich in deinem Leiden, Mein Heil, mich finden soll. |
It is easy to understand why this hymn should be printed in full in the crude Morazian Hymn Book of 1754 and even in later editions, but it is also obvious that more recent hymnals should have made drastic alterations and judicious omissions. Of the centos adapted from Gambold's unpolished verses, that in Reid's Praise Book (1872) will show how changes were made to suit the more refined taste of the century following the early Moravian period. The quatrain cited above appears in Reid as follows:
And oh! what consolation
Doth in our hearts take place, When we Thy toil and passion Can joyfully retrace. |
An English writer who faithfully transplanted Germany's best hymns and made them bloom with fresh beauty in their new gardens was Catherine Winkworth. Her two renderings of this hymn are well adapted to awaken responsive feelings in Christian readers. It would be difficult to judge between the two versions as to which the more successfully retains the force of the German. In both versions she has omitted stanza VI beginning "Ich will hie bei dir stehen." The earlier one (1855) does not preserve the metre of the original, while the later one (1863) was written for her Chorale Book with the accompanying melody. In general it may be said that the earlier version with the expanded third and seventh lines follows more closely the fervent thought of Gerhardt, an effect made possible in the longer stanza, as the English can rarely be expressed as concisely as the German. A comparison of the first quatrains of the two versions of the final stanza illustrates this:
1855. | 1863. (Version for church singing.) | |
Come to me ere I die,
My comfort and my shield; Then gazing on Thy cross can I Calmly my spirit yield. |
Appear then, my Defender,
My Comfort, ere I die This life I can surrender If I but see Thee nigh. |
Of the twenty or more forms in which this hymn is familiar to English
and American readers that of Dr. Alexander has found most general
While Gerhardt's hymn is more searching and profound than its Latin
prototype, and an English translator would not ordinarily refer to the
original of Bernard, still there seem to be in the phraseology of the
Jackson and Winkworth
translations evidences that these authors were at least
familiar with it. Such lines as "Death triumphs in his
pallour"
A short paraphrase by Sir H. W. Baker contains several ideas taken from the Latin which Gerhardt has omitted. Stanza 1 lines 7, 8:
Yet angel hosts adore thee
And tremble as they gaze |
are evidently suggested by:
Totus versus in pallorem
Quem coeli tremit curia. (lines 9, 10) |
and
O Love to sinners free!
Jesu all grace supplying, Oh turn thy face to me. (stanza 2) |
follows the idea in
Peccatori tam indigno
Cum amoris intersigno Appare clara facie. (lines 18-20) |
The same is true in the first quatrain of Baker's stanza 3, with the idea of the word "indigno" above brought into these later lines:
In this thy bitter passion,
Good Shepherd, think of me, With thy most sweet compassion, Unworthy though I be. Me agnosce, pastor bone. Lines 21, 22. |
In 1860 Bishop Ryle selected and arranged Three hundred and sixty-six Hymns and Spiritual Songs--a song for every day in the year. His 166th poem is a cento of this Passiontide hymn and is assuredly deserving of mention, although he omits the first four stanzas entirely, and for no apparent reason changes the order of the others, arranging them as follows:
Ryle: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Gerhardt: | VIII | VI | VII | V | IX | X. |
His first quatrain of Gerhardt's stanza VII is almost identical with that given in Reid's Praise Book as an alteration of the old Gambold version.
What heavenly consolation
Doth in my heart take place, When I Thy toil and passion Can in some measure trace. |
J. Gambold, 1752, in Some other Hymns and Poems.
1. | O Head so full of bruises,
So full of pain and scorn, 'Midst other sore Abuses Mock'd with a crown of Thorn! O head, e'er now surrounded With brightest Majesty, Now pitiably Wounded! Accept a kiss from me. |
2. | Thou Countenance transcendent,
At other times rever'd By Worlds on thee dependent With Spittle now besmeared! etc. |
J. W. Alexander, 1849, in the Schaff-Gilman Lib. of Religious Poetry.
1. | O Sacred Head, now wounded,
With grief and shame bow'd down, Now scornfully surrounded, With thorns, Thy only crown. O Sacred Head, what glory What bliss till now was Thine Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call Thee mine. |
2. (Gerh. IV.) | What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered,
Was all for sinner's gain: Mine, mine was the transgression But Thine the deadly pain. Lo, here I fall, my Savior: 'Tis I deserve Thy place; Look on me with Thy favour, Vouchsafe to me Thy grace. |
3. (Gerh. VII.) | The joy can ne'er be spoken,
Above all joys beside, When in Thy body broken I thus with safety hide. Lord of my life desiring Thy glory now to see, Beside Thy cross expiring I'd breathe my soul to Thee. |
4. (Gerh. VIII.) | What language shall I borrow
To thank Thee, dearest Friend, For this, Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end? O make me Thine for ever; And should I fainting be, Lord let me never, never Outlive my love for Thee. |
5. (Gerh. X.) | Be near me when I'm dying,
O show Thy Cross to me: And to my succour flying, Come, Lord, and set me free. These eyes new faith receiving, From Jesus shall not move; For he, who dies believing, Dies safely through Thy love. |
Miss Winkworth, 1855, in her Lyra Germanica, 1st Series.
1. | Ah wounded Head! must Thou
Endure such shame and scorn! The blood is trickling from Thy brow Pierced by the crown of thorn. Thou who wast crown'd on high With light and majesty, In deep dishonor here must die, Yet here I welcome Thee! |
Miss Winkworth, 1863, in her Chorale Book.
1. | Ah wounded Head that bearest
Such bitter shame and scorn, That now so meekly wearest The mocking crown of thorn! Erst reigning in the highest In light and majesty, Dishonored here Thou diest, Yet here I worship Thee. |
A cento by J. C. Ryle, 1860, in his Spiritual Songs.
1. (Gerh. stanza VIII.) |
I give Thee thanks unfeigned,
O Jesus, Friend in need, For what Thy soul sustained When Thou for me didst bleed. Grant to lean unshaken Upon Thy faithfulness, Until I hence am taken To see Thee face to face. |
Cento from J. Gambold's version, in Reid's Praise Book, 1866.
1. | O Head! so full of bruises,
So full of pain and scorn; Midst other sore abuses, Mock'd with a crown of thorn! O Head! ere now surrounded With brightest majesty, In death once bow'd and wounded, Accursed on a tree! |
2. | Thou countenance transcendent,
Thou life-creating Sun To worlds on Thee dependent, Yet bruised and spit upon! . . . etc. |
J. Kelly, 1867, in his Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs.
1. | Oh! bleeding head and wounded,
And full of pain and scorn, In mockery surrounded With cruel crown of thorn! O Head! before adornèd With grace and majesty, Insulted now and scornèd, All hail I bid to Thee! |
S. M. Jackson, 1873, 1890, in Schaff-Gilman Lib. of Religious Poetry.
1. | O Head, blood stained and wounded,
Tortured by pain and scorn! O Head in jest surrounded By a rude crown of thorn! O Head, once rich adorned With highest laud and lays, But now so deeply scorned, To thee I lift my praise! |
Sir H. W. Baker in Schaff-Gilman Lib. of Religious Poetry.
1. | O Sacred Head, surrounded
By crown of piercing thorn! O bleeding Head so wounded, Reviled and put to scorn! Death's pallid hue comes o'er Thee, The glow of life decays, Yet angel-hosts adore thee And tremble as they gaze. |
Miss Margarete Münsterberg, in her Harvest of German Verse, 1916.
1. | Oh, wounded head and bleeding,
By pain and scorn bowed down! Oh head, the gibes unheeding, Bound with a thorny crown! Oh head, once decorated With honors gloriously, Now tortured so and hated, I greet and worship Thee! |
[Morning.]
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1648, no. 1, in 10 stanzas of four lines; thence in Wackernagel: no. 99; Bachmann: no. 1. It was repeated in Crü--Runge, 1653, no. 1, and also in the Berlin G. L. S.: ed. 1863, no. 1132. This is one of the finest and most popular of German morning hymns, and soon passed into universal use, stanza VIII being best known. Cf. Koch, IV, 595 ff.
In full, by J. C. Jacobi, in his Psalmodia Germanica, 1720, p. 33 (1722, p. 104), repeated in pt. I of the Moravian H. Bk., 1754. In the Moravian H. Bk., 1789 and 1886, it begins "My soul awake and render," stanzas 1, 2, 4, 5, being from I; V (lines 3, 4); VI (lines 1, 2); X; VIII.
H. J. Buckoll, 1842, p. 28.
E. Massie, 1867.
J. Kelly, 1867, p.
276.
N. L. Frothingham, 1870.
The third
The eighteenth century English versions of German hymns invariably abound in extravagant figures. just why in this instance the translator has chosen to add to the text, where no mention is made of a "lion," the idea of such an animal in the verse:
Nay, when that Lyon's Fury,
is difficult to explain. Possibly to his own mind that creature was more terrifying than Satan himself. Still less pardonable is the distortion in stanza IV:
Du sprachst: Mein Kind, nun liege
Trotz dem, der dich betriege! Schlaf wol, lasz dir nicht grauen, Du sollt die Sonne schauen. |
Thou saidst: my Child, be easy,
My presence shall release Thee From frightful Pain and Evil, In spite of Hell and Devil. |
Such alterations of the original, always with the idea of bringing a more terrible picture to the mind of the reader, can be justified on no ground whatever, and accounted for only by saying that the translator probably regarded this as one of the methods of
"resolving all the jarring Discords of Self-love into the heavenly Concords
of Mutual Love and Affection. If this be not effected here below, we shall
never be worthy to hear the glorious Anthems of the Seraphic Quire
above."
The singularly inapt paraphrase of the couplet in stanza 3
Thy gracious Condescension,
Has crossed his sore Intention |
appears to slightly better advantage in stanza 7:
In gracious Condescension
Despise not my Intention; Nor Body, Soul, nor Spirit Can boast of any Merit. |
Another characteristic of the English versions of this period is the emphasizing of the tortures of Hell and the Devil. just as in stanza 4 above, we are not surprised to read in stanza 8:
From Satan's woeful doings, |
although there is in the German no suggestion whatever of Satan or his deeds. Similarly, the concluding stanza, after the pleasing opening lines, causes something of a shock by its abrupt descent to the grotesque:
Thy Bliss be my Salvation,
My Heart thy Habitation; Thy Word my Food and Relish, Till thou destroy'st what's Hellish. |
Except for the imperfect rhymes in most of his stanzas Kelly's version is unusually good both as a scrupulously faithful rendering and a successful attempt to keep the simple language and reproduce the characteristic touches of Gerhardt. The line:
The sunlight shall delight thee, |
takes on a new significance when compared with
Du sollt die Sonne schauen, |
and strophe 8 is particularly well done in that it has so large a predominance of Anglo-Saxon words:
So wollst du nun vollenden
Dein Werk an mir und senden Der mich an diesern Tage Auf seinen Händen trage. |
Thou wilt, O Lord! be ending
Thy work in me and sending Who in his hands will take me, Today his care will make me. |
J. C. Jacobi, in his Psalmodia Germanica, 1722.
I. |
My Soul awake, and tender
To God, thy great Defender Thy Prayer and Thanksgiving, Because thou art still living. |
II. |
Last Night, when lying senseless,
And utterly defenceless, I was in greatest Danger From Darkness and its Ranger. |
John Kelly, in his Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs, 1867.
1. |
Awake, my heart! be singing,
Praise to thy Maker bringing, Of every good the Giver, Who men protecteth ever. |
2. |
As shades of night spread over
Earth as a pall did cover, Then Satan sought to have me But God was near to save me. |
[Evening.]
First published in Crü. Praxis, 1648, no. 15, in 9 stanzas of 6 lines; thence in Wackernagel: no. 102; Bachmann: no. 2; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 529. Cf. Koch, IV, 607; VIII, 194.
This is one of the finest and one of the earliest of Gerhardt's hymns. In
the time of Flat Rationalism in Germany the first stanza became the object
of much derision.
Nox erat, et placidum carpebant fessa soporem
Corpora per terras, silvaeque et saeva quierant Aequora, cum medio volvuntur sidera lapsu, Cum tacet omnis ager, pecudes pictaeque volucres, Quaeque lacus late liquidos, quaeque aspera dumis Rura tenent, somno positae sub nocte silenti (Lenibant curas, et corda oblita laborum). |
Among the common people the hymn became an exceeding favorite and was generally used as an evening prayer. Its childlike simplicity combined with its deep poetical charm has won the hearts of old and young to the present day. Frequently it has been sung on starry nights by men, women, or children in the fields on their homeward way, and many have laid themselves down for the long sleep of death with this hymn on their lips.
A troop of French soldiers entered Lisberg, a small town of Hesse, on
the 14th of September, 1796, plundered and killed the inhabitants, and
burned the whole town. A little way distant, at the foot of a mountain, was
a small cottage in which a mother sat by the bedside of her sick child.
Breit aus die Flügel beide,
O Jesu, meine Freude, . . . (stanza VIII), |
and lo! the wild soldier suddenly dropped his arm, stepped to the bed, and laid his rough hand gently on the child's head. Then going outside he stood guard that none of his troop might harm the cottage.
Although in limited use in the English hymn books, the translations are numerous, as follows:
Omitting stanza VIII by Mrs. Findlater, in H. L. L., 1st Series, 1854, p. 36 (1884, p. 38), included in Cantate Domino, Boston, U. S. A., 1859.
A full and good translation by Miss Winkworth, in the 2d ed., 1856, of the 1st Series of her Lyra Ger., 1855, p. 228. Included in full in her C. B. for England, 1863, and the Ohio Luth. Hyl., 1880.
A translation of stanzas I, III, VIII, IX, by Edward Thring, as no. 18 in the Uppingham and Sherborne School H. Bk., 1874.
A translation of stanza VIII as no. 200 in the Appendix of 1743 to the Moravian H. Bk., 1742.
In the Suppl. to Ger. Psal., ed. 1765, p. 73.
A translation of stanza VIII as no. 156 in pt. I of the Moravian H. Bk., 1754.
A translation of stanza VIII as no. 765 in the Moravian H. Bk., 1789 (1886, no. 1190).
H. J. Buckoll, 1842, p. 76.
E. D. Yeomans, in Schaff's Kirchenfreund, 1853, p. 195.
Miss Winkworth, 1855, p. 226 (see no. 2 above).
Miss Dunn, 1857, p. 9.
J. S. Stallybrass, in the Tonic Solfa Reporter, January, 1859, and Curwen's Harmonium and Organ Book, 1863, p. 58.
Miss Manington, 1863, p. 133.
Miss Cox, 1864, p. 9.
J. Kelly, 1863, p. 285.
Dr. J. Guthrie, 1869.
In the Yattendon Hymnal, 1899, thence in Hymns of the Kingdom of God, N. Y., 1910, 1916, and the Hymnal of Praise, N. Y., 1913.
Quaint and homely as it is, this hymn has done much to enkindle devotion and strengthen grace among Christian readers in Germany, and is now familiar to English-speaking peoples through the beautiful translations of Miss Winkworth and Mrs. Findlater. Both they and Dr. Guthrie have successfully imitated the sweetly domestic tone in poems that have soothed many a careworn spirit at the close of day.
In the version which appeared in her Lyra Germanica Miss Winkworth evidently overlooked the fact that line 3 of her first stanza had an extra foot:
O'er field and city, man, and beast.
In the
version for church singing printed in her Chorale Book
the line is
changed to the normal six-syllable iambic measure to admit of its being set
to the old German melody,
Gerhardt's stanza VIII, "Breit aus die Flügel beide,"
O Jesu, meine Freude,
Und nimm dein Küchlein ein!
Will Satan mich verschlingen,
So lasz die Englein singen:
Dies Kind soll unverletzet sein.
"How many a Christian soul, children mostly, but also God's children in general, does this verse serve as their last evening prayer. It has often been the last prayer uttered on earth, and in many districts of Germany is used at the close of the baptismal service to commend the dear little ones to the protection of their Lord Jesus."
Miss Winkworth has successfully caught the truly childlike popular spirit of the stanza in the lines:
My Jesus, stay Thou by me,
And let no foe come nigh me, Safe shelter'd by Thy wing; But would the foe alarm me, O let him never harm me, But still Thine angels round me sing. |
Interesting and amusing by its grotesqueness is the Moravian version of
this stanza,
Breit aus die flugel (sic) beide. |
Display thy both Wings over
Thy Chickens and them cover, O Jesu, Savior mild! If devils would disturb 'em, Let holy angels curb 'em And bid them never touch thy Child. |
In the rich language in which such hymns were conceived and expressed
they possess a force that is not easily retained in a translation especially
where as in the present instance there is such an abundance of double
rhymes. Dr. J. Guthrie's version has in England gained some popularity
through the melodious rhythm he has given his lines by not restricting himself
to Gerhardt's metre,
The woods are hushed o'er town and plain (1).
Now hastes the body to repose (19). My laden eyes to slumber yield The shadows of the evening hours Fall from the dark'ning sky Upon the fragrance of the flowers The dews of evening lie; etc. |
The sound sequence in stanza VIII to which the lines owe some of their popularity Dr. Guthrie has obviously endeavored to imitate by the alliterative,
My Savior, Shield and Sun!
When Satan on my soul would spring, |
which would indeed do justice to Gerhardt. However a less unpleasant sound than the repeated sibilant which he has used, would suit the English ear better.
As an attempt to translate with scrupulous faithfulness Kelly's version is of some interest. The difficulties in the double rhymes he overcomes by the device of inflectional endings and repetition of pronouns which although at first moderately satisfactory must eventually become monotonous:
declining | hasteth | tirèd |
shining | divesteth | expirèd |
sing ye | make me | send you |
bring ye | o'ertake me | defend you. |
Mrs. Findlater has in her version changed the metre of the original for all lines except the third and sixth; in the closing couplet or even the concluding line of each stanza she has more than any other translator reproduced the idea of peaceful repose which was so evidently Gerhardt's intention.
Stanza 3, lines 5 and 6. | When I hear my Lord's command
To leave this earth and upward fly. | |
Stanza 8, lines 5 and 6. | Give to my beloved sleep,
And angels send to guard their home. |
The omission of stanza VIII containing the figure of the hen gathering in her chicks is partially justifiable on the ground that the poem is complete without it, and that such similes while appropriately introduced into hymns of the seventeenth century are out of place in nineteenth century hymnody. On the other hand by this ruthless pruning the distinctive touch that Gerhardt gave the hymn is lost. It is interesting to note in the examination of the various English versions of Gerhardt's poetry the treatment which the "homely element" receives from the translator. The poem under consideration will form a good basis for discussion. Almost invariably the translator offers a paraphrase departing more or less widely from the original and effecting a colorless result: Gerhardt writes in stanza IV:
Der Leib eilt nun zur Ruhe,
Legt ab das Kleid und Schuhe. |
Miss Winkworth renders:
The body hastes to slumber
These garments now but cumber. |
Now the body seeks for rest
From its vestments all undrest. |
To rest the body hasteth
Itself of clothes divesteth. |
Guthrie, however, whose version as a whole would doubtless be considered the best literary production, is not content with what is in the German but takes the opportunity offered by the extra syllables in his longer line to describe the vestment more explicitly:
Now hastes the body to repose
Throws off its garments, shoes and hose. |
Mrs. Findlater, 1854, in her Hymns from the Land of Luther.
Stanza 1. | Quietly rest the woods and dales,
Silence round the hearth prevails, The world is all asleep; Thou, my soul, in thought arise, Seek thy Father in the skies, And holy vigils with Him keep. |
Miss Winkworth, 1863, in her Chorale Book.
Stanza 1. | Now all the woods are sleeping,
And night and stillness creeping O'er (field and) city, man and beast; But thou, my heart, awake thee, To prayer awhile betake thee, And praise thy Maker ere thou rest. |
J. Kelly, 1863, in his Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs.
Stanza 1. | Now spread are evening's shadows,
O'er forests, towns, and meadows, And sleepeth every eye; Awake my powers and sing ye, And pray'r and praises bring ye, That your Creator please on high! |
J. Guthrie, 1869, in his Sacred Lyrics.
Stanza 1. | The woods are hushed; o'er town and plain,
O'er man and beast, soft slumbers reign: The world has gone to rest. But thou, my soul, my every sense, Wake up, thy Maker's praise commence, And be that praise thy best. |
In the Hymnal of Praise, 1913 (translator's name not given).
Stanza 1. | The duteous day now closeth,
Each flow'r and tree reposeth, Shade creeps o'er wild and wood. Let us, as night is falling, On God, our Maker calling, Give thanks to Him, the Giver good. |
Stanza 2. | Now all the heavenly splendor
Breaks forth in starlight tender From myriad worlds unknown; And man, Thy marvel seeing, Forgets his selfish being For joy of beauty not his own. |
[Passiontide.]
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1648; thence in Wackernagel: no. 13; Bachmann: no. 7. Lauxmann in Koch VIII, 40, designates it as "the masterpiece of all Passion hymns." It is commonly sung in Germany and was included in the Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 95, but because of the complexity and variety of figures it has not come into extensive English or American use.
A translation of stanzas I and II and part of IV by A. T. Russell in his Psalms and Hymns, 1851.
Mrs. Charles' translation (combining Gerhardt's stanzas II and III as 2) appears in her Voice of Christian Life in Song, 1858, p. 232. The second part of her version, beginning, "Gate of my heart, fly open wide" (stanza VII), appears in the following: (a) Bishop Ryle's Collection, 1860; (b) Reid's Praise Book, 1872; (c) Christian Hymns, Adelaide, 1872.
A full translation by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 49. The Ohio Luth. Hymnal, 1880, reduces it to 4 stanzas.
J. Gambold, as no. 24, in part III, 1746, of the
Moravian H. Book. In part II of the
1754 edition it begins "A Lamb goes forth and on him bears." In the ed. of 1801 it
A translation in the Suppl. to Ger. Psal., ed. 1765, and also Select Hymns from Ger. Psal., Tranquebar, 1754.
Miss Dunn, 1857, p. 32.
Miss Cox, in Lyra Messianica, 1864, p. 230, and also in her Hymns from the German, 1864, p. 107.
Dr. J. Guthrie, in his Sacred Lyrics, 1869, p. 82.
Mrs. E. J. Carr, in Songs of the Inner Life, 1871. This version appeared also in Reid's Praise Book, 1872, with slight alterations.
Catharine Macrea, in Reid's Praise Book, 1872, no. 990.
The unusual figures in this Passion Hymn have prevented its receiving
in English-speaking countries the wide popularity attained by "O Haupt
voll Blut und Wunden."
The Moravian Hymn Book contains Gambold's translation in Gerhardt's
metre of nine of the ten stanzas; the seventh, which abounds in metaphors,
he has omitted. Mention has elsewhere
Whilst I live here, I never shall
Forget thy Grace amazing; Our love shall be reciprocal, I also Thee embracing. My heart's Light thou shalt be always, And when it breaks once (as one says) Thou'lt be my Heart thenceforward . . . |
The figure in the concluding stanza of the bride clothed in purple is rather spoiled by Gambold by the baldness of the couplet:
Thy Blood shall of my Wedding-dress
Be then the only splendor. |
Nor have we in the German anything to suggest the final lines:
Then will the Mother, who bore me,
And nursed me up, my Lamb, for thee, Present me as thy Purchase. |
Russell's short version of two stanzas presents an effective paraphrase of the last three lines of Gerhardt's stanza IV:
O süszes Lamm, was soll ich dir
Erweisen dafür, dasz du mir Erweisest so viel Gutes? |
O Lamb beloved! How shall I Thee
Requite for all, thus unto me Such wondrous goodness showing? |
Under the title "The sin-bearing Lamb" Dr. Guthrie gives in his Sacred Lyrics perhaps the most readable English translation, as it combines Gerhardt's beautiful piety and spiritual simplicity; it is also unique among translations from the German, in that it introduces more of the direct address than is usual, translators preferring as a rule to render quotations in the indirect form:
"Give me," he says, "the wreath of thorn," etc.
Stanza 7, which Gambold omitted entirely, is the beginning of a hymn in Reid's Praise Book. It is a cento taken from Mrs. Charles' very free translation (1858) and is cited here to illustrate the liberties often taken by translators. Here, of course, the free paraphrase is reasonably justifiable:
STANZA 7. | ||
Gerhardt. | Mrs. Charles. | |
Erweitre dich, mein Herzensschrein,
Du sollt ein Schatzhaus werden Der Schätze, die viel gröszer sein Als Himmel, Meer und Erden. Weg mit dem Gold Arabia! Weg Calmus, Myrrhen, Casia! Ich hab ein Bessers funden. Mein groszer Schatz, Herr Jesu Christ Ist dieses, was geflossen ist Aus deines Leibes Wunden. |
Gate of my heart, fly open wide--
Shrine of my heart, spread forth; The treasure will in thee abide Greater than heaven and earth: Away with all this poor world's treasures, And all this vain world's tasteless pleasures, My treasure is in heaven; For I have found true riches now, My treasure, Christ, my Lord, art Thou, Thy blood so freely given! |
In the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754 ed., part II (author's name not given).
Stanza 1. | A Lamb goes forth and on him bears
The Guilt and misdemeanour Of all the World, and patient wears The Likeness of a Sinner. |
Stanza 2. | Great King! in ev'ry age confest,
Yet never more or greater, Than when thou with thy Wounds wast drest, Could I but praise thee better! |
J. Gambold, in the 1754 edition of the Moravian Hymn Book.
Stanza 1. | A Lamb goes forth, and bears the guilt
Of all the world together, Most patiently by his Blood spilt To pay for ev'ry Debtor; Sickness and toil he on him took, Went freely to the Slaughter-block All comfort he refused; He underwent reproach and blame, Death on the Cross, and Stripes and shame, And said, I gladly chuse it. |
A. T. Russell, in his Psalms and Hymns, 1851.
Stanza 1. | A Lamb goes forth: the sins He bears
Of every generation: Himself with patience He prepares To die for every nation. All faint and weak, behold! He goes, His life resigning to His foes: No thought His grief can measure. He yields to scorn, reproach, disdain, Wounds, anguish, cross, and dying pain, And saith, "It is my pleasure." |
Guthrie, 1869, in his Sacred Lyrics.
Stanza 1. | Forth goes a dear devoted Lamb
And dies an expiation For sinners all, of every name, Of every age and nation. Forlorn and faint, behold He gains The scene of more than deadly pains, No earthly good possessing: "Give me," he says, "The wreath of thorn, The stripes, the curse, the Cross of scorn, That men may have the blessing." |
[Cross and Consolation.]
Founded on
This is a very beautiful hymn but difficult of translation. It was a source of comfort to the Salzburg emigrants on their way through Swabia in 1732 (cf. Goethe's Hermann und Dorothea), and to Frederick William I. of Prussia on his deathbed, May 31, 1740. The eighth stanza was the last utterance of Gerhardt on the day of his death, May 27, 1676. It has since cheered and comforted many Christians, both in the season of trial and in the hour of death. It was joyfully sung by the pious pastor Hosch of Gächingen in Württemberg, when on the 2d of July, 1800, French soldiers had plundered his house, leaving him almost nothing but his harp, with which he accompanied the cheering strains of this hymn. The words of the seventh stanza:
Unverzagt und ohne Grauen
Solt ein Christ, Wo er ist, Stets sich laszen schauen. . . . |
were spoken by the pious lawyer in Stuttgart, John Jacob Moser, when, in consequence of his fearless remonstrances against injustice, he was called before his sovereign, the Duke of Württemberg, to be sentenced to imprisonment. The Queen of Poland and Electress of Saxony, Christiana Eberhardina, who died on the 5th of September, 1726, derived great consolation in her dying moments from the eighth stanza which was repeated to her by her chaplain.
A good translation of stanzas I, IV, VII, VIII, XI, XII, as no. 232 in the
Anglican H. Bk., 1868. Translated by the Rev. Angelo A. Benson,
1862.
In full by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 214. His translation of stanzas I, V, X-XII, are repeated
in the Ohio Luth. Hymnal, 1880, no. 420.
In the Suppl. to Ger. Psalmody, ed. 1765, p. 58, in the Moravian H. Bk., 1754, and in the Supplement of 1808 to the Moravian H. Bk. of 1801, but with stanzas VIII, X, altered and beginning "With undaunted resolution."
Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Ger., 1858, p. 198.
N. L. Frothingham, 1870, p. 144.
This "Christliches Freudenlied" has an especial interest, for it seems to
have been the hymn that was most comforting to Gerhardt. We know that
in his last moments
Kann uns doch kein Tod nicht tödten,
Sondern reiszt Unsern Geist Aus viel tausend Nöten; Schleuszt das Thor der bittern Leiden Und macht Bahn, Da man kann Gehn zur Himmelsfreuden. |
It was fitting that one whose hymns are so replete with expressions of earthly and the far greater heavenly joys should go to his final rest comforted by the full realization of their meaning.
The translator in the 1754 edition of the Moravian Hymn Book has with a few characteristic exceptions treated the peculiar rhythm and metre skillfully. Although the line
Han't I still Christ my Hill, |
(line 2) would not be acceptable to-day, still our attention is forcibly drawn to the rhythm and note of genuine fervor in the reproduction of our poet's last words:
Conquered Death cannot destroy us,
But cuts short grief and Smart That doth here annoy us; Shuts the door on sin and sadness And makes way for the Day Of eternal gladness. |
John Kelly in his Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs although he does not retain much of the lyric grace of the original translates the poem with scrupulous faithfulness. His stanza 8 suffers greatly by comparison with that of the Moravian version-given above.
Death can never kill us even,
But relief From all grief To us then is given. It does close life's mournful story Make a way That we may Pass to heavenly glory. |
In the 1754 edition of the Moravian Hymn Book (author's name not given).
Stanza 1. | Why should I continue grieving,
Han't I still Christ my Hill, And my Savior living? Who'll deprive me of Salvation Which by Faith Jesus hath Giv'n in expectation? |
John Kelly in his Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs, 1867.
Stanza 1. | Why should sorrow ever grieve me?
Christ is near What can here E'er of Him deprive me? Who can rob me of my heaven That God's Son As mine own To my faith hath given? |
Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Germanica, 1858.
Stanza 1. | Wherefore should I grieve and pine?
Is not Christ the Lord still mine? Who can sever me from Him? Who can rob me of the heaven Which the Son of God hath given Unto faith though weak and dim? |
[Christmas.]
Included in Crü. Praxis, 1653, no. 100 in 16 stanzas of 4 lines. In Ebeling, 1667, 5, no. 52, four stanzas were added as IV, VIII, IX, XVII. The complete text in 20 stanzas is in Wackernagel: no. 10; Bachmann: no. 42; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 58. Cf. Koch IV, 136.
This translation of stanzas I-III, V-VII, XVIII-XX, appeared in the British Magazine, January, 1838, p. 35. Repeated, omitting the translation of stanza XIX, and beginning "Emmanuel, Thy name we sing," in Kennedy, 1863.
A translation of stanzas I-III, V, by A. T. Russell in the Dalston Hospital H. Bk., 1848.
A translation of stanzas I-III, VI, XX, based on the earlier versions, in J. F. Thrupp's Psalms and Hymns, 1853, no. 35.
A good translation of stanzas I-III, V-VII, XVIII-XX, by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Ger., First Series, 1855, p. 28. In her 2d ed., 1856, p. 24, she added a translation of stanza IX, and thus in her C. B. for England, 1863, no. 35. Repeated, abridged, in the Hyl. for St. John's, Aberdeen, 1870, and Flett's Collection, Paisley, 1871; and beginning "With all Thy saints, Thee, Lord, we sing" (stanza II), in Boardman's Selections, Philadelphia, 1861.
A good translation of stanzas I-III, V-VII, XVIII-XX, by Miss Cox, contributed to Lyra Messianica, 1864, p. 55, and in her own Hymns from the German, 1864, p. 35. in Schaff's Christ in Song, 1869, p. 56, it is in full, and in Jellicoe's Collection, 1867, omitting the translation of stanza V. In the Amer. Bapt. Hy. & Tune Bk., 1871, it begins, "All glory, worship, thanks and praise" (stanzas II, III, XIX, XX).
A translation of stanzas I, II, XIX, XX, signed "F. C. C.," as no. 26 in Dr. Pagenstecher's Collection, 1864.
As no. 109 in part III, 1748, of the Moravian H. Bk. (1754, part I, no. 436).
L. E. Schlecht, in the Moravian H. Bk., 1789, no. 45 (1886, no. 45).
Miss Fry, 1859, p. 163.
Miss Manington, 1864, p. 36.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 37.
Few of the English versions of German hymns which appear in the old Moravian hymn books rise above a mediocre grade; many on account of their crudity deserve only passing mention, others are interesting merely by way of comparison with later renderings. The editions up to that of 1886 published no authors' names and it is now largely a matter of conjecture as to who may have written these earlier versions. Rarely did the translators succeed in giving even a fair impression of the original, and we suspect that irnperfect knowledge of the exact meaning of the German or even indifference to the effect their versions produced may too often have been the cause of the crude and even grotesque language.
The translator of this Christmas hymn has, however, been a notable
exception; choosing from Gerhardt's discursive strophes the most significant
ideas, he has developed a poem of seven stanzas superior to most contemporary
Gerhardt: | I | II | VII | VI | VII | VIII | VI | IX | XI | XX |
Mor. Hy. Bk.: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Especially happy are the epithets in lines 3 and 4:
Du Himmelsblum und Morgenstern,
Du Jungfrausohn Herr aller Herrn. |
Thou Morning-star, thou Eden's Flow'r
The Lord of Lords, whom Mary bore! |
The modern reader will enjoy the orthography in the lines:
Dost thou a stranger chuse to be (stanza 3), | |
and | Thou cloathest all (stanza 3). |
though he will recoil at the pronunciation of the first two lines of stanza 5:
Thou in a manger ly'st with beasts,
There thou a little Infant rest'st. |
Stanza 6, a free paraphrase of stanza XI in the original, reproduces admirably the childlike confidence with which Gerhardt writes. The translator appreciates keenly the personal tone which pervades the poem when he sings:
I thank thee, loving Lamb! that thou
On my account didst stoop so low; And as thy Spirit gives me grace, I'll be thy Servant, if thou please. |
In her Chorale Book
and set to the old tune
"Erschienen ist der herrlich
Tag,"
Gerhardt: | I | II | III | V | VI | IX | VII | XVIII | XIX | XX |
Winkworth: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
Stanza 9 shows how successfully she can imitate Gerhardt's simplicity and fervor; even the alliteration finds a partial correspondence in her third line:
Gerhardt (stanza XIX). | Winkworth (stanza 9). | |
Du bist mein Haupt; hinwiederum
Bin ich dein Glied und Eigentum Und will, so viel dein Geist mir gibt, Stets dienen dir, wie dirs geliebt. |
Thou art my Head, my Lord Divine,
I am Thy member, wholly Thine, And in Thy Spirit's strength would still Serve Thee according to Thy will. |
So also in stanza 10 (Gerhardt XX) for Gerhardt's favorite expression "für und für" we find a very happy equivalent, and also an exact rhyme which the German lacks:
Gerhardt (stanza XX). | Winkworth (stanza 10). | |
Ich will dein Alleluja hier
Mit Freuden singen für und für, Und dort in deinem Ehrensaal Solls schallen ohne Zeit und Zahl. |
Thus will I sing Thy praises here
With joyful spirit year by year; And they shall sound before thy throne, Where time nor number more are known. |
Miss Cox, whose translation of Gellert's Easter hymn
Jesus lives, thy terror now
Can no longer, Death, appal us, |
is so well known, has given us one of the best modern versions of this Christmas hymn of Gerhardt's. Her stanzas correspond as follows:
Gerhardt: | I | II | III | V | VI | VII | XVIII | XIX | XX |
Cox: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
Miss Cox makes a less personal appeal to the worshipper and thereby loses much that is so excellent and characteristic of Gerhardt; instead of keeping the pronoun in the singular, "So fasz ich" (stanza XVIII) "Du bist mein Haupt" (stanza XIX) and "Ich will dein Alleluja" (stanza XX), she has respectively "Our love grows bold," "Thou art our Head," and "Our hallelujahs." If her poem is rather more polished, Gerhardt's is certainly the more direct, as witness these stanzas:
Gerhardt (stanza VII). | Cox (stanza 6). | |
Du kehrst in fremder Hausung ein,
Und sind doch alle Himmel dein; Trinkst Milch aus deiner Mutter Brust Und bist doch selbst der Engel Lust. |
Thou who both heaven and earth dost sway,
In strangers' inn are fain to stay; And though thy power makes angels blest, Dost seek thy food from human breast. |
The concluding stanza is inferior to the others and suffers by comparison with the excellent lines of Miss Winkworth cited above: it is a very free paraphrase and leaves the impression of having been hastily constructed:
As each short year goes quickly round,
Our hallelujahs shall resound; And when we reckon years no more, May we in heaven thy name adore! |
From the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754.
Stanza 1. | We sing to thee Immanuel!
Thou Prince of life, salvation's well! Thou Morning-star, thou Eden's Flow'r The Lord of Lords whom Mary bore! Hallelujah. |
We sing thee 'midst thy chosen race
With all our strength we give thee praise; That thou so long expected guest Didst come to visit us at last. |
Frances Elizabeth Cox, 1864, in the Schaff-Gilman Library of Religious Poetry.
Stanza 1. | We sing to thee, Emmanuel,
The Prince of life, salvation's well, The plant of heaven, the star of morn, The Lord of Lords, the virgin-born! |
Stanza 2. |
All glory, worship, thanks, and praise,
That thou art come in these our days! Thou heavenly guest, expected long, We hail thee with a joyful song. |
Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Germanica, 1865, p. 24.
1. | Thee, O Immanuel, we praise,
The Prince of Life, and Fount of Grace, The Morning Star, the Heavenly Flower, The Virgin's Son, the Lord of Power! With all Thy saints, Thee, Lord, we sing, Praise, honour, thanks to Thee we bring, That Thou, O long-expected guest, Hast come at last to make us blest! E'er since the world began to be, How many a heart hath longed for Thee; Long years our fathers hoped of old Their eyes might yet Thy Light behold. |
[Trust in God.]
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1656, no. 333; Wackernagel: no. 66; Bachmann: no. 72 in 12 stanzas of 8 lines; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 620.
Lauxmann, in Koch VIII, 392, calls this hymn "the most comforting of
all the hymns that have resounded on Paulus Gerhardt's golden lyre, sweeter
to many souls than honey and the honey-comb." It is an acrostic on
Luther's version of
According to tradition Gerhardt wrote the hymn in a Saxon village to
console his wife after they had been compelled to leave Berlin. But the
hymn was printed as early as 1653, and although Gerhardt had to give up
A very free but spirited rendering omitting stanzas V, IX-XI, by J. Wesley in his Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739 (P. Works, 1869-72, Vol. I, p. 125), in 8 stanzas of 8 lines. Wesley has here caught, far more successfully than any other, the real ring and spirit of Gerhardt. His translation has been included in many hymn books and collections, and has come into very extended use, but generally abridged. In the United Presb. H. Bk., 1852, it began "To God commit thy griefs." It is also found under these headings:
This last is a greatly altered cento with the stanza arrangement as follows:
Wesley: | III | I | III | V |
Cento: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
In this form also it has appered in many hymnals.
A complete translation by Dr. H. Mills in the Evang. Review, Gettysburg, July, 1849, and his Horae Ger., 1856, p. 172. His stanzas I, II, VI, XII, were included in the Lutheran General Synod's Hymns, 1852, and I, II, V, VI, XI, XII, in the Ohio Luth. Hymnal, 1880.
A complete translation by
Rev. A. T. Russell as no. 233 in
his Psalms and Hymns, 1851, in 3 parts. Part II begins "In vain the
powers of darkness / Thy will, O God,
A translation omitting stanzas IX, X, XII, by Mrs. Charles in her Voice of Christian Life in Song, 1858, p. 239. A cento of her version (Gerhardt's stanzas I, II, VI, VIII, XI) appears as no. 138 in Jellicoe's Collection, 1867, and another cento (Gerhardt's I, VI-VIII, XI) appears as no. 283 in Bishop Ryle's Collection, 1860.
A free paraphrase in 6 stanzas of 4 lines by J. S. Stallybrass for the Tonic-Solfa Reporter, July, 1857, repeated in Curwen's Child's Own H. Bk., 1862 and 1874.
A translation of stanzas I-III, XII, by Miss Borthwick in Dr. Pagenstecher's Collection, 1864, no. 240.
J. C. Jacobi, 1720, 1722, 1732.
In part I of the Moravian H. Bk., 1754 and 1849.
Mrs. Stanley Carr in her translation of Wildenhahn's Paul Gerhardt, 1845 and 1856.
Miss Dunn, 1857, p. 89.
In Madame de Pontes's Poets and Poetry of Germany, 1858, vol. I, p. 424.
Mrs. Bevan, 1859, p. 124.
Dr. R. P. Dunn in Sacred Lyrics from the German, Philadelphia, 1859, p. 85.
Miss Cox, 1864, p. 161; and in the Gilman-Schaff Lib. of Rel. Poetry, 1883, p. 510.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 225.
Dr. J. Guthrie in his Sacred Lyrics, 1869, p. 92.
N. L. Frothingham, 1870, p. 164.
Dr. John Cairns, c. 1850, but first published in Edinburgh, 1881, as an eight-page tract.
In the interesting and now very rare old Psalmodia Germanica
"Their Royal Highnesses,
Princess ANNE
Pincess AMALIA,
(sic!)
AND
Princess CAROLINA,"
and in one paragraph of this dedication we read:
"As a sincere Desire to promote Divine Psalmody has prompted me to this Translation; so I presume to address the same, such as it is to YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESSES, for no other End than to promote thereby the Singing the Praises of our blessed Redeemer"; etc.
In most cases facing the beginning page of the hymns is an inserted leaf (not numbered) containing the traditional melody unharmonized. It is a reasonably safe conjecture that these books of Jacobi were among the very first printed copies of anglicized German hymns, and the historical value and interest of the books themselves as well as the versions they contain cannot be overestimated.
The version of "Befiehl du deine Wege" is so free a paraphrase, combining, as it does, in the five stanzas ideas from the twelve of the original, and introducing new elements altogether, that except for the first and fifth strophes it is difficult to connect the themes definitely with any particular lines in Gerhardt's poem. The correspondence seems, however, to be approximately as follows:
Jacobi: | I | II | III | IV | V | ||||
Gerhardt: | 1 | 2 5 | 7 | 7 3 4 8 10 | 12 |
Which line of Gerhardt suggests the injunction "Shake off that yoke of
Hell" (2, 6) is not clear: possibly here Jacobi had
in mind the scriptural passage
(
And he shall clear the Dullness
That sits upon thy Mind |
perhaps finds its basis in stanza VII:
. . . was das Herze
Betrübt und traurig macht! |
or in stanza VIII:
Wann Er . . .
Das Werk hinausgeführet, Das dich bekümmert hat. |
To conclude his hymn, Jacobi again, as in strophe 2, dwells upon the punishment for sin, entirely an interpolation of his own, with no bearing on the original whatever:
Redeem us all together
From Sin, World, Death, and Hell. |
Finally it must be said that for the modern reader this version must seem little more than a distorted paraphrase, made still further difficult of interpretation and appreciation through the use of words far more remote from our modern English than is the German vernacular of the seventeenth century from the modern German. Phrases such as:
His Fatherly Dilection
is never at a stand (3, lines 7 and 8) |
and
Our Life and Conversation
Lead by Thy Holy Hand (5, lines 5 and 6) |
seem not well calculated to carry out the hope that the translator utters on the last page of his "dedication":
"If the Lover of Psalmody, can find in these Hymns an edifying Sunday's Entertainment, which, it seems, has hitherto been too much wanting in Abundance of Families, the Translator will think his Time well bestow'd,
In another chapter
Omitting stanza V Wesley gives a free but spirited version of the stanza beginning
Hoff, O du arme Seele
Hoff und sei unverzagt . . . |
as
Give to the winds thy fears
Hope and be undismayed God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears God shall lift up thy head. |
Omitting also stanzas IX-XI inclusive, in which the original emphasizes or repeats in sameness of strain the thoughts of the earlier part of the poem, Wesley offers in his final strophe a strong conclusion, though he departs from the idea of Gerhardt's theme of distress for which termination is besought, and dwells upon the weakness to which man is prone. While Gerhardt asks to be guided to Heaven, to be entrusted ("empfohlen") to God's care, which one would expect for the appropriate conclusion of a poem beginning "Befiehl du deine Wege," Wesley prays only that God's children may remember His care:
Let us, in life, in death,
Thy steadfast truth declare And publish, with our latest breath, Thy love and guardian care! |
The nearest date that can be set for the other early English translation
of this most famous of Gerhardt's hymns is 1754 in the Moravian Hymn
Book of that year where it appeared without the name of the author. It is
very likely the work of the editor himself, Dr. J. Gambold; for it has many
of the characteristics of other hastily made translations in his collection
of "German Hymns in the Seventeenth Century." Many of the hymns of the
early and exuberant development of Moravian hymnody seem at first sight
like a highly-colored and almost morbid growth that had been grafted from
without upon the stem of English church song. If the immediate impression
Rely on God who good is
Fix on his work thy notice.
Stanza 8.
Sometimes he his Assistance
Does not directly show.
Stanza 9.
When least thou hop'st that Favour
He extricate thee will.
The author has rendered all stanzas but the fifth ("Und ob gleich alle
Teufel," etc.), omitting this possibly because Wesley before him (1739) had
omitted it. The stanza is not far inferior to its prototype, stanza
III
Und wollt uns gar verschlingen, etc.
Let us, in life, in death,
Thy steadfast truth declare, And publish, with our latest breath, Thy love and guardian care! |
The Moravian version reads:
Till, and beyond death's valley
Let us thy Truth declare Yea then emphatically Boast of thy Guardian care. |
Miss Cox preserves the eight-line form and the original metre in her complete translation of the twelve stanzas. Taken as a whole her appeal is far less direct than Wesley's, her sentences and the ideas contained in them being much more involved. On the other hand, in the very first quatrain her word "Trust" gives the keynote of the whole poem at once, a touch that the original certainly contains and which no other translator has successfully reproduced in the first stanza. Strophe IX which is among those passed over by Wesley finds here a good English parallel in what appears to be a well-studied rendering:
Gerhardt: | Er wird zwar eine Weile
Mit seinem Trost verziehen . . . | |
Awhile, perchance to try thee,
He seems to hear thee not, All comfort to deny thee, As if thou wert forgot; . . . |
But undeniably the closest parallel, showing too that she was at home in
both languages, is the concluding stanza. Where others fail her translation
here excels in that it follows the idea which Gerhardt emphasizes throughout
the poem, that of the heart trusting
End if thou wilt our sorrow,
And our probation close; Till then we fain would borrow Strength to support life's woes: To thee our way commending, Whose wisdom orders best, We tread the pathway tending To heaven's eternal rest. |
Much of the native beauty and lyric grace of this charming hymn is to
be found in one of the less well known translations--that of
Dr. John Guthrie (1869). He very appropriately
designates the hymn "The Triumph of Trust," and seems to have divined
Gerhardt's meaning and use of "Trost"
Trust him and soon with wonder
His goodness shalt thou see . . . Tis faith and prayer and waiting That draw the blessing down. |
or again in stanza 8 where the true "Stimmung" is present:
Trust Him to guard and guide thee,
And bid thy troubles flee Trust Him, whate'er betide thee . . . |
Not as successful in the concluding quatrain as Miss Cox, but nevertheless sensible of what Gerhardt intended to be the closing theme, as has been noted already, Dr. Guthrie gives us this couplet:
That on thy care depending,
We heavenward still may go. . . . |
Dr. John Kelly's version adheres more closely
than any other to the metre
and language, but it would be impossible by this means to popularize for the
The Lord thou must repose on
If thou wouldst prosper sure, His work must ever gaze on If thine is to endure. |
Throughout the poem occurs the same defect, a forcing of the rhyme:
evil cavil | graciously early see | misery may we |
In the last quatrain Kelly fails, as do the other translators, to bring out Gerhardt's strong repetition of the dominating theme, ending with the very inferior couplet
So come we where prepar'd for
Us is our bless'd abode. |
Another translation that, like Kelly's is somewhat ultra-faithful to the original metres is that of Dr. A. T. Russell (1851). He has divided the hymn into three separate poems:
Part I, stanzas I, II, III, IV.
Part II, stanzas V, VI, VII, VIII. Part III, stanzas IX, X, XI, XII. |
In the very passage where others have made their poorest offering Russell has been unusually successful, namely in the last quatrain of stanza II ("Mit Sorgen und mit Grämen," etc.):
God yieldeth nought to sorrow
And self-tormenting care: Nought, nought with Him availeth;-- No power save that of prayer. |
He has obtained literality in a marked degree in the fourth stanza as a close examination will show:
Weg hast du allerwegen,
An Mitteln fehlt dirs nicht; Dein Thun ist lauter Segen, Dein Gang ist lauter Licht, Dein Werk kann niemand hindern, Dein Arbeit darf nicht ruhn, Wann du, was deinen Kindern Ersprieszlich ist, willst thun. | Thy way is ever open;
Thou dost on nought depend; Thine act is only blessing; Thy path light without end, Thy work can no man hinder, Thy purpose none can stay, Since Thou to bless Thy children Through all dost make a way. |
The success is plainly due to the fortunate choice of Anglo-Saxon
equivalents and the coincidence of verse accent and important words.
Stanza 4. | Resources rich possessing,
That love still finds a way, Thy every act a blessing, Thy pathway cloudless day; In one unbroken tissue, Which no let e'er withstood, It brings to happy issue Plans for thy children's good. |
It is unfortunate that a version so excellent in other respects should include this wide departure from the fervor and whole-heartedness of Gerhardt.
One final observation is interesting that in his last strophe Russell offers a compromise between Wesley's interpretation and that of Miss Cox:
Thy truth and Thy protection
Forevermore we pray: With these in heavenly glory Shall end our certain way. |
This prayer for protection is closer to Gerhardt's lines and therefore better than Wesley's bold paraphrase, but it falls far short of the simple and forceful conclusion of Miss Cox:
To Thee our way commending,
Whose wisdom orders best, We tread the pathway tending To heaven's eternal rest. |
J. C. Jacobi in Psalmodia Germanica, 1722.
I. |
Commit thy Ways and Goings,
And all that grieves thy Soul, To him, whose wisest Doings Rule all without Controul: He makes the Times and Seasons Revolve from Year to Year And knows Ways, Means, and Reasons When Help shall best appear. |
(Note: In the wording accompanying the musical score the second line reads "And all what grieves thy Soul.")
J. Wesley, 1739, in the Schaff-Gilman Library of Religious Poetry.
I. |
Commit thou all thy griefs
And ways into his hands, To his sure truth and tender care, Who earth and heaven commands. |
II. |
Who points the clouds their course,
Whom winds and seas obey, He shall direct thy wandering feet, He shall prepare thy way. |
The cento given in most American hymnals:
Stanza 1. | Give to the winds thy fears;
Hope, and be undismayed; God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears; God shall lift up thy Head. |
Stanza 2. | Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears thy way; Wait thou His time, so shall this night Soon end in joyous day. |
Stanza 3. | What though thou rulest not,
Yet heaven and earth and hell Proclaim, God sitteth on the throne, And ruleth all things well. |
Stanza 4. | Far, far above thy thought
His counsel shall appear, When fully He the work hath wrought That caused thy needless fear. |
In the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754 (by Gambold, himself?).
Stanza 1. | Commit thou thy each grievance
And Case into his Hands, To his sure Care and guidance, Who heav'n and earth commands: He who's the Clouds Director, Whom Winds and seas obey, He'll be thy feet's Protector, He shall prepare thy Way. |
(Note: the orthography of the Moravian Hymn Book has been retained.)
A. T. Russell, in his Psalms and Hymns, 1851.
Stanza 1. | Thy way and all thy sorrows,
Give thou into His hand,-- His gracious care unfailing, Who doth the heavens command. Their course and path He giveth To clouds and air and wind: A way thy feet may follow, He too for Thee will find. |
H. Mills, 1856, in his Horae Germanicae.
Stanza 1. | Commit Thy way, confiding,
When trials here arise, To Him whose hand is guiding The tumults of the skies: There, clouds and tempests raging, Have each its path assign'd,-- Will God for thee engaging, No way of safety find? |
Frances Elizabeth Cox, 1864, in the Schaff-Gilman Library of Religious Poetry.
I. |
To God Thy way commending
Trust him whose arm of might, The heavenly circles bending, Guides every star aright: The winds and clouds and lightning By his sure hand are led; And he will, dark shades brightening, Show thee what path to tread. |
J. Kelly, 1867, in his Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs.
Stanza 1. | Commit whatever grieves thee
At heart, and all thy ways, To Him who never leaves thee, On whom creation stays. Who freest courses maketh For clouds, and air, and wind, And care who ever taketh A path for thee to find. |
J. Guthrie, 1869, in his Sacred Lyrics.
Stanza 1. | Commit thy way, O weeping
And care-encumbered soul, To His all-trusty keeping, Who guides the glowing pole. No cloud or wind fleets o'er thee But God directs its flow; That God will cleave before thee A path wherein to go. |
Mrs. Charles, 1858, in Bishop's Ryle's Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1883.
Stanza 1. | Commit thy way to God;
The weight which makes thee faint-- Words are to Him no load! To Him breathe thy complaint. He who for winds and clouds Maketh a pathway free, Through wastes or hostile crowds Can make a way for thee. |
[Trust in God.]
Based on
The poem was written undoubtedly at the time when the Elector, Frederick
William of Brandenburg, Gerhardt's sovereign, threatened with his
severe displeasure those of the Lutheran clergy who would not sign a
declaration
Kein Zorn der groszen Fürsten
Soll mir ein Hindrung sein. |
This hymn, springing from a heart full of faith and courage, has gone into the hearts of many, especially the tried and afflicted, cheering and encouraging them in the struggles of faith. The third stanza in particular has often been made a blessing:
Der Grund, da ich mich gründe,
Ist Christus und sein Blut; . . . |
A pious watchman in Berlin who, when calling the hours of the night,
used to sing suitable verses, once sang these lines before the house of a
shoemaker, who with some friends, just then assembled late at night, was
in danger of leaving the Church and setting up a self-righteous sect. The
well-known words, coming so unexpectedly, had the desired effect, the
shoemaker declaring to his friends, "As for me, I will rest upon that
Mein Herze geht in Springen
Und kann nicht traurig sein. . . . |
has been the dying song of many a believing Christian.
A good translation omitting stanzas IV-VI, by Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Ger., 1855, p. 130. Included, abridged, in Holy Song, 1869, and the Evang. Hyl., 1880, N. Y.
Centos from this translation are:
(a) "If Jesus be my friend" (stanza I, line 5), in the Andover Sabbath H. Bk., 1858; Hatfield's Church Book, 1872, etc.
(b) "Since Jesus is my friend" (stanza I, line 5 altered), in Robinson's Songs for the Sanctuary, N. Y., 1865; Laudes Domini, 1884, etc.
(c) "Here I can firmly rest" (stanza II), in the Andover Sabbath H. Bk., 1858; Pennsylvanian Lutheran Church Book, 1868.
A good translation omitting stanzas IV-VI, X, by R. Massie in his Lyra Domestica, 1864, p. 110; from this are varying centos, e. g. Laudes Domini, 1884, no. 378 beginning: "I build on this foundation" (stanza III).
A free but spirited version, omitting stanzas V, XI, XII, by Mrs. Bevan in her Songs of Eternal Life, 1858, p. 39. This version was repeated and abridged in Snepp's Songs of Grace and Glory. In Reid's Praise Book, 1872, it appears as three hymns, the first as above; (2) "There is no condemnation" (stanza VI), and (3) "In heaven is mine inheritance" (stanza X).
In full, by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 208. The Ohio Luth. Hyl. includes a part of this version, i. e. the translation of stanzas III, XIV, XV, beginning "My Faith securely buildeth."
J. C. Jacobi, 1725, p. 41 (1732, p. 139). Included in the Moravian H. Book, 1754, and altered in Bishop Ryle's Collection, 1883. In later editions it is abridged, beginning "Is God my strong salvation?"
Also "The world may fall beneath my feet," translations of stanzas I and XIII, by Mrs. Stanley Carr in her translation of Wildenhahn's Paul Gerhardt, 1845 (1856, p. 173).
A hymn of three stanzas in M. W. Stryker's Church Praise Book, 1884, no. 485, marked "Benjamin Beddome 1776." Another cento is given in Bishop Ryle's Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1883, p. 71.
"If God is mine, then present things."
The earliest accessible English version is that of Jacobi, 1725, printed in the 1754 Moravian Hymn Book. The translations by this author are usually very crude and painfully laborious, but in the present case, with a few notable exceptions, he has very well caught the ring and spirit of Gerhardt. Later compilers and publishers of hymns would of course omit the lines:
"His Grace has cleansed and polished
My humble Soul within." (stanza 5.) |
and
"All this I have digested." (stanza 12.) |
Like many of the early translators of German hymns Jacobi is guilty of frequent imperfect rhymes:
Merit spirit | stanza 4 |
spectre conjecture | stanza 14 |
alone begun | stanza 15 |
If we overlook these defects the version is one of the best that has
appeared so far in English or American hymnals and considerably above
the standard
"All woes give way and flee," line 4.
"And that in Change and Chances He stands at my right hand." lines 13, 14. "The ground of my possession Is Jesus and his Blood." lines 17, 18. "Should Earth lose its foundation Thou stand'st my lasting Rock." lines 97, 98. |
Bishop Ryle in taking over this version into his Hymns and Spiritual Songs has made a number of alterations, presenting a cento of four stanzas. His stanza 3, for example, is a combination of Jacobi's last quatrain of stanza 9 and first quatrain of stanza 10:
Ryle (stanza 3). | Jacobi (stanza 9). | |
For me there is provided
A city fair and new; To it I shall be guided,-- Jerusalem the true! |
And how he hath provided
A city new and fair Where things, our Faith did credit Shall to our eyes appear. | |
(stanza 10.) | ||
My portion there is lying,
A destined Canaan lot; Though I am daily dying, My Canaan withers not. |
My portion there is lying
A destin'd Canaan-lot Tho' I am daily dying, My Heaven withers not. |
American congregations are familiar with the hymn:
Since (If) | Jesus | is (be) | my friend |
And I to him belong . . . |
It is often called "The Rest of Faith," and is a cento of
Miss Winkworth's very excellent
version. Although
she has not preserved the metre of the poem Miss Winkworth has thoroughly
caught its spirit even imitating in the widely known last
stanza
My heart for gladness springs,
It cannot more be sad, For very joy it laughs and sings, Sees nought but sunshine glad. The sun that glads mine eyes Is Christ the Lord I love, I sing for joy of that which lies Stored up for us above. |
For free adaptations from this hymn cf. pp. 139 and 136.
J. C. Jacobi (1725) in the Moravian Hymn Book (ed. 1754).
Stanza 1. | Is God for me, what is it
That Men can do to me? Oft as my God I visit, All woes give way and flee. If God be my salvation, My refuge in distress What earthly tribulation Can shake my inward peace? Defend me from above, What pain or what disaster Can drive me from his Love? |
B. Beddome, 1776, in Bishop Ryle's Hymns and Spiritual Songs.
Stanza 1. | If God is mine, then present things
And things to come are mine; Yes Christ, His Word, and Spirit too, And glory all divine. |
3. |
If He is mine, I need not fear
The rage of earth and hell; He will support my feeble power And every foe repel. |
Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Germanica, 1855, p. 130.
Stanza 1. | If God be on my side,
Then let who will oppose For oft ere now to Him I cried And He hath quelled my foes. If Jesus be my Friend, If God doth love me well, What matters all my foes intend, Though strong they be and fell? Here I can firmly rest, I dare to boast of this, That God the Highest and the Best, My Friend and Father is. From dangerous snares He saves, Where'er He bids me go He checks the storms and calms the waves, Nor lets aught work me woe. I rest upon the ground Of Jesus and His blood, For 'tis through Him that I have found The True Eternal God. Nought have I of mine own, Nought in the life I lead, What Christ hath given me, that alone Is worth all love indeed. His spirit in me dwells, O'er all my mind He reigns, All care and sadness He dispels, And soothes away all pains. He prospers day by day His work within my heart, Till I have strength and faith to say, Thou God my Father art! When weakness on me lies, And tempts me to despair, He speaketh words and utters sighs Of more than mortal prayer; But what no tongue can tell, Thou God canst hear and see, Who readest in the heart full well If aught there pleaseth Thee. etc. |
Mrs. Bevan, 1858, in Snepp's Songs of Grace and Glory, 1872 (abridged version).
Stanza 11. | Is God for me? I fear not, though all against me rise;
When I call on Christ my Savior, the host of evil flies; My Friend--the Lord Almighty, and He who loves me--God, What enemy shall harm me, though coming as a flood? I know it, I believe it, I say it fearlessly, That God, the Highest, Mightiest, forever loveth me! At all times, in all places, He standeth by my side; He rules the battle fury, the tempest and the tide. |
J. Kelly, 1867, in his Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs.
A SONG OF CHRISTIAN CONSOLATION AND JOY. | |
Stanza 1. | Is God for me? t'oppose me
A thousand may uprise; When I to pray'r arouse me, He'll chase mine enemies. And doth the Head befriend me, Am I belov'd by God? Let foes then rise to rend me, The wild opposing brood! |
This beautiful poem of thanksgiving for the divine goodness in the gift of the delights of summer and of anticipation of the joys of Paradise appeared in the 1656 ed. of Crü. Praxis, no. 412, in 15 stanzas of 6 lines. It was also printed in H. Müller's Geistliche Seelenmusik, 1659, and included in Wackernagel: no. 103; Bachmann: no. 85; Unv. L. S.: 1851, no. 732. Cf. Koch, IV, 591; VIII, 141. Like Luther, who fondly loved nature and admired its beauties, Gerhardt showed himself in this inspiring poem a real lover of God's creation.
A good translation omitting stanza XIV, by Miss Winkworth, in the First Series of her Lyra Ger., 1855, p. 136. Her translation of stanzas VIII-XI, beginning "Thy mighty working, mighty God," was included in the American Sabbath Hymn Book, 1858, and repeated in Boardman's Collection, Philadelphia, 1861.
A good translation beginning with stanza VII, contributed by R. Massie to the 1857 ed. of Mercer's C. P. and H. Bk., no. 463 (1864, no. 500). In the Appendix to the Second Series of Lyra Domestica Mr. Massie reprinted his translation at page 102, and prefixed a version of stanzas I-VI, beginning "Go forth, my heart, nor linger here." In this form it appeared in full in Reid's Praise Book, 1872.
Miss Cox, 1841 and 1864.
Also "And oft I think, if e'en earth's sin-stained ground," a translation of stanzas I, IX, by Mrs. Stanley Carr in her translation of Wildenhahn's Paul Gerhardt, 1845 and 1856.
Dr. J. W. Alexander, in Schaff's Kirchenfreund, 1849, p. 419; reprinted in his work The Breaking Crucible, N. Y., 1861, p. 15.
Miss Manington, 1863, p. 164.
E. Massie, 1866, p. 36.
J. Kelly, 1867, p. 289.
Mrs. E. L. Follen, in her Lark and Linnet, 854, p. 30.
A good translation omitting stanzas IV, V, VI, and XIV, by Miss Margarete Münsterberg, in her Harvest of German Verse, 1916.
None of Gerhardt's poetry has so well lent itself to English words as this hymn of praise for God's goodness and of contemplation of the joys in the next world, and the translators have without exception reproduced most successfully the exquisite feeling for nature which Gerhardt manifests, whether he be singing of forest and brook, or of flowers and fields. Only Miss Winkworth and Dr. Alexander of the four or five prominent translators omit stanza XIV, and they do so apparently on the ground that it contains a complexity of figures. Dr. Massie whose version except for the last stanza has more truly poetic lines than any other offers this paraphrase:
Make for thy spirit ample room,
That thus I may forever bloom. Like plants which root have taken: Oh let me in thy garden be A flourishing and righteous tree, Which never shall be shaken. |
So well have all the translators succeeded that it would be perhaps merely a matter of individual taste as to which of the many excellent lines are deserving of highest praise. Of stanza III Dr. Massie's verses are both more literal and harmonious than the others. Gerhardt sings:
Die Lerche schwingt sich in die Luft,
Das Täublein fleugt aus seiner Kluft Und macht sich in die Wälder. |
Dr. Massie interprets:
The lark mounts singing to the skies:
The dove forsakes her clefts, and flies To shady groves and alleys. |
The lark soars singing into space,
The dove forsakes her hiding-place, And coos the woods among. |
The lark aspiring soars on high,
Flies from her cleft the dove so shy, And seeks the woodland shadow. |
The lark floats high before the breeze,
The dove toward the forest-trees From covert speeds along. |
This last version is marred by the accent's falling on the unstressed syllable of "toward" in line 2. Several of our American hymnals contain the cento of four stanzas from Miss Winkworth's version (Gerhardt stanzas VIII-XI incl.) whose ring gives the freshness appropriate in an outdoor hymn of Spring and Summer.
C. Winkworth, 1855, in her Lyra Germanica.
Stanza 1. |
Go forth my heart and seek delight
In all the gifts of God's great might, These pleasant summer hours: Look how the plains for thee and me Have deck'd themselves most fair to see All bright and sweet with flowers. |
8. |
Thy mighty working, mighty God,
Wakes all my pow'rs; I look abroad, And can no longer rest; I, too, must sing when all things sing, And from my heart the praises ring, The Highest loveth best. |
9. |
If Thou in Thy great love to us,
Wilt scatter joy and beauty thus O'er this poor earth of ours; What nobler glories shall be given Hereafter in Thy shining heaven Set round with golden towers! |
10. |
What thrilling joy, when on our sight
Christ's garden beams in cloudless light And rings with God's high praise; In one accordant voice and hymn Their Alleluia raise! |
11. |
O, were I there! oh, that I now
Before Thy throne, my God, could bow, And bear my heavenly palm! Then, like the angels would I raise My voice, and sing thine endless praise In many a sweet-toned psalm. |
J. W. Alexander, 1849, in the Schaff-Gilman Library of Religious Poetry.
Stanza 1. | Go forth, my heart, and seek for praise,
On these delightsome summer days, In what thy God bestows! How rich the garden's beauties be, How lavishly for me and thee It doth its charms disclose! |
R. Massie, 1863, in the Schaff-Gilman Library of Religious Poetry.
Stanza 1. | Go forth, my heart, nor linger here
In this sweet season of the year, When God his gifts dispenses; See how the gardens in their best For you and me are gayly drest, And ravish all the senses! |
J. Kelly, 1867, in his Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs.
Stanza 1. | Go forth, my heart, and seek delight
In this summer time so bright, The bounties God displayeth, The garden's splendour go and see Behold how God for me and thee Them gorgeously arrayeth. |
Miss Margarete Münsterberg, in her Harvest of German Verse, 1916.
Stanza 1. | Go out, my heart, and seek delight,
In this dear summer time so bright, In God's abundance daily; The beauty of these gardens see, And look, how they for me and thee Have decked themselves so gaily. |
Many hymn writers since Gerhardt have drawn from the same scriptural
sources as he, and it would be presumption to attempt to prove that all these
had received any direct impulse from his verses; yet it must be realized
that it is to a certain extent impossible that the conceptions of the hymn
writers of one age should remain inseparable from the ideas of later poets.
Bayard Taylor, in speaking about what he calls "intellectual genealogies in
(a) C. Wesley
in Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1742,
p. 124.
(Cf. |
Gerhardt (Goed. 331.) | |||
Stanza 1. | line | |||
I know that my Redeemer lives: | I. | Ich weisz, dasz mein Erlöser lebt: | 1 | |
He lives, and on the Earth shall stand, | Er lebt . . . | 3 | ||
Er lebt fürwahr, der starke Held, | 5 | |||
And tho' to Worms my Flesh he gives | Das Fleisch . . . | 30 | ||
Wird . . . | 31 | |||
zerbrochen . . . | 32 | |||
My Dust lies numbered in His Hand. | von Maden . . . | 33 | ||
Stanza 2. | ||||
In This Reanimated Clay | So wird er mich doch aus der Erd | 17 | ||
I surely shall behold Him near, | Hernachmals auferwecken; | 18 | ||
Shall see Him at the Latter Day | Ich selber werd in seinem Licht | 50 | ||
Ihn sehn und mich erquicken; | 51 | |||
Mein Auge wird sein Angesicht | 52 | |||
In all His Majesty appear. | Mit groszer Lust erblicken; | 53 | ||
Stanza 3. | ||||
I feel what then shall raise me up, | Er wird mich reiszen aus dem Grab | 19 | ||
Th' Eternal Spirit lives in me, | Sein Geist wohnt mir im Herzen | |||
(no. 229, 49) | ||||
This is my Confidence of Hope | cf. above no. 331, 52, 53 | |||
That God I Face to Face shall see. |
(b) C. Wesley in Hymns and Sacred Poems, p. 180. | (Goed. 331.) | |
Stanza 1. | ||
I know that my Redeemer lives | Ich weisz, dasz mein Erlöser lebt. | |
And ever prays for me | ||
Stanza 13. | ||
With me, I know, Thy Spirit dwells, | Sein Geist wohnt mir im Herzen | |
(cf. Wesley, p. 124, stanza 3, line 2 above.) | (no. 229, 49) | |
Jesu, I hang upon Thy Word, | Das hab ich je und je gegläubt | |
(no. 331, 43 ff.) | ||
I stedfastly believe | Und fasz ein fest Vertrauen, | |
Thou wilt return, and claim me, Lord, | Ich werde den, der ewig bleibt | |
And to Thyself receive. | In meinem Fleische schauen; | |
Cf. also stanza 23. | ||
Lord, I believe, and rest secure | ||
In Confidence Divine. . . . |
(c) C. Wesley, in Hymns and Sacred Poems, p. 217. | (Goed. 263.) | ||
1. | Jesu, my Savior, Brother, Friend | 1. | Jesu, allerliebster Bruder, |
On whom I cast my every Care, | Ders am besten mit mir meint, | ||
On whom for all things I depend, | Du mein Anker, Mast und Ruder | ||
Inspire, and then accept my Prayer, | Und mein treuster Herzensfreund; | ||
13. | Here let my Soul's sure anchor be | Du mein Anker, Mast und Ruder. | |
Here let me fix my wishful Eyes, | Cf. line 3 above. |
(d) C. Wesley in Hymns and Sacred Poems, p. 146. | (Goed. 229.) | |||
Stanza 1. | ||||
Jesu, my Strength, my Hope, | Ist Gott für mich, so trete | 1 | ||
(Cf. lines 1, 2.) | Gleich alles wider mich; | 2 | ||
On Thee I cast my Care, | Nun weisz und gläub ich feste | 9 | ||
(Cf. lines 51, 52.) | Dasz Gott, der Höchst und Beste | 11 | ||
With humble Confidence look up | Mir gänzlich günstig sei, | 12 | ||
(Cf. line 9.) | (Sein Geist) Vertreibet Sorg und Schmerzen | 51 | ||
And know Thou hearst my Prayer. | Nimmt allen Kummer hin | 52 |
(e) C. Wesley in Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, no. 367. | (Goed. 111.) | |
O come and dwell in me, | Zeuch ein zu deinen Thoren, | |
Spirit of power within | Sei meines Herzens Gast, | |
And bring thy glorious liberty | O hochgeliebter Geist. | 5 |
From sorrow, fear and sin! | ||
The inward, deep disease | Zeuch ein, lasz mich empfinden | 9 ff. |
Spirit of health remove | Und schmecken deine Kraft, | |
Spirit of perfect holiness | Die Kraft, die uns von Sünden | |
Spirit of perfect love. | Hülf und Errettung schafft. | |
Entsündige meinen Sinn. . . . | ||
Du bist ein Geist, der lehret | 33 | |
Father, to me, impart; | Wie man recht beten soll. | |
The Spirit's law of life divine,-- | ||
O write it in my heart. | ||
Thy nature be my law | Erfülle die Gemüter | 105 |
Thy spotless sanctity | Mit reiner Glaubenszier | |
Gib Freudigkeit und Stärke | ||
And sweetly every moment draw | zu stehen in dem Streit | |
Richt unser ganzes Leben | 121 | |
Allzeit nach deinem Sinn. | ||
So hilf uns Frölich sterben | 126 | |
My happy soul to Thee! | Und nach dem Tod ererben | |
Des ewgen Lebens Haus. |
(f) C. Wesley in Pilgrim Hymnal, no. 96. | (Goed. 111.) | |
From our fears and sins release us | Entsündige meinen Sinn | 13 |
Israel's strength and consolation | Du bist ein Geist der Freuden | 41 ff. |
. . . Joy of every loving heart. | . . . Erleuchtest uns in Leiden | |
Mit deines Trostes Licht. | ||
Born to reign in us forever | Du, Herr, hast selbst in Händen | 56 ff. |
Now thy gracious kingdom bring. | Die ganze weite Welt, | |
. . . So gib doch deine Gnad; |
In his Psalms and Hymns, 1851, Rev. A. T.
Russell includes a group
of hymns entitled "The Sufferings of Our Lord." One of them, no. 94, of
three stanzas, bears such a striking resemblance to Gerhardt's
"O Welt, sich hier dein Leben"
Russell (stanza 1). | Gerhardt (stanza 1). | |
O World, behold Him dying | O Welt, sich hier dein Leben | |
Who is thy life supplying; | Am Stamm des Kreuzes schweben! | |
Behold! He dies for Thee: | Dein Heil sinkt in den Tod! | |
He who in glory reigneth, | Der grosze Fürst der Ehren | |
No scorn, no shame disdaineth, | Läszt willig sich beschweren | |
From endless death my soul to free. | Mit Schlägen, Hohn und groszen Spott. | |
Stanza 2. | ||
Now from my Savior floweth | Tritt her und schau mit Fleisze: | |
The blood His love bestoweth | Sein Leib ist ganz mit Schweisze | |
On us that we may live! | Des Blutes überfüllt; | |
What grief His spirit rendeth! | Aus seinem edlen Herzen | |
Whilst thus He condescendeth | Vor unerschöpften Schmerzen | |
His life for us His foes to give. | Ein Seufzer nach dem andern quillt. |
Although its second and third lines are taken directly from the Bible, yet stanza 3 as a whole appears to be influenced by the thoughts in Gerhardt's stanzas VIII and III. Line 5 might well be regarded as a condensation of the repeated ideas of confession and repentance in Gerhardt's strophes. (Cf. line 19 "ich und meine Sünden"; line 25 "ich sollte büszen").
Russell (stanza 3). | Gerhardt. |
(Lines 43-45.) | |
Of His own will He dieth, | Du springst ins Todes Rachen, |
Who to His Father crieth, | Mich frei und los zu machen |
"O Father! mercy show:" | Von solchem Ungeheur |
(Lines 16 and 17.) | |
Come, children of transgression | Du bist ja nicht ein Sünder |
To Jesus make confession; | Wie wir und unsre Kinder |
(Line 48.) | |
Your all to His great love you owe. | O unerhörtes Liebesfeur! |
A hymn by Dr. Maltbie D. Babcock which has been included in several
American hymnals would indicate that while the author may have had before
him only the scriptural passage from the Psalms
Rest in the Lord, my soul | Befiehl du deine Wege |
Commit to him thy way | Und was dein Herze kränkt |
What to thy sight seems dark as night | |
To him is bright as day. | |
(Lines 9-12.) | |
Rest in the Lord, my soul | Dem Herren muszt du trauen, |
He planned for thee thy life | Wenn dirs soll wolergehen; |
Brings fruit from rain brings good from pain | Auf sein Werk muszt du schauen, |
And peace and joy from strife. | Wenn dein Werk soll bestehn. |
(Lines 41-48.) | |
Rest in the Lord, my soul: | Hoff, o du arme Seele, |
This fretting weakens Thee; | Hoff und sei unverzagt |
Gott wird dich aus der Höle, | |
Why not be still? accept his will | Da dich der Kummer plagt, |
Mit groszen Gnaden rücken: | |
Erwarte nur die Zeit, | |
Thou shalt his glory see. | So wirst du schon erblicken |
Die Sonn der schönsten Freud. | |
Maltbie D. Babcock, in the Pilgrim Hymnal, 1912. |
Wesley's adaptation
Gerhardt
(Goed. 229). | |||
1. | God is my strong salvation: | Ist Gott für mich, so trete | 1 |
What foe have I to fear? | Gleich alles wider mich; | 2 | |
In darkness and temptation | Was kann mir tun der Feinde | 7 | |
Und Widersacher Rott? | 8 | ||
My light, my help, is near. | Mein Glanz und schönes Licht | 26 | |
Though hosts encamp around me | Ist Gott für mich, so trete | 1 | |
Firm to the fight I stand, | Gleich alles wider mich | 2 | |
What terror can confound me | |||
With God at my right hand? | Und bin geliebt bei Gott | 6 | |
2. | Place on the Lord reliance | Nun weisz und gläub ich feste, | 9 |
My soul with courage wait | . . . dasz ich finde | 19 | |
His truth be thine affiance, | Das ewge wahre Gut | 20 | |
When faint and desolate. | Wenn ich gleich fall und sterbe | 75 | |
His might thine heart shall strengthen | Sein Geist spricht meinem Geiste | ||
His love thy joy increase | Manch süszes Trostwort zu: | ||
Mercy thy days shall lengthen | |||
The Lord will give thee peace. | |||
James Montgomery, in his Songs of Zion, 1822. |
With less direct influence than appears in the hymns hitherto mentioned,
yet showing much of the spirit of
"Auf den Nebel folgt die Sonne"
He sendeth sun, he sendeth shower, | Auf den Nebel folgt die Sonne | 1 |
Alike they're needful for the flower; | Auf das Trauren Freud und Wonne | 2 |
And joys and tears alike are sent | Trost und Labsal, . . Meine Seele . . . steigt | 4, 5 |
To give the soul fit nourishment: | Hat mir meinen Geist erquickt, | 9 |
As comes to me or cloud or sun, | ||
Father, thy will, not mine, be done! | ||
Can loving children e'er reprove | Gott Läszt keinen traurig stehn | 50 |
With murmurs whom they trust and love? | Der sich Ihm zu eigen schenkt | 52 |
Creator, I would ever be | Und Ihn in sein Herze senkt; | 53 |
A trusting, loving child to thee: | Wer auf Gott seine Hoffnung setzt | 54 |
As comes to me or cloud or sun, | ||
Father, thy will, not mine, be done! | ||
Oh, ne'er will I at life repine; | Nu, so lang ich in der Welt | 85 |
Enough that thou hast made it mine; | Haben werde Haus und Zelt | 86 |
. . . Ich will all mein Leben lang | 89 | |
When falls the shadow cold of death, | . . . Hiefür bringen Lob und Dank. | 91 |
I yet will sing with parting breath | Ich will gehn in Angst und Not | 99 |
Ich will gehn bis in den Tod | 100 | |
As comes to me or shade or sun, | Ich will gehn ins Grab hinein | 101 |
Father, thy will, not mine, be done. | Und doch alIzeit frölich sein | 102 |
Sarah Flower Adams, 1841, in the Schaff-Gilman Lib. of Rel. Poetry. |
A very familiar hymn in English-speaking countries is Thomas Rawson
Taylor's "I'm but a stranger here" written in 1834. It was published in
1836 in his Memoirs and Select Remains, and headed "Heaven is my
home. Air--'Robin Adair.'" In America it is usually sung to Arthur S.
Sullivan's "Saint's Rest." The hymn so closely resembles Gerhardt's
lines in "Ich bin ein Gast auf Erden"
1. | I'm but a stranger here; | Ich bin ein Gast auf Erden | 1 |
Earth is a desert drear, | |||
Heaven is my home. | Was ist mein ganzes Wesen | 9 | |
Danger and sorrow stand | Als Müh und Not gewesen | 11 | |
Round me on every hand, | |||
Heaven is my fatherland, | Da ist mein Vaterland | 4 | |
Heaven is my home. | |||
What though the tempests rage, | Mich hat auf meinen Wegen | 17 | |
Short is my pilgrimage, | Manch harter Sturm erschreckt; | 18 | |
Heaven is my home. | Blitz, Donner, Wind und Regen | 19 | |
And time's wild wintry blast | Hat mir manch Angst erweckt; | 20 | |
Soon will be overpast, | So will ich swar nun treiben | 57 | |
I shall reach home at last | Mein Leben durch die Welt | 58 | |
Doch denk ich nicht zu bleiben | 59 | ||
Heaven is my home. | In diesem fremden Zelt. | 60 | |
3. | There at my Savior's side, | Mein Heimat ist dort droben, | 65 |
I shall be glorified, | Da aller Engel Schaar | 66 | |
Den groszen Herrscher loben | 67 | ||
Heaven is my home, | Die frommen heilgen Seelen | 41 | |
Die giengen fort und fort | 42 | ||
There with the good and blest | Da will ich immer wohnen, | 105 | |
Those I loved most and best, | Bei denen, die mit Kronen | 107 | |
I shall forever rest; | Du ausgeschmücket hast | 108 | |
Da will ich . . . | 109 | ||
Heaven is my home. | In meinern Erbteil ruhn. | 112 | |
4. | Therefore I'll murmur not, | Hab ich doch müszen leiden | 23 |
Und tragen mit Geduld, | 24 | ||
Whate'er my earthly lot, | Es musz ja durchgedrungen | 53 | |
Es musz gelitten sein; | 54 | ||
Heaven is my home. | So will ich zwar nun treiben | 57 | |
Mein Leben durch die Welt. | 58 | ||
For I shall surely stand | |||
There at my Lord's right hand;-- | Cf. lines 105-112, above, quoted opp. stanza 3. | ||
Heaven is my fatherland, | |||
Heaven is my home. |
Other similarities to "Ich bin ein Gast auf Erden" are:
(a) "The Pilgrim," by Sarah H. Palfrey, in the Schaff-Gilman Lib. Rel. Poetry.
A Pilgrim am I on my way
To seek and find the Holy Land . . . |
This poem would perhaps bear but slight resemblance to Gerhardt's were it not for the final stanza where the element of joy is introduced:
While Joy shall spring
With me through heaven's straight door. |
These lines are certainly suggestive of Gerhardt's words in his stanza XIII:
Du aber, meine Freude . . . du zeuchst mich . . .
Ins Haus der ewgen Wonne. |
(b) "The Pilgrim's song," by H. F. Lyte, in his Poems chiefly Religious, 1833 and 1845,
Stanza 1. |
My rest is in heaven; my rest is not here;
Then why should I murmur when trials are near? Be hushed, my dark spirit! the worst that can come But shortens thy journey, and hastens thee home. |
2. | It is not for me to be seeking my bliss
And building my hopes in a region like this: I look for a city which hands have not piled; I pant for a country by sin undefiled. . . . |
4. | Afflictions may damp me, they cannot destroy;
One glimpse of thy love turns them all into joy: . . . |
5. | Let doubt then, and danger, my progress oppose;
They only make heaven more sweet at the close. . . . |
6. | A scrip on my back, and a staff in my hand,
I march on in haste through an enemy's land: The road may be rough, but it cannot be long; And I'll smooth it with hope and I'll cheer it with song. |
Although Lyte based his hymn on
So will ich zwar nun treiben
Mein Leben durch die Welt, Doch denk ich nicht zu bleiben In diesem fremden Zelt. (Cf. Lyte stanza 6.) Ich wandre meine Straszen, Die zu der Heimat führt, (Cf. Lyte stanza 1.) Da mich ohn alle Maszen Mein Vater trösten wird. (Cf. Lyte stanza 5.) |
(c) "In exile here we wander," by W. Cooke. [Septuagesima.] This hymn appeared in the Hymnary, 1872, under the signature "A. C. C." (i. e., "A Canon of Chester"), and is definitely known to have been suggested to Canon Cooke by Gerhardt's hymn. In Thring's Collection, 1882, stanza III, lines 4-8 is altered to:
And we shall rise in that great day
In bodies like to Thine And with Thy saints in bright array, (Cf. lines 65, 66.) Shall in Thy glory shine. (Cf. line 104.) |
There are of course numerous adaptations of Gerhardt's work which have less merit than those which have been mentioned, but it would be beyond the scope of this thesis to discuss them. From our consideration up to this point we may draw the following conclusions: many translators have taken the liberty of altering the original versions thereby injuring perhaps just those hymns possessed of the greatest warmth and vigor and have in this way prevented our poet from being more fully acknowledged; at the same time the best of his hymns as devotional lyrics with a pathos and sympathy which are exceptionally beautiful and powerful have become naturalized in English-speaking countries by the really good translations and will always serve to enkindle devotion and strengthen grace in the true Christian worshipper.
FINIS.
Alexander, James Waddell, D.D., born 1804,
graduated at Princeton, 1820, and was
successively Professor of Rhetoric at Princeton,
Pastor in New York, Professor of
Church History, Princeton, and Pastor of the
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church,
New York. He died in 1859. His works include
some translations published about
two years after his death, under the title
The Breaking Crucible and other Translations.
Of these translations the most noted is
"O Sacred Head now Wounded."
He has translated nos.
25,
49,
239.
Beddome, Benjamin, M.A. This prolific
hymn writer was born at Henley-in-Arden,
Warwickshire, January 23, 1717, where his
father was at that time Baptist minister.
He was apprenticed to a surgeon in Bristol,
but removing to London, he joined in
1739 the Baptist Church, and became one of
the most respected Baptist ministers in
England. In 1770 he received the degree of M.A. from Rhode Island
College,
Bevan, Emma Frances, née Shuttleworth, born at Oxford, 1827. Mrs. Bevan published in 1858 a series of translations from the German as Songs of Eternal Life (London) which are above the average in merit. She has translated nos. 185 and 229.
Borthwick, Jane, born 1813 at Edinburgh. Together with her sister, Mrs. Findlater, she translated from the German Hymns from the Land of Luther in four series. These translations have attained great success and hardly a hymnal in England or America has appeared without containing some of them. Under the signature of "H. L. L." Miss Borthwick has written various prose works and contributed many original poems to the Family Treasury and to other collections. She has translated nos. 185 and 284.
Buckoll, Henry James, M.A., born 1803. He was educated at Rugby and Queen's College, Oxford, graduating in 1826. He took Holy Orders in 1827 and died at Rugby in 1871. In 1839 he edited a Collection of Hymns for the Rugby Parish Church, and in 1850 compiled a new edition of the Collection for the Rugby School Chapel. That collection contains 14 of his hymns, a few of which were translations from the Latin and German. His Hymns translated from the German was published 1832. He has translated nos. 59, 60, 106.
Burns, James Drummond, M.A., born at Edinburgh, 1823, and educated at Edinburgh University. In 1855 he became minister of Hampstead Presbyterian Church, London. He died in 1864. Among his hymns which have become widely popular are 39 translations from the German which appeared in the Family Treasury. They are rendered exactly in the meters of the originals and many had not previously been translated. He has translated no. 71.
Charles, Elizabeth, née Rundle, born in Devonshire, the author of numerous and popular works on the early Christian life in Great Britain, of Luther and his times and of Wesley and his work. She has made some valuable contributions to hymnody, including original hymns and translations from the Latin and German. They appeared in The Voice of Christian Life in Song, 1858. She has translated nos. 68, 142, 185.
Cox, Frances Elizabeth, born at Oxford, well known as the translator of hymns from the German. Her translations were published as Sacred Hymns from the German, London, 1st ed., 1841, containing 49 translations printed with the original text together with biographical notes on the German authors. In the 2d ed., 1864, the number was increased to 56. She has translated nos. 60, 67, 68, 111, 118, 150, 185, 239, 293.
Dunn, Catherine Hannah, born at Nottingham, England, 1815, died 1863. In 1857 she published a little volume of 36 Hymns from the German. She has translated nos. 49, 60, 68, 89, 111, 139, 185, 293.
Findlater, Mrs. (Sarah Borthwick) born 1823, sister of Miss Jane Borthwick. She has translated nos. 60, 89, 139.
Frothingham, Nathaniel Langdon, D.D., born at Boston, 1793, and graduated at Harvard, 1811, where he was also sometime Tutor. From 1815 to 1850 he was Pastor of the First Church (Unitarian), Boston. He died in 1870. His Metrical Pieces were published in 1855 and 1870. He has translated nos. 59, 74, 122, 155, 185, 274.
Gambold, John, M.A., was born 1711, graduated at Christ Church, Oxford, B.A. 1730, M.A. 1734. Taking Holy Orders, he became, about 1739, Vicar of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, but resigned 1742 and joined the United Brethren (Moravians) by whom he was chosen one of their bishops in 1754. He died in 1771. About 26 translations and 18 original hymns in the Moravian Hymn Book are assigned to him. One or two of his hymns, which were published by the Wesleys, have been claimed for them, but the evidence is in favor of Gambold. A collected edition of his works was published at Bath in 1789, and afterwards reprinted. He has translated nos. 49, 68, 71.
Guthrie, John, D.D., born 1814, graduated Edinburgh M.A. 1835. Sympathizing with the views of Dr. James Morison he was deposed from his pastorate and joined with Dr. Morison in forming the Evangelical Union, compiling in 1856 their hymn book. In 1869 he published Sacred Lyrics; Hymns original and translated from the German, with versions of Psalms. London, 1869. Many of these hymns have much beauty and sweetness. He has translated nos. 60, 68, 71, 100, 185.
Jackson, Samuel Macauley, from 1876 to 1880 pastor at Norwood, New Jersey, was born in 1851. He graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1870 and from Union Theological Seminary in 1873, after which he spent two years in travel, visiting Europe and the East. He was editor-in-chief of the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge, and the author of Huldreich Zwingli (Heroes of the Reformation Series), 1901, 1903; Zwingli Selections, 1901. He has translated no. 49.
Jacobi, John Christian, a native of
Germany, was born in 1670, and appointed
Keeper of the Royal German Chapel, St. James's
Palace, London, about 1708. He
held that post for 42 years and died in 1750.
Among his publications are Psalmodia
Germanica . . . translated from High Dutch.
Kelly, John, educated at Glasgow University, studied theology at Bonn, New College, Edinburgh, and the Theological College of the English Presbyterian Church. His translations of Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs were published in 1867. His Hymns of the Present Century from the German was published in 1886. He has translated nos. 3, 7, 15, 17, 19, 23, 25, 28, 49, 59, 60, 62, 65, 67, 68, 71, 74, 78, 80, 81, 83, 89, 91, 93, 95, 100, 106, 108, 118, 120, 122, 124, 130, 135, 139, 142, 150, 153, 155, 158, 161, 171, 173, 176, 178, 185, 200, 205, 209, 212, 217, 220, 224, 226, 229, 232, 235, 239, 260, 263, 267, 271, 274, 284, 287, 289, 293, 296, 302, 304, 310, 312, 315, 319, 324.
Kennedy, Benjamin Hall, D.D., born 1804, and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, B.A. 1827. He was later Professor of Greek in Cambridge University, and took Holy Orders in 1829. Besides several textbooks of the classics he published The Psalter, 1860, and also Hymnologia Christiana, 1863, which included numerous translations from the German.
Manington, Alice, born at Brighton, and later lived at Vienna. She published two sets of translations from the German, in 1863, and 1864. She has translated nos. 25, 60, 118, 150, 153, 158, 239, 312, 331.
Massie, Edward, M.A., was educated at Wadham College, Oxford; B.A. 1830, M.A. 1834. He took Holy Orders in 1830. He published in 1862 A Few Hymns for Occasional Use in the Services of the Church, and Sacred Odes, 1866 and 1867. The latter contain many translations from the German. He has translated nos. 19, 59, 118, 155, 239, 293 (2 versions).
Massie, Richard, born 1800. He published a translation of Martin Luther's Spiritual Songs, London, 1854, also Lyra Domestica, 1860. In 1864 he published vol. II which has an "Appendix" of translations of German hymns by various authors. He also contributed many translations of German hymns to Mercer's Church Psalter and Hymn Book, to Reid's British Herald and other periodicals. He has translated nos. 19, 25, 46, 47, 49, 108, 161, 176, 229, 235, 239, 293, 312.
Mills, Henry, D.D., born at Morristown, N. J., 1786, and graduated from Princeton in 1802. At the opening of the Auburn Theological Seminary in 1821 he was appointed Professor of Biblical Criticism and Oriental Languages from which he retired in 1854. He died at Auburn in 1867. In 1845 he published Horae Germanicae; A Version of German Hymns. This was enlarged in 1856. He has translated nos. 81, 161, 185, 235, 304.
Molther, Philipp Heinrich, born in Alsace, 1714. At Jena, where he studied theology, he joined the (Moravian) Brethren in 1737, and went to London 1739. He was minister of the Brethren's congregation at Neuwied from 1750 to 1761, and spent the rest of his life 1762-1780 in Dublin and Bedford. In 1775 he was consecrated as bishop of the Brethren's Unity. He has translated nos. 71, 155, 256.
Montgomery, James, born 1771. His early years covered a varied experience as bookseller, auctioneer, printer's assistant. He became editor of the Sheffield Iris and continued this work for thirty-one years. He was twice imprisoned in the next two years for items which appeared in the columns of the Iris. He edited many poetical works, among them Original Hymns for Public, Private and Social Devotion, 1853, The Christian Psalmist, 1825, and Songs of Zion, 1822. Cf. pp. 31, 32, 139.
Russell, Arthur Tozer, M.A., born 1806,
educated at Manchester College, York, and
St. John's College, Cambridge. In 1829 he
was ordained by the bishop of Lincoln. He
was the author of many works covering a wide
range of subjects of a religious nature,
and his original hymns and translations have
found their way into many hymnals. In
Stallybrass, James Steven, born in Siberia in 1826, the son of Rev. E. Stallybrass of the London Missionary Society. He died in London in 1888. He was well known as an educationist, and translated from the German a number of scientific works. He also contributed many translations of German hymns and poems to the various publications of Mr. Curwen, e. g. The Sabbath Hymnbook. He has translated nos. 60, 185.
Stryker, Melancthon Woolsey, D.D., born in 1851, graduated at Hamilton College 1872 and Auburn Theological Seminary 1876. He has held pastorates at Auburn, Ithaca, Holyoke and Chicago, and has edited six works on hymns, contributing many original hymns and several translations. He was President of Hamilton College 1892-1917. He has translated nos. 155, 235.
Thring, Edward, M.A., brother of Godfrey Thring, was born 1821, and educated at King's College, Cambridge, B.A. 1844. He became Head Master of Uppingham School in 1853 and held this position until his death in 1887. He was the author of several important works for schools and colleges and the joint editor of a hymn book to which he contributed some translations from the German. He has translated no. 60.
Warner, Anna, born near New York City about 1822. She is the author of the novel Say and Seal, 1859. She edited Hymns of the Church Militant, 1858; and published Wayfaring Hymns, Original and Translated, 1869. She has translated no. 89.
Wesley, Charles, the great hymn writer of the Wesley family, perhaps the great hymn writer of all ages, no less than 6500 hymns being ascribed to him. He was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley and was born at Epworth Rectory December 18, 1707, receiving his education at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. He became one of the first band of Oxford Methodists, and went in 1735 with his brother John to Georgia as Secretary to Gen. Oglethorpe. His stay there was very short; he returned to England 1736 and shortly afterward came under the influence of Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians. His headquarters were at Bristol till 1771 when he moved to London devoting there much time to the spiritual care of the prisoners in Newgate. He died in 1788. Cf. p. 31.
Wesley, John, born at Epworth Rectory in 1703. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and in 1729 became director of the little band of "Oxford Methodists." In 1735 he went as a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to Georgia where a new colony had been founded under the governorship of Gen. Oglethorpe. On his voyage he was deeply impressed with the piety and Christian courage of some German fellow travellers, Moravians. During his short ministry in Georgia he met with many discouragements and returned home much dissatisfied. In London he again fell in with the Moravians and from now on he labored to spread what he believed to be the everlasting gospel, travelling, preaching and making converts. He died at the age of 88 in the year 1791. The part which he actually took in writing the many hymns ascribed to the two brothers John and Charles is difficult to ascertain, but it is reasonably certain that more than thirty translations from the German, French, and Spanish, chiefly from the German, were exclusively his and although somewhat free they embody the fire and energy of the originals and have had a wide circulation. He has translated nos. 71, 185, 200.
Winkworth, Catherine, born in London
in 1829. She took always a deep and active
interest in the educational work in connection
with the "Clifton Association for the
Higher Education of Women" and kindred societies. She published
(1) Lyra Germanica, 1st Series 1855;
Gerhardt clings to the traditional fondness
of the German poet for alliterative
phrases. If there be any virtue in the saw
regarding "Apt alliteration's artful aid"
our poet has found that virtue. The predominating sounds are the consonants;
rarely is there alliteration of vowels.
An enumeration shows the following results:
Sequences of F, 12; of G, 36; of H, 20; of L, 27; of S, 30; of W, 20; of Z, 6. Of the other consonants there is an average of only two or three each.
B | |
---|---|
beiszt und brennt | 153,47 |
D | |
Ohne dasz du, die du hier | 28,53 |
Ich will dein Diener bleiben | 41,42 |
. . . drang dich doch | 47,7 |
Entzünde mich durch dich | 47,40 |
dienen dir | 150,94 |
E (a) (i) | |
Und aller Erden Ecken | 220,44 |
Ist ihr erfüllet | 270,12 |
F (V) | |
Fried und Freude | 25,22 |
Freund und Feinde | 77,47 |
für und für | 93,3 |
Fried- und Freudenswort | 95,2 |
Mit Freuden singen für und für | 150,97 |
Ist meiner Feinde Freude | 178,22 |
Trost, Friede, Freud und Leben | 190,7 |
Frisch und freudig | 232,98 |
Die vollkommene Freude | 244,120 |
Freuden Fülle | 274,3 |
Und fasz ein fest Vertrauen | 331,44 |
G | |
Gottes Gnad und Güt | 7,49 |
Gott gönnt ihm Guts | 13,80 |
ganz und gar | 15,6 |
Gottes Grimm | 30,112 |
Es grüszet dich mein ganzes Geist | 44,5 |
Dem Geber aller Güter | 59,3 |
Gegen Gott | 62,68 & 69 |
Gnad und Gütigkeit | 62,90 |
Gift, Gall und Ungestüm | 74,20 |
Gut und Geld | 80,32 |
Gall und Gift | 81,23 |
Gut und Geld | 86,32 |
Dasz dir Gott Glück, Gut und Ehr | 89,3 |
Gnad und Güte | 95,11 |
Gottes Gnad und Gab | 97,13 |
güldne Gut und Geld | 97,38 |
Gottes Geist | 105,20 |
Gottes Grimm | 111,75 |
Gutes gönnen | 115,43 |
Geistes Gnad | 135,79 |
dein Geist mir giebt | 150,93 |
Gift und Gallen | 153,14 |
Gut und Geld | 153,57 |
Gottes Zorn und groszen Grimm | 164,61 |
ganz und gar | 178,8 |
Gold ist ihr Gott, Geld ist ihr Licht | 190,17 |
Geist und Glauben | 226,44 |
Hat er nicht Gold, so hat er Gott | 226,49 |
Hie ist Gott und Gottes Grund | 232,44 |
Gottes Gaben | 239,3 |
Des groszen Gottes groszes Thun | 239,44 |
242,65 | |
Gibt uns Gott dies einge Gut | 244,11 |
Gott und Gottes Gunst | 248,11 |
ganz und gar | 253,2 |
Dein Geberde, dein Gesicht | 254,9 |
ganz und gar | 255,41 |
Geduld ist Gottes Gabe Und seines Geistes Gut | 267, 25 & 26 |
Gottes Grimm | 273,7 (cf. 111,75 above) |
ganz und gar | 284,68 |
Güter und Gaben | 293,23 |
Gut und Gaben | 298,16 |
Gut und Gelde | 319,9 |
Gut und Gelde | 321,63 |
H | |
Mein Herrscher, mein Helfer | 5,61 |
Haus und Hof | 7,32 |
Himmels Haus | 21,26 |
Die Hände herzlich drücken | 43,14 |
Ihr Herz und Hand ist hoch bemüht | 51,29 |
Ich mein Heil und Hülfe hab | 93,6 |
Meine Hülfe kömmt allein Von des Höchsten Händen her | 93,7 & 8 |
Hiet und Hüter | 120,4 |
hoch und herrlich | 139,24 |
Weil heut der Herr der Herrlichkeit | 171,3 |
hartes Herze | 200,51 |
ich harr und hoff auf dich | 212,99 |
Wol halt und herrlich siege | 217,85 |
Haut und Hülle | 220,36 |
Sein Hoheit ist des Höchsten Huld | 226,54 |
Häupt und Halse | 232,66 |
heilt und hielt | 232,72 |
Heil und Hort | 267,36 |
Herr im Haus | 267,56 |
Heilen im Herzen | 293,78 |
K | |
Knecht und Kind | 86,79 |
L | |
Lob und Liebe | 17,69 |
Lebens Leben | 19,58 |
Lieb und Lust | 25,54 |
Lieb und Leid | 47,56 |
Des Lebens Leben lebet noch | 51,5 |
Leben und Leiden | 65,40 |
Ich lechze wie ein Land | 65,46 |
liegt und legt | 74,19 |
Lebens Lauf | 89,85 |
lebt und lacht | 139,44 |
Lust und Lachen | 149,35 |
Alle Luft Laute ruft | 155,5 |
Leib und Seele laben | 164,64 |
Lebens Läng | 164,101 |
Im ewgen Leben labe | 173,96 |
Lebens Lauf | 180,72 |
Lieb und Leid | 209,41 |
Leib und Leben | 229,93 |
Kein Lieben und kein Leiden | 229,107 |
Lob und lieb | 235,120 |
Ist viel mehr Lobs und Liebens wert | 242,3 |
Sie thut ihm Liebes und kein Leid | 242,9 |
Mein Leben lang | 252,47 |
Lieb und Lust | 260,89 |
Licht und Leben | 271,44 |
Lebens Licht | 284,98 |
Licht und Leben | 313,19 |
Luft und Leben | 328,50 |
M | |
Mich und mein armes Leben | 47,12 |
Entnehmen meinen Mut | 74,29 |
Mein Vater musz mich lieben | 83,10 |
Alle Menschen müszen leiden | 274,86 |
R | |
Regen, Reif, und Wind | 10,71 |
Ruh und Rast | 46,6 |
Reich und Rachen | 62,55 |
Ruh und Rast | 328,2 |
S | |
Ich stund in Spott und Schanden | 25,27 |
Springst und singst | 28,47 |
In Schlaf und süszer Stille | 30,48 |
schrickt und scheut | 49,10 |
So sorgten sie zur selben Zeit | 51,50 |
du sollt die Sonne schauen | 59,16 |
Die Sünden aller Sünder | 68,4 |
Schand und Sünden | 76,35 |
stiehlt und stellt | 80,31 |
Schand und Sünde | 81,13 |
Der Seelen Sitz mit Sinn und Witz | 83,21 |
86,33 | |
sanft und stille | 86,94 |
Spiesz und Schwerter | 95,4 |
. . . zerstörten Schlüsser Und Städte voller Schutt und Stein | 95,39 & 40 |
Stahl und Steine | 111,86 |
Zu stehen in dem Streit | 111,14 |
Dein Stab, Herr, und dein Stecken | 120,27 |
sanft und still | 139,7 |
Ich steh im gewünschten Stande . . . Scham und Schande | 145,109 & 110 |
Sammt, Seiden | 158,69 |
selig, süsz, und schön | 200,19 |
Stahl noch Stein | 209,61 |
Mit Schimpf und groszer Schande | 212,128 |
Ist voller Freud und Singen Sieht lauter Sonnenschein Die Sonne . . . | 229,115, 116 & 117 |
Seine Strafen, seine Schläge | 235,91 |
Hält sich selbst sauber; weisze Seid | 242,43 |
Singt und springt | 251,17 |
schwache Schnur | 254,22 |
Schosz und Schutz | 287,76 |
Sind seine Sorgen Segnen . . . | 293,32 & 33 |
Steht in steter voller Blütt | 304,68 |
T | |
Thun und Toben | 108, 62 |
Tod und Teufel | 312,6 |
W | |
Wind und Wetter | 10, 63 |
Gott weisz wol, was wir vermögen | 28,25 |
Wirst du und wir mit dir gehn, Wenn uns wird . . . | 28,62 & 63 |
Um welcher willen | 30,2 |
Aus welcher Wund | 30,307 |
Hast alles, was ich wünsch und will | 46,26 |
Dich hat ein Weib der Welt gebracht | 47,16 |
Mein Weirauch und mein Widder | 59,23 |
Wer dort wird mit verhöhnt, Wird hier auch mit gekrönt; Wer dort mit sterben geht, Wird hier auch mit erhöht | 74,69-72 |
Werk und Worten | 86,46 |
Weisz alle Weisheit | 100,67 |
wertes Wort | 104,62 |
Wol und Weh | 139,37 |
Weg und Weisen | 205,33 |
Der Weizen wächset init Gewalt | 239,37 |
Wol und Weh | 263,63 |
All deine Werk sind Wunder voll | 287,47 |
Weirauch und Widder | 293,29 (cf. 59,23 above) |
Wort und Willen | 293,75 |
Z | |
Durch Zittern und durch Zagen | 19,10 |
Mit Zittern und mit Zagen | 30,39 |
Zorn, Zank | 111,52 |
Zeit und Zahl | 150,99 |
Zur rechten Zeit zu zähmen | 169,11 |
Zu seinem Zweck und Ziel | 185, 40 |
SPECIAL CASES OF ALLITERATION | |
Dein Schirm und Schild, dein Hülf und Heil | 118,55 |
Wann Gottes Geist erhebt die Hand | 173,41 |
Sein Herz ist voller Huld Und gönnt uns lauter Guts. Den Abend währt das Weinen, Des Morgens macht das Scheinen Der Sonn uns gutes Muts | 180,35-40 |
Ich liebe dich und leide Pein Bin dein und doch betrübet | 190,38 & 39 |
Lasset uns loben Seliges Sterben | 270,5 & 6 |
5, | 58 | grünen und blühn |
19, | 1 | gehn und treten |
45 | Sei der Verlasznen Vater | |
46 | . . . Berater | |
47 | . . . Gabe | |
48 | Der Armen Gut und Habe. | |
23, | 69 | Der Rat und That erfinden kann |
28, | 47 | springst und singst |
62 | Wirst du und wir mit dir gehn | |
63 | Wenn uns wird . . . | |
44, | 2 | Der herzlich . . . |
3 | Wie schmerzlich . . . | |
46, | 5 | Du Träger aller Bürd und Last |
6 | Du aller Müden Ruh und Rast | |
47, | 7 | Ach, wie bezwang und drang dich doch |
60 | All seine Zeit vertreibe | |
60, | 43 | Breit aus die Flügel beide |
44 | O Jesu, meine Freude | |
45 | Und nimm dein Küchlein ein! | |
65, | 49 | Saft und Kraft |
68, | 1 | geht und trägt |
5 | matt und krank | |
78, | 12 | selbst zum Helfer stellt |
80, | 40 | Füll und Hüll |
91, | 58 | schlecht und recht |
100, | 67 | Weisz alle Weisheit |
70 | Fleisz und Schweisz | |
111, | 52 | Neid und Streit |
111, | 82 | Auf Reu der Freuden Blick |
118, | 49 | sing und spring |
122, | 13 | Gut und Blut |
124, | 27 | . . . Spreu zerstreuet |
132, | 16 | Gut und Blut (cf. 122,13) |
145, | 47 | Jagt und schlagt |
102 | sing und klinge | |
110 | Scham und Schande | |
149, | 15 | Wunden unsrer Sünden |
161, | 88 | Theil und Heil |
164, | 3 | schlecht und recht (cf. 91,58) |
131 | weit und breit | |
171, | 1 | weit und breit (cf. 164,131) |
176, | 12 | So kennt, so nennt |
193, | 43 | Tritt und Schritt |
196, | 4 | Rat und That (cf. 23,69) |
200, | 32 | Tag und Nacht |
38 | Not und Tod | |
209, | 110 | Da wird mein Weinen lauter Wein, |
111 | Mein Ächzen lauter Jauchzen sein. | |
212, | 11 | Rat und That (cf. 23,69; 196,4) |
217, | 4 | geht und steht |
220, | 45 | Wer brachte Sonn und Mond herfür |
46 | Wer machte Kräuter, Bäum und Thier | |
229, | 45 | Kein Urtheil mich erschrecket |
46 | Kein Unheil mich betrubt | |
239, | 28 | Die Wiesen liegen |
44 | Des groszen Gottes groszes Thun | |
242, | 72 | weit und breit (cf. 164,131; 169,1) |
244, | 43 | des roten Goldes Kot |
251, | 17 | singt und springt (cf. 28,47; 118,49) |
253, | 19 | Kraft und Macht |
254, | 14 | Gieng und hieng |
260, | 94 | Rat und That (cf. 23,69; 196,4) |
270. | In this poem note the unusual scheme of alliteration and sound sequence (regular except for one line) in the first four syllables of the concluding couplets of the first three stanzas: | |
stanza 1 | ||
5 | lasset uns loben . . . | |
6 | Seliges Sterben . . . | |
stanza 2 | ||
11 | Ihre Begierde . . . | |
12 | Ist ihr erfüllet . . . | |
stanza 3 | ||
17 | Berkow, das feine, geschickte Gemüt | |
18 | Dessen Gedächtnisz . . . | |
271, | 15 | Tod und Sterbensnot |
274, | 87 | webt und lebet |
284, | 71 | hebt und leget |
287, | 53 | Tag und Jahre Zahl |
298, | 125 | webt und lebt (cf. 274,87) |
333, | 54 | Rat und That (cf. 23,69; 260,94) |
A | |
---|---|
Ach und Weh | 104,8; 335,10 |
Adern und Geblüte | 158,9 |
Angst und Not | 25,55; 91,66; 150,89; 193,66; 209,26; 232,99; 325,24 |
Angst und Nöten | 185,71 |
Angst, Furcht, Sorg und Schmerz | 78,19 |
Angst und Pein | 122,20; 224,5 |
Angst und Plagen | 19,9 |
Angst und Qual | 23,10; 164,97; 198,8; 271,12 |
Angst und Schmerzen | 220,15 |
Angst und Trübsal | 145,30 |
Angst und Weh | 65,64; 164,53; 212,37 |
ängstet und bemüht | 78,27 |
284,88 | |
B | |
Bahn und Lauf | 304,16 |
Bahn und Steg | 83,91; 248,79 |
Berg und Spitzen | 217,22 |
betrübt und kränket | 95,31 |
Bett und Lager | 313,13 |
bewust und wolbekannt | 139,52 |
brechen und fallen | 293,67 |
Bund und Zeugnisz | 91,27 |
Bürd und Last | 267,32 |
Burg und Schlosz | 190,90 |
D | |
Dampf und Rauch | 153,12 |
Dieb und Räuber | 106,21 |
drück und quäle | 108,56 |
E | |
Ehr und Dank | 324,46 |
Ehr und Dienste | 111,15 |
Eilend und behend | 315,54 |
emsich und bemühet | 328,16 |
Ohn End und alle Masz | 47,41 |
Erb und Theil | 190,96 |
Erd und Kot | 115,20 |
Erd und Staub | 324,7 |
Erd und Thon | 153,7 |
Erkenntnisz und Verstand | 260,82 |
Ernst und Eifer | 30,246 |
F | |
fall und sterbe | 229,75 |
Fehl und Mängel | 278,23 |
Fels und Burg | 145,14 |
Fels und Stein | 30,322; 127,53 |
Feuer und Licht | 242,29 |
Fleisch und Blut | 30,31; 217,42; 324,4; 325,12; 328,30 |
Fleisz und Schweisz | 100,70 |
fliehn und haszen | 81,40 |
fleuch und haszt | 229,82 |
fliehn und laszen | 71,89 |
frech und geil | 278,108 |
sich freu und jubiliere | 212,102 |
Freud und Lust | 97,49 |
Freud und Seligkeit | 209,97 |
Freud und Singen | 229,115 |
Freud und Trost | 51,181 |
Freud und Wonne | 158,25; 232,2 |
Freuden und Lust | 5,33 |
Mein Freund und treuer Rat | 217,39 |
Fried- und Freudenswort | 95,2 |
Fried und Ruh | 95,72; 205,83 |
Frisch und freudig | 232,98 |
Füll und Hüll | 80,40 |
Furcht und Angst | 120,19 |
Furcht und Scheu | 15,43 |
Furcht und Schrecken | 51,182; 229,58 |
Furcht und Zagen | 284,39 |
G | |
Gall und Gift | 81,23 |
ganz und gar | 15,6; 178,8; 253,2; 254,41; 284,68 |
ganz und neu | 251,28 |
Geist und Gemüte | 271,2 |
Geist und Sinn | 78,18; 158,5 |
Geist und Sinnen | 135,78 |
Geld und Gut | 242,65 |
Gemüt und Seele | 108,55 |
gern und williglich | 71,84 |
getrost und unbetrübt | 271,1 |
getrost und unverzagt | 125,75 |
Gift und Gallen | 153,14 |
Glanz und Bild | 46,15 |
Glanz und Freudenlicht | 118,54 |
Mein Glanz und schönes Licht | 229,26 |
Glanz und Schein | 103,2 |
Glaub und Treu | 173,28; 205,40 |
Glück und Freude | 10,84 |
Glück, Gut und Ehr | 89,3 |
Glück und Heil | 95,30 |
Glück und Segen | 108,88; 217,3 |
Gnad und Gab | 97,13 |
Gnad und Gunst | 304,3 |
Gnad und Güte | 95,11 |
Gnad und Gütigkeit | 62,90 |
Gnad und Hulden | 293,84 |
Gott und Hort | 253,15 |
Gott und Retter | 127,16 |
Grab und Sarg | 68,29 |
Gram und Leid | 135,127 |
Gram und Schmerze | 25,43 |
Gras und Laub | 324,8 |
Gilt und Geld(e) | 86,32; 97,38; 153,57; 319,9; 321,63 |
Gut und Heil | 17,56 |
Gut und Waaren | 10,60 |
Güt und Segen | 21,27 |
H | |
Hab und Gut | 188,19 |
Hasz und Neid | 15,19 |
Hans und Hof | 7,32 |
173,86; 232,86 | |
Heil und Gnaden | 293,76 |
Heil und Hülfe | 93,6 |
Herz und Mut | 7,62; 267,16 |
Herz und Sinn | 83,1 & 2; 205,43 |
Heu und Stroh | 158,68 |
hoch und herrlich | 139,24 |
Hohn und Spott | 68,8; 183,17; 229,86 |
Hohn und groszem Spott | 71,6 |
Huld und Gnaden | 324,23 |
Hülf und Errettung | 111,12 |
Hülf und Heil | 118 55 |
Hülf und Rat | 188,22 |
Hut und Güte | 106,29 |
Hut und Wach | 287,26 |
J | |
in Jammer und in Not | 198,10 |
Jauchzen und Freuden | 5,72 |
K | |
Kält und Frost | 118,17 |
kann und mag | 239,43; 274,85 |
kann und weisz | 25,16 |
Klag und Sorge | 226,12 |
klar und rein | 287,39 |
Knecht und Kind | 86,79 |
Mein Können, mein Vermögen | 235,45 |
Kraft und Macht | 253,19 |
L | |
Last und Bürd | 226,22 |
Laster und Schande | 293,46 |
Leib und Leben | 229,93 |
Leib und Seel(e) | 7,85; 25,19; 30,129; 60,39; 71,52; 71,59; 83,20; 93,29; 127,8; 164,64; 248,22; 325,15 |
lenke und führe | 293,87 |
Lieb und Ehre | 217,45 |
Lieb und Gnad | 278,90 |
Lieb und Güt | 78,25 |
Lieb und Huld | 3,11; 7,60; 25,60; 30,329; 65,24 |
Lieb und Lust | 25,54 |
Lieb und Treu | 30,229 |
List und Tück | 91,54 |
Lob und Preis | 25,14; 248,5; 319, 13; 324,48 |
lobt und preist | 10,90 |
Lob und Dank | 97,22; 180,7; 232,91 |
Lohn und Sold | 271,33 |
Luft und Höh | 15,24 |
Lust und Freude | 21,54; 180,88; 193,31; 226,68; 244,26 |
Lust und Freuden | 124,9 |
M | |
Macht und Kraft | 108,84 |
March und Bein | 158,42 |
Mark und Bein | 328,28 |
Masz und Zahl | 15,32 |
Masz und Ziel | 10,45; 183,62; 232,84 |
N | |
Neid und Hasz | 321,10 |
Neid und Streit | 248,60 |
O | |
Ort und Raum | 30,344; 161,39 & 40 |
P | |
Pein und Schmerz | 328,60 |
Pest und Gift | 51,240 |
Dein Pilgrim und dein Bürger | 86,81 |
Preis und Dank | 106,4 |
Preis und Ehr | 150,7 |
R | |
Ränk und List | 80,33 |
Rat und Hülfe | 307,4 |
Raub und Frasz | 321,12 |
rein und gerecht | 65,16 |
rein und hell | 46,14 |
rein und klar | 278,18 |
wir rennen, laufen | 315,50 |
Ruh und Rast | 328,2 |
Ruhm und Preis | 302,74 |
rühmt und preist | 176,12 |
S | |
Sanft und gelind | 224,37 |
sanft und still(e) | 86,94; 139,7 |
Schand und Spott | 103,30 |
Schand und Sünde | 81,13 |
dein Schatz, dein Erb und Theil | 119,53 |
Schild und Hort | 93,39 |
Mit Schimpf und groszer Schande | 212,128 |
Schirm und Schild | 118,55 |
schläft und ruht | 335,52 |
schlägt und drückt | 325,30 |
Schmerze und Sorgen | 185,49 & 50 |
Schmerz und Weh | 226,9 |
schön und klar | 158,61 |
Das Schönste und Beste | 293,97 |
schrickt und scheut | 49,10 |
Schuld und Missethat | 256,109 |
Sclav und Knecht | 325,26 |
Seel und Geist | 81,44 |
71,91 | |
singen und loben | 120,48 |
sinken und fallen | 212,124 |
Sinn und Geiste | 263,69 (cf. Geist und Sinn, q. v.) |
Sitz und Ort | 278,176 |
Sitz und Raum | 7,35 |
Sonn und Zier | 217,47 |
Sorg und Schmerzen | 229,51; 307,46 |
Speis und Malzeit | 244,45 |
Spiesz und Schwerter | 95,4 |
Spott und Hohn | 100,54; 135,47 |
Spott und Schanden | 25,27 |
Dem Stab und dein Stecken | 120,27 |
Stadt und Land | 7,36 |
Stärk und Kraft | 28,42; 271,19; 239,35 |
steif und fest | 161,69; 178,37; 226,66 |
Stell und Ort | 220,38; 310,27 |
Straf und Last | 30,340 |
Straf und Zorn | 224,9 |
Stuhl und Thron(e) | 108,70; 205,84 |
Stund und Zeiten | 60,34 |
Sturm und Regen | 267,15 |
Sturm und Ungewitter | 209,84 |
Sturm und Wellen | 229,15 |
Sturm und Wetter | 7,25; 93,30 |
Sturm und Wind | 253,10 |
T | |
Than und Regen | 118,16 |
Tbeil und Erbe | 229,73 |
Thun und Machen | 19,23 |
Thun und Toben | 108,62 |
Dein Tichten, dein Trachten, dein Thun | 5,17 |
Tief und See | 15,23 |
Tod und Ende | 31,192 |
trifft und schlägt | 324,17 |
Tritt und Schritt | 193,43 |
Trost und Freud(e) | 25,18; 65,22; 196,36; 302,73 |
Alter Trost und alle Freude | 108,41 |
Trost und Labsal | 65,57; 232,4 |
Trost und Licht | 328,82 |
Trost und Schild | 46,16 |
W | |
Wall und Mauren | 183,15 |
Weg und Weisen | 205,33 |
Wege, Lauf und Balm | 185,6 |
Weh und Klagen | 97,50 |
Web und Schmerz(en) | 251,3; 284,38 |
Weis und Art | 335,62 |
Weisheit und Verstand | 139,51; 158,57 |
weir und breit | 164,131; 171,1; 242,72 |
Werk und That | 217,50; 220,85; 304,29 |
Werke und Thaten | 293,35 |
Wind und Wetter | 10,63 |
wirkt und schafft | 139,34 |
Witz und Sinn | 220,5 |
Wonn und Fröhlichkeit | 310,72 |
Wort und Reden | 278,20 |
Würd und Ehr | 188,88 |
Z | |
ihre Zähren und Thränen | 142,27 & 28 |
Zank und Geifer | 321,11 |
Zeit und Stund | 244,111 |
Zorn und Eifer | 321,9 |
Zorn und Fluch | 103,9 |
Zorn und Grimm | 108,14 |
Zorn und groszem Grimm | 164,61 |
Zweck und Ziel | 185,40 |
Was ist doch gut ohn diesem Gut? | 10,96 |
Wenn dies Gut nicht im Herzen ruht | 10,97 |
Ist alles Gut verworfen | 10,98 |
O Häupt voll Blut und Wunden, | 49,1 |
Voll Schmerz und voller Hohn! | 49,2 |
O Häupt zu Spott gebunden | 49,3 |
O Häupt, sonst schön gezieret | 49,5 |
Auf, auf, ihr sollt beginnen | 60,5 |
Erdengut zerfällt und bricht | 89,35 |
Seelengut das schwindet nicht | 89,36 |
Aller Trost und alle Freude | 108,41 |
Dein Erfreuen ist die Weide | 108,43 |
Leuchte mir, o Freudenlicht | 108,45 |
Zeuch ein zu deinen Thoren | 111,1 |
Zeuch ein, lasz mich empfinden | 111,9 |
Und schmecken deine Kraft | 111,10 |
Die Kraft die uns von Sünden | 111,11 |
Was Gott gefällt | 139,5,10,15,20, etc. (i. e. the concluding line of each of these stanzas) |
Wir singen dir, Emanuel | 150,1 |
Wir singen dir in deinem Heer | 150,6 |
Bist aller Haiden Trost und Licht, | 150,43 |
Suchst selber Trost und findst ihn nicht | 150,44 |
Du bist der süsze Menschenfreund | 150,46 |
Doch sind dir so viel Menschen feind | 150,47 |
Befiehl du deine Wege | 185,1 |
Gibt Wege, Lauf und Bahn | 185,6 |
Der wird auch Wege finden | 185,7 |
Sollt ich meinen Gott nicht singen? | 235,1 |
Sollt ich Ihm nicht dankbar sein? | 235,2 |
Alles Ding währt seine Zeit | 235,9 |
Gottes Lieb in Ewigkeit | 235,10 (This couplet concludes each of the twelve stanzas) |
Trotz sei dir, du trotzender Kot! | 5,65 |
Erbarm dich, o barmherzigs Herz | 7,76 |
Als das geliebte Lieben | 25,35 |
Zum Fluch dem, der Ihm flucht | 25,74 |
Das nennt der Lästrer Lästerwort | 30,106 |
Kein Wächter mag zu mächtig sein | 39,323 |
Drum, herzes Herze, bitt ich dich | 47,28 |
Wer dich recht liebt, ergibt sich frei, | 47,46 |
In deiner Lieb und süszen Treu | 47,47 |
67,3 | |
. . . . mit Beschneidung . . . . | 67,5 |
Die Sünden aller Sünder | 68,4 |
O Wunderlieb! o Liebesmacht | 68,25 |
Die Trübsal trübt mir nicht | 74,45 |
Das Unglück ist mein Glück | 74,47 |
Gründst des tiefen Meeres Grund | 76,28 |
Und wo kein Mensch nicht helfen kann | 78,11 |
Sich selbst zum Helfer stellt | 78,12 |
Und Vater meines Lebens | 81,2 |
Wo du mein Leben nicht regierst | 81,3 |
So leb ich hier vergebens; | 81,4 |
Ja lebendig bin ich auch todt, | 81,5 |
. . . . Der hat das rechte Leben . . . . | 81,8 |
Der Wird zu Schanden, der dich schändt | 91,5 |
Und wie mich der so hoch erhöht, | 97,6 |
Der selbst so hoch erhoben | 97,7 |
Helfer in der rechten Zeit | 108,6 |
Hilf, o Heiland | 108,7 |
Ein Freund der Freundlichkeit | 111,50 |
Der Feindschaft bist du feind | 111,53 |
Zu rühmen seinen Ruhm! | 115,74 |
Kann uns doch kein Tod nicht tödten | 122,43 |
Auch tödte mich durch deinen Tod | 132,58 |
Lasz mich deinen Schutz beschützen | 145,11 |
Wenn mir Lebenskraft gebricht; | 145,76 |
Lasz mein Leben in dir leben | 145,77 |
Ich steh im gewünschten Stande | 145,109 |
Sein Licht und Heil macht alles heil | 153,21 |
Du bist meines Leben Leben | 155,70 |
. . . . dasz ich mein End | 161,113 |
Auch also möchte enden | 161,114 |
Durch Adams Fall gefallen | 173,15 |
Durch dieses Fallen ist die Macht | 173,16 |
Weg hast du allerwegen | 185,25 |
. . . . kein Sinnen | 220,79 |
Ihm hat ersinnen können! | 220,80 |
Der Grund, da ich mich gründe | 229,17 |
. . . . mein Vermögen | 235,45 |
Nichts vermag, nichts helfen kann, | 235,46 |
Sein Vermögen beizulegen | 235,48 |
Wann andre löschen Feuer und Licht, | 242,29 |
Verlöscht doch ihre Leuchte nicht | 242,30 |
Ich lieb ihr liebes Angesicht | 260,41 |
Gütig dem, der Gutes thut | 307,79 |
Nun, der sei mein schönstes Gut | 307,80 |
Herr Fromm ist fromm, das weisz man wol | 13,82 |
Der Frommen Lohn | 13,124 (cf. 13,82) |
Sein Licht und Heil macht alles heil | 153,21 |
Da wird mein Weinen lauter Wein | 209,110 |
Wie seinem Mut zu Mute sei | 223,123 |
Steht in steter voller Blüt | 304,68 |
Goedeke Page | Page | |
---|---|---|
HOLY TRINITY | ||
1. Was alle Weisheit in der Welt | 176 | 62 |
ADVENT | ||
1. Warum willst du drauszen stehen | 108 | 51 |
2. Wie soll ich dich empfangen | 25 | 82 |
CHRISTMAS | ||
1. Frölich soll mein Herze springen | 155 | 58 |
2. Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier | 158 | 60 |
3. Kommt und laszt uns Christurn chren | 312 | 79 |
4. O Jesu Christ, dein Kripplein ist | 153 | 57 |
5. Schaut, Schaut, was ist für Wunder dar | 310 | 79 |
6. Wir singen dir, Emanuel | 150 | 110 |
NEW YEAR | ||
1. Nun laszt uns gehn und treten | 19 | 38 |
2. Warum machet solche Schmerzen | 67 | 42 |
GOOD FRIDAY (PASSIONTIDE) | ||
1. Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld | 68 | 104 |
2. Gegrüszet seist du, Gott, mein Heil | 46 | 41 |
3. Hör an, mein Herz, die Sieben Wort | 161 | 60 |
4. O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden | 49 | 86 |
5. O Herz des Königs aller Welt | 47 | 41 |
6. O Welt, sieh hier dein Leben | 71 | 42 |
7. Sei mir tausendmal gegrüszet | 40 | 40 |
EASTER | ||
1. Auf, auf, mein Herz, mit Freuden | 74 | 44 |
2. Sei frölich alles weit und breit | 171 | 61 |
WHITSUNTIDE | ||
1. Gott, Vater, sende deinen Geist | 173 | 62 |
2. O du allersüszste Freude | 76 | 44 |
3. Zeuch ein zu deinen Thoren | 111 | 52 |
CROSS AND CONSOLATION | ||
1. Ach treuer Gott, barmherzigs Herz | 209 | 65 |
2. Barmherziger Vater, höchster Gott | 212 | 66 |
3. Befiehl du dein Wege | 185 | 114 |
4. Du bist ein Mensch, das weiszst du wol | 220 | 67 |
3 | 36 | |
6. Geduld ist euch vonnöten | 267 | 72 |
7. Gib dich zufrieden und sei stille | 274 | 74 |
8. Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn | 83 | 48 |
9. Ich hab oft bei mir selbst gedacht | 226 | 68 |
10. Ich habs verdient, was will ich doch | 224 | 67 |
11. Ist Gott für mich, so trete | 229 | 126 |
12. Nicht so traurig, nicht so sehr | 89 | 48 |
13. Noch dennoch muszt du drum nicht ganz | 23 | 38 |
14. Schwing dich auf zu deinem Gott | 135 | 55 |
15. Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen | 122 | 108 |
16. Was Gott gefällt, mein frommes Kind | 139 | 56 |
17. Wie lang, o Herr, wie lange soll | 178 | 62 |
REPENTANCE | ||
1. Herr, höre, was mein Mund | 65 | 41 |
2. Nach dir, o Herr, verlanget mich | 91 | 49 |
3. Weg, mein Herz, mit den Gedanken | 62 | 41 |
PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING | ||
1. Auf den Nebel folgt die Sonne | 232 | 68 |
2. Der Herr, der aller Enden | 120 | 54 |
3. Gott Lob! nun ist erschollen | 95 | 50 |
4. Ich singe dir mit Herz und Mund | 118 | 53 |
5. Nun danket all und bringet Ehr | 78 | 46 |
6. Sollt ich meinem Gott nicht singen | 235 | 69 |
7. Wie ist es müglich, höchstes Licht | 324 | 81 |
8. Wie ist so grosz und schwer die Last | 7 | 36 |
PRAYER AND THE CHRISTIAN LIFE | ||
1. Herr, aller Weisheit Quell und Grund | 260 | 71 |
2. Herr, du erforschest meinen Sinn | 287 | 75 |
3. Ich danke dir demütiglich | 205 | 65 |
4. Ich erhebe, Herr, zu dir | 93 | 49 |
5. Ich Weisz, mein Gott, dasz all mein Thun | 217 | 66 |
6. Jesu, allerliebster Bruder | 263 | 72 |
7. O Gott, mein Schöpfer, edler Fürst | 81 | 48 |
8. O Jesu Christ, mein schönstes Licht | 200 | 63 |
9. Wol dem, der den Herren scheuet | 130 | 55 |
10. Wol dem Menschen, der nicht wandelt | 124 | 54 |
11. Zweierlei bitt ich von dir | 80 | 47 |
MORNING AND EVENING | ||
1. Der Tag mit seinem Lichte | 296 | 77 |
2. Die güldne Sonne | 293 | 76 |
3. Lobet den Herren, alle, die ihn fürchten | 106 | 51 |
4. Nun ist der Regen hin | 17 | 37 |
5. Nun ruhen alle Wälder | 60 | 98 |
6. Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe | 59 | 95 |
1. Die Zeit ist nunmehr nah | 142 | 57 |
2. Du bist zwar mein und bleibest mein | 100 | 50 |
3. Herr Gott, du bist ja für und für | 315 | 80 |
4. Ich bin ein Gast auf Erden | 284 | 74 |
5. Johannes sahe durch Gesicht | 319 | 80 |
6. Nun, du lebest, unsre Krone | 28 | 39 |
7. Nun sei getrost und unbetrübt | 271 | 73 |
8. Was traurest du, mein Angesicht | 289 | 76 |
This index contains in general only the first lines of the translations and adaptations as they are given in Part II, Chapter II (pp. 35-143). The numbers refer to the pages on which the general discussions of the corresponding Gerhardt poems begin.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
A Holy, Pure and Spotless Lamb | 36 |
A Lamb bears all its guilt away | 104 |
A Lamb goes forth and bears the Guilt | 104 |
A Lamb goes forth--for all the dues | 104 |
A Lamb goes forth: the sins he bears | 104 |
A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth | 104 |
A Pilgrim am I on my way | 141 |
A pilgrim and a stranger | 74 |
A pilgrim here I wander | 74 |
A rest here have I never | 74 |
After clouds we see the sun | 68 |
Ah! faithful God, compassionate heart | 65 |
Ah! Head, so pierced and wounded | 86 |
Ah! Lord, how shall I meet thee | 82 |
Ah! lovely innocence, how evil art thou deemed | 36 |
Ah wounded Head! must thou | 86 |
Ah wounded Head, that bearest | 86 |
All hail! my Savior and my God | 41 |
All hail to Thee, my Savior and my God | 41 |
All my heart this night rejoices | 58 |
All my heart with joy is springing | 58 |
As pilgrims here we wander | 74 |
Awake, my heart, be singing | 95 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Be glad, my heart! now fear no more | 73 |
Be joyful all, both far and near | 61 |
Be not dismay'd--in time of need | 57 |
Be of good cheer in all your wants | 71 |
Be thou content: be still before | 74 |
Be thou contented! aye relying | 74 |
Behold a Lamb! so tired and faint | 104 |
Behold! Behold! what wonders here | 79 |
Behold, O World, thy Life, thy Lord | 42 |
55 | |
Blessed is the man that never | *** |
Bless'd is he who never taketh | 54 |
Bring to Christ your best oblation | 79 |
By John was seen a wondrous sight | 80 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Can I cease, my God, from singing | 69 |
Can I fail my God to praise | 69 |
Christians all, with one accord | 38 |
Come, and Christ the Lord be praising | 79 |
Come and let us Christ revere now | 79 |
Come, enter Thine own portal | 52 |
Come forth, my heart, and seek delight | 131 |
Come now, my soul, thy thoughts engage | 60 |
Come, O Thou Holy Dove | 52 |
Come, Thou Source of sweetest gladness | 44 |
Cometh sunshine after rain | 68 |
Come to Thy temple here on earth | 52 |
Come, unite in praise and singing | 79 |
Come, your hearts and voices raising. | *** |
Commend thy way O mortal | 114 |
Commit the way before thee | 114 |
Commit thou all thy griefs | 114 |
Commit thou all thy ways, and all | 114 |
Commit thou every sorrow, And care | 114 |
Commit thou thy each grievance | 114 |
Commit thy course and keeping | 114 |
Commit thy secret grief | 114 |
Commit thy way, confiding | 114 |
Commit thy way, O weeper | 114 |
Commit thy way, O weeping | 114 |
Commit thy Ways and Goings | 114 |
Commit thy ways, thy sorrows | 114 |
Commit thy way to God | 114 |
Commit thy way unto the Lord, thy heavy | 114 |
Commit whatever grieves thee | 114 |
Creator, Father, Prince of might! | 48 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Display thy both wings over | 98 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Emmanuel, Thy name we sing | 110 |
Emmanuel, we sing Thy praise | 110 |
(See also "Immanuel.") | |
Evening and Morning | 76 |
Ever by my love be owned | 40 |
Extended on a cursed tree | 42 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Father of mercies! God most high | 66 |
For Thee, Lord, pants my longing heart | 49 |
Forth goes a dear devoted Lamb | 104 |
From our fears and sins release us | 137 |
Full often as I meditate | 68 |
Full of wonder, full of art (2) | 79 |
Full of wonder, full of skill (2) | 79 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
114 | |
God is my strong salvation | 139 |
God, my Creator, and my Lord | 48 |
Go forth my heart, and revel in joy's flow | 131 |
Go forth, my heart, and seek delight (3) | 131 |
Go forth, my heart, and seek for praise | 131 |
Go forth, my heart, and seek the bliss | 131 |
Go forth, my heart, nor linger here | 131 |
Go forth, my Heart! the year's sweet prime | 131 |
Go out, my heart, and pleasure seek | 131 |
Go out, my heart, and seek delight | 131 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
He never yet has made mistakes | 53 |
He sendeth sun, he sendeth shower | 140 |
Hence, my heart, with such a thought | 41 |
Here I can firmly rest | 126 |
Here, World, see thy Redeemer | 42 |
Here, World, thy great Salvation see | 42 |
Holy Ghost, dispel our sadness | 44 |
Holy Spirit, Source of gladness | 44 |
How can it be, my highest Light | 81 |
How heavy is the burden made | 36 |
How long, Lord, in forgetfullness | 62 |
How shall I come to meet Thee | 82 |
How shall I meet my Savior | 82 |
How shall I meet Thee, How my heart | 82 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
I build on this foundation | 126 |
I give Thee thanks unfeigned | 86 |
I have deserv'd it, cease t'oppose | 67 |
I into God's own heart and mind | 48 |
I know, my God, and I rejoice | 66 |
I know that my Redeemer lives | 81 |
I know that my Redeemer lives | 135 |
I'll praise Thee with my heart and tongue | 53 |
I'll sing to Thee with heart and mouth | 53 |
I'll sing to Thee with mouth and heart | 53 |
I'm but a stranger here | 140 |
I sing to Thee with Heart and Tongue | 53 |
I stand beside Thy manger-bed | 60 |
I who so oft in deep distress | 78 |
I will sing my Maker's praises | 69 |
I yield Thee thanks unfeigned | 86 |
If Christ is mine, then all is mine | 126 |
If God be on my side | 126 |
If God Himself be for me | 126 |
If God is mine, then present things | 126 |
If Jesus be my friend | 126 |
Immanuel, Thy praise we sing | 110 |
Immanuel! to Thee we sing, The Fount | 110 |
110 | |
Immanuel, we sing to Thee | 110 |
(See also "Emmanuel.") | |
In exile here we wander | 142 |
In grateful songs your voices raise | 46 |
In heaven is mine inheritance | 126 |
In me resume Thy dwelling | 52 |
In prayer your voices raise ye | 38 |
Is God for me? I fear not | 126 |
Is God for me? t'oppose me | 126 |
Is God for me? what is it | 126 |
Is God my strong salvation | 126 |
It is a time of joy today | 79 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Jesu, my Savior, Brother, Friend | 136 |
Jesu, my Strength, my Hope | 136 |
Jesu, our joy and loving Friend | 98 |
Jesus! Thou, my dearest Brother | 72 |
Jesus, Thy boundless love to me | 63 |
Joyful be my spirit singing | 58 |
Joyful shall my heart, upspringing | 58 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Leave to his sovereign sway | 114 |
Let not such a thought e'er pain thee | 41 |
Let the voice of glad thanksgiving | 58 |
Lightly bound my bosom, ringing | 58 |
Lo! Man and Beast are sleeping | 98 |
Look up to thy God again | 55 |
Lord, be Thy Cross before our sight | 42 |
Lord God! Thou art forevermore | 80 |
Lord, how shall I be meeting | 82 |
Lord, how shall I receive Thee | 82 |
Lord, lend a gracious ear | 41 |
Lord, Thou my heart dost search and try | 75 |
Lord! to Thee alone I raise | 49 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
May I when time is o'er | 57 |
Mine art Thou still, and mine shalt be | 50 |
Mortals, who have God offended | 42 |
My face, why should'st thou troubled be | 76 |
My Faith securely buildeth | 126 |
My faith Thy lowly bed beholds | 60 |
My God! my works and all I do | 66 |
My heart's warm gush breaks forth in mirth | 53 |
My heart! the seven words hear now | 60 |
My rest is in heaven; my rest is not here | 142 |
My Savior, how shall I proclaim | 42 |
My soul awake and render | 95 |
My Soul, awake and tender | 95 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Not so darkly, not so deep | 48 |
Now all the woods are sleeping | 98 |
60 | |
Now every greenwood sleepeth | 98 |
Now gone is all the rain | 37 |
Now hushed are woods and waters | 98 |
Now in His manger He so humbly lies | 58 |
Now let each humble creature | 38 |
Now rest beneath night's shadow | 98 |
Now rest the woods again | 98 |
Now resteth all creation | 98 |
Now spread are evening's shadows | 98 |
Now with joy my heart is bounding | 58 |
Now woods and fields are quiet | 98 |
Now woods their rest are keeping | 98 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
O blessed Christ, once wounded | 86 |
O blessed Jesus! This | 57 |
O cast away thy fears | 114 |
O Christ! how good and fair | 57 |
O Christ, my Light, my gracious Savior | 63 |
O Christ, my only Life and Light | 63 |
O Christ, my sweetest Life and Light | 63 |
O Christ! what consolation | 86 |
O come and dwell in me | 136 |
O Come, my soul with singing | 53 |
O come with prayer and singing | 38 |
O enter, Lord, Thy temple | 52 |
O faithful God! O pitying heart | 65 |
O Father! send Thy spirit down | 62 |
O God! from Thee doth wisdom flow | 71 |
O God! how many thankful songs | 78 |
O God most true, most merciful! | 65 |
O God, my Father! thanks to Thee | 65 |
O God of mercy full and free | 65 |
O God! who dost Heav'n's sceptre wield | 37 |
O Head, blood-stained and wounded | 86 |
O Head so full of bruises | 86 |
O Head, so pierced and wounded | 86 |
O Heart of Him who dwells on high | 41 |
O how shall I receive Thee | 82 |
O Jesus Christ! my fairest Light | 63 |
O Jesus Christ! Thy cradle is | 57 |
O Lamb of God, once wounded | 86 |
O Lord! I sing with mouth and heart | 53 |
O my soul, why dost thou grieve | 48 |
O Sacred Head! now wounded (varying centos) | 86 |
O Sacred Head, surrounded | 86 |
O Thou sweetest source of gladness | 44 |
O World! attention lend it | 42 |
O World, behold him dying | 137 |
O, World! behold upon the tree | 42 |
O World! see here suspended | 42 |
42 | |
O World! see thy life languish | 42 |
Oh! bleeding head, and wounded | 86 |
Oh, how shall I receive Thee | 82 |
Oh Jesus Christ! how bright and fair | 78 |
Oh, wounded head and bleeding | 86 |
On earth I'm but a pilgrim | 74 |
On thy bier how calm thou'rt sleeping | 39 |
Our Lord be praising, All His glory raising | 51 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Praise God! for forth hath sounded | 50 |
Praise God! revere Him! all ye men that fear Him | 51 |
Praise ye Jehovah, all ye men who fear Him | 51 |
Put thou thy trust in God | 114 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Quietly rest the woods and dales | 98 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Rest in the Lord, my soul | 138 |
Retake thy own Possession | 52 |
Rise, my soul, shake off all sadness | 58 |
Rise, my soul, thy vigil keep | 98 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Say with what salutations | 82 |
Scarce tongue can speak, ne'er human ken | 62 |
See, bowed beneath a fearful weight | 104 |
See the sun's glorious light | 76 |
See World! thy Life assailed | 42 |
See, World, upon the bloody tree | 42 |
See, World, upon the shameful tree | 42 |
Seven times the Savior spake--my heart | 60 |
Shall I not his praise be singing | 69 |
Shall I not my God be praising | 69 |
Shall I not sing praise to Thee | 69 |
Shan't I sing to my Creator | 69 |
Should I not, in meek adoring | 69 |
Shun, my heart, the thought forever | *** |
Since Jesus is my friend | 126 |
Sunbeams all golden | 76 |
Sweetest Fount of holy gladness | 44 |
Sweetest joy the soul can know | 44 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Thank God it hath resounded | 50 |
The daylight disappeareth | 77 |
The duteous day now closeth | 98 |
The golden corn now waxes strong | 131 |
The golden morning | 76 |
The golden sunbeams with their joyous gleams | 76 |
The Lord, the earth who ruleth | 54 |
The mystery hidden from the eyes | 62 |
The sun's golden beams | 76 |
The time is very near | 57 |
The woods are hushed; o'er town and plain | 98 |
126 | |
Thee, O Immanuel, we praise | 110 |
There is no condemnation | 126 |
Thou art but man, to thee 'tis known | 67 |
Thou art mine own, art still mine own | 50 |
Thou must not altogether be | 38 |
Thou on the Lord rely | 114 |
Thou pierced and wounded brow | 86 |
Thou seest our weakness, Lord | 114 |
Thou'rt mine, yes, still thou art mine own | 50 |
Thousand times by me be greeted | 40 |
Through waves and clouds and storms | 114 |
Thy everlasting truth | 114 |
Thy manger is my paradise | 57 |
Thy mighty working, mighty God | 131 |
Thy Thanks, my Soul, be raising | 95 |
Thy way and all thy sorrows | 114 |
'Tis patience must support you | 72 |
To God commit thy griefs | 114 |
To God thy way commending | 114 |
To God's all-gracious heart and mind | 48 |
To Thee, Immanuel, we sing, the Prince | 110 |
Tranquilly lead thee, peace possessing | 74 |
Twofold, Father, is my pray'r | 47 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Up, my heart! rejoice with singing | 58 |
Up, Up, my heart, with gladness, Receive | 44 |
Up! up! my heart with gladness, See | 44 |
Up! with gladness heavenward springing | 58 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Wake, my heart, and sing His praises | 95 |
Wake up, my heart, elater | 95 |
We go to meet Thee, Savior | 82 |
We sing to Thee, Emmanuel, the Prince | 110 |
We sing to Thee, Immanuel, Thou Prince of Life | 110 |
What God decrees, child of His love | 56 |
What God decrees, take patiently | 56 |
What is our mortal race | 76 |
What pleases God, O pious soul | 56 |
What pleaseth God, my faithful child | 56 |
What pleaseth God with joy receive | 56 |
Wherefore dost Thou, blest of God | 51 |
Wherefore dost thou longer tarry | 51 |
Wherefore should I grieve and pine | 108 |
Wherefore, then, should I be gloomy | 108 |
Who is so full of tenderness | 78 |
Why, my soul, thus trembling ever | 108 |
Why should I continue grieving | 108 |
Why should sorrow ever grieve me | 108 |
Why should they such pain e'er give Thee | 42 |
48 | |
Why, without, then, art Thou staying | 51 |
With all Thy saints, Thee, Lord, we sing | 110 |
With notes of joy and songs of praise | 38 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Page | |
Yes, thou art mine, still mine, my son | 50 |
Goedeke Page | Subject | No. of English versions | Page | |
Ach treuer Gott, barmherzigs Herz | 209 | Cross and Consolation | 3 | 65 |
Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt | 256 | God's Love; John III, 16 | 1 | 71 |
Auf, auf, mein Herz, mit Freuden | 74 | Easter | 2 | 44 |
Auf den Nebel folgt die Sonne | 232 | Praise and Thanksgiving | 2 | 68 |
Barmherziger Vater, höchster Gott | 212 | Cross and Consolation | 1 | 66 |
Befiehl du deine Wege | 185 | Cross and Consolation | 18 | 114 |
Der Herr, der aller Enden | 120 | Praise and Thanksgiving | 1 | 54 |
Der Tag mit seinem Lichte | 296 | Evening | 1 | 77 |
Die güldne Sonne | 293 | Morning | 7 | 76 |
Die Zeit ist nunmehr nah | 142 | Eternal Life | 3 | 57 |
Du bist ein Mensch, das weiszst du wol | 220 | Cross and Consolation | 1 | 67 |
Du bist zwar mein und bleibest mein | 100 | Eternal Life | 4 | 50 |
Du liebe Unschuld du | 3 | Cross and Consolation | 1 | 36 |
Du meine Seele, singe | 115 | Psalm CXLVI | 1 | 53 |
Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld | 68 | Passiontide | 10 | 104 |
Frölich sell mein Herze springen | 155 | Christmas | 11 | 58 |
Geduld ist euch vonnöten | 267 | Cross and Consolation | 1 | 72 |
Gegrüszet seist du, Gott, mein Heil | 46 | Passiontide | 2 | 41 |
Geh aus mein Herz und suche Freud | 239 | Summer | 10 | 131 |
Gib dich zufrieden und sei stille | 274 | Cross and Consolation | 3 | 74 |
Gott Lob! nun ist erschollen | 95 | Praise and Thanksgiving | 2 | 50 |
Gott, Vater, sende deinen Geist | 173 | Whitsuntide | 1 | 62 |
Herr, aller Weisheit Quell und Grund | 260 | Prayer and the Christian Life | 1 | 71 |
Herr, du erforschest meinen Sinn | 287 | Prayer and the Christian Life | 1 | 75 |
315 | Eternal Life | 1 | 80 | |
Herr, höre was mein Mund | 65 | Repentance | 1 | 41 |
Hör an, mein Herz, die sieben Wort | 161 | Passiontide | 3 | 60 |
Ich bin ein Gast auf Erden | 284 | Eternal Life | 4 | 74 |
Ich danke dir demütiglich | 205 | Prayer and the Christian Life | 1 | 65 |
Ich, der ich oft in tiefes Leid | 298 | Psalm CXLV | 2 | 78 |
Ich erhebe, Herr, zu dir | 93 | Prayer and the Christian Life | 1 | 49 |
Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn | 83 | Cross and Consolation | 2 | 48 |
Ich hab oft bei mir selbst gedacht | 226 | Cross and Consolation | 1 | 68 |
Ich habs verdient, was will ich doch | 224 | Cross and Consolation | 1 | 67 |
Ich singe dir mit Herz und Mund | 118 | Praise and Thanksgiving | 6 | 53 |
Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier | 158 | Christmas | 3 | 60 |
Ich weisz, dasz mein Erlöser lebt | 331 | Job XIX, 25-27 | 2 | 81 |
Ich weisz, mein Gott, dasz all mein Thun | 217 | Prayer and the Christian Life | 2 | 66 |
Ist Gott für mich, so trete | 229 | Trust in God; Cross and Consolation | 7 | 126 |
Jesu, allerliebster Bruder | 263 | Prayer and the Christian Life | 1 | 72 |
Johannes sahe durch Gesicht | 319 | Eternal Life | 1 | 80 |
Kommt und laszt uns Christum ehren | 312 | Christmas | 4 | 79 |
Lobet den Herren, alle, die ihn fürchten | 106 | Morning | 3 | 51 |
Nach dir, o Herr, verlanget mich | 91 | Repentance | 1 | 49 |
Nicht so traurig, nicht so sehr | 89 | Cross and Consolation | 4 | 48 |
Noch dennoch muszt du drum nicht ganz | 23 | Cross and Consolation | 1 | 38 |
Nun danket all und bringet Ehr | 78 | Praise and Thanksgiving | 1 | 46 |
Nun, du lebest, unsre Krone | 28 | Eternal Life | 1 | 39 |
Nun ist der Regen hin | 17 | Gratitude for Sunlight | 1 | 37 |
Nun laszt uns gehn und treten | 19 | New Year | 5 | 38 |
Nun ruhen alle Wälder | 60 | Evening | 17 | 98 |
Nun sei getrost und unbetrübt | 271 | Eternal Life | 1 | 73 |
O du allersüszste Freude | 76 | Whitsuntide | 2 | 44 |
O Gott, mein Schöpfer, edler Fürst | 81 | Prayer and the Christian Life | 2 | 48 |
O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden | 49 | Passiontide | 10 | 86 |
O Herrscher in dem Himmelszelt | 15 | Petition during a storm | 1 | 37 |
O Herz des Königs aller Welt | 47 | Passiontide | 1 | 41 |
O Jesu Christ, dein Kripplein ist | 153 | Christmas | 4 | 57 |
O Jesu Christ, mein schönstes Licht | 200 | Prayer and the Christian Life | 2 | 63 |
71 | Passiontide | 10 | 42 | |
Schaut, schaut, was ist für Wunder dar | 310 | Christmas | 1 | 79 |
Schwing dich auf zu deinem Gott | 135 | Cross and Consolation | 1 | 55 |
Sei frölich alles weit und breit | 171 | Easter | 1 | 61 |
Sei mir tausendmal gegrüszet | 40 | Passiontide | 2 | 40 |
Sollt ich meinen Gott nicht singen | 235 | Praise and Thanksgiving | 8 | 69 |
Voller Wunder, voller Kunst | 304 | Marriage | 4 | 79 |
Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe | 59 | Morning | 5 | 95 |
Warum machet solche Schmerzen | 67 | New Year | 2 | 42 |
Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen | 122 | Cross and Consolation | 5 | 108 |
Warum willst du drauszen stehen | 108 | Advent | 3 | 51 |
Was alle Weisheit in der Welt | 176 | Holy Trinity | 2 | 62 |
Was Gott gefällt, mein frommes Kind | 139 | Cross and Consolation | 4 | 56 |
Was traurest du, mein Angesicht | 289 | Eternal Life | 1 | 76 |
Weg, mein Herz, mit den Gedanken | 62 | Repentance | 2 | 41 |
Wie ist es müglich, höchstes Licht | 324 | Praise and Thanksgiving | 1 | 81 |
Wie ist so grosz und schwer die Last | 7 | Praise and Thanksgiving | 1 | 36 |
Wie lang, o Herr, wie lange soll | 178 | Cross and Consolation | 1 | 62 |
Wie schouml;n ists doch, Herr Jesu Christ | 302 | Matrimony | 1 | 78 |
Wie soll ich dich empfangen | 25 | Advent | 8 | 82 |
Wir singen dir, Emanuel | 150 | Christmas | 11 | 110 |
Wol dem, der den Herren scheuet | 130 | Prayer and the Christian Life | 1 | 55 |
Wol dem Menschen, der nicht wandelt | 124 | Prayer and the Christian Life | 1 | 54 |
Zeuch ein zu deinen Thoren | 111 | Whitsuntide | 6 | 52 |
Zweierlei bitt ich von dir | 80 | Prayer and the Christian Life | 1 | 47 |
84 Hymns. | Total number of English versions 271 |
This text is hyperlinked to translations of available at CCEL. The
complete works of Catherine Winkworth are
exhaustively linked; other texts were linked
if they could be identified with one of the listed translations, or if
no listed translation was available. An appendix contains translations from
other printed sources
Ich singe dir mit Herz und Mund, 1653
Salve mundi Salutare. 12th Cent. Bernard of Clairvaux.
Sei mir tausendmal gegrüsset. 1653.
Ist Gott füf mich, so trete.
Wach auf mein Herz! und singe.
O du allersüsste Freude. 1648. P. Gerhardt.
Alexander, James Waddell, appendix.app_bio.bAlexand-p0.2
Beddome, Benjamin, appendix.app_bio.bBeddome-p0.2
Bevan, Emma Frances, appendix.app_bio.bBevanE-p0.2
Borthwick, Jane, appendix.app_bio.bBorthwi-p0.2
Buckoll, Henry James, appendix.app_bio.bBuckoll-p0.2
Burns, James Drummond, appendix.app_bio.bBurnsJ-p0.2
Charles, Elizabeth, appendix.app_bio.bCharles-p0.2
Cox, Frances Elizabeth, appendix.app_bio.bCoxFra-p0.2
Dunn, Catherine Hannah, appendix.app_bio.bDunnCa-p0.2
Findlater, Mrs. (Sarah Borthwick), appendix.app_bio.bFindlat-p0.2
Frothingham, Nathaniel Langdon, appendix.app_bio.bFrothin-p0.2
Gambold, John, appendix.app_bio.bGambold-p0.2
Gerhardt, Paul
Guthrie, John, appendix.app_bio.bGuthrie-p0.2
Jackson, Samuel Macauley, appendix.app_bio.bJackson-p0.2
Jacobi, John Christian, appendix.app_bio.bJacobi-p0.2
Kelly, John, appendix.app_bio.bKellyJ-p0.2
Kennedy, Benjamin Hall, appendix.app_bio.bKennedy-p0.2
Manington, Alice, appendix.app_bio.bManingt-p0.2
Massie, Edward, appendix.app_bio.bMassieE-p0.2
Massie, Richard, appendix.app_bio.bMassieR-p0.2
Mills, Henry, appendix.app_bio.bMillsH-p0.2
Molther, Philipp Heinrich, appendix.app_bio.bMolther-p0.2
Montgomery, James, appendix.app_bio.bMontgom-p0.2
Russell, Arthur Tozer, appendix.app_bio.bRussell-p0.2
Stallybrass, James Steven, appendix.app_bio.bStallyb-p0.2
Stryker, Melancthon Woolsey, appendix.app_bio.bStryker-p0.2
Thring, Edward, appendix.app_bio.bThring-p0.2
Warner, Anna, appendix.app_bio.bWarner-p0.2
Wesley, Charles, appendix.app_bio.bWesleyC-p0.2
Wesley, John, appendix.app_bio.bWesleyJ-p0.2
Winkworth, Catherine, appendix.app_bio.bWinkwor-p0.2
i ii iii iv v vi vii viii x xi xii xiii xiv xv xvi 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169