Scripture Verse

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Matthew 22:37

Introduction

portrait
Catherine Winkworth
(1827–1878)

Words: Mar­tin Schall­ing, cir­ca 1567 (Herz­lich lieb hab’ ich dich, O Herr). Pub­lished in Kurt­ze und son­der­liche newe Sym­bo­la et­lich­er Fürs­ten (Nur­em­berg, Ger­ma­ny: 1571). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ca­the­rine Wink­worth, Ly­ra Ger­ma­ni­ca, se­cond ser­ies, 1858, alt.

Music: Herz­lich lieb, com­pos­er un­known, in Zwey Büch­er ein­er neu­en künst­lich­en Ta­bu­la­tur auff Or­gel und In­stru­ment, by Bern­hard Schmid (Strass­burg: 1577) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

Lord, Thee I love with all my heart;
I pray Thee, ne’er from me de­part;
With ten­der mer­cy cheer me.
Earth has no plea­sure I would share,
Yea, Heav’n it­self were void and bare
If Thou, Lord, wert not near me.
And should my heart for sor­row break,
My trust in Thee can no­thing shake.
Thou art the por­tion I have sought;
Thy pre­cious blood my soul has bought.
Lord Je­sus Christ,
My God and Lord, my God and Lord,
Forsake me not! I trust Thy Word.

Yea, Lord, ’twas Thy rich boun­ty gave
My bo­dy, soul, and all I have
In this poor life of la­bor.
Lord, grant that I in ev­ery place
May glo­ri­fy Thy lav­ish grace
And serve and help my neigh­bor.
Let no false doc­trine me be­guile,
Let Sa­tan not my soul de­file.
Give strength and pa­tience un­to me
To bear my cross and fol­low Thee.
Lord Je­sus Christ,
My God and Lord, my God and Lord,
In death Thy com­fort still af­ford.

Lord, let at last Thine an­gels come,
To Ab­r’am’s bo­som bear me home,
That I may die un­fear­ing;
And in its nar­row cham­ber keep
My bo­dy safe in peace­ful sleep
Until Thy re­ap­pear­ing.
And then from death awak­en me,
That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, Thy glo­ri­ous face,
My Sav­ior and my fount of grace.
Lord Je­sus Christ,
My pray­er at­tend, my pray­er at­tend,
And I will praise Thee with­out end!