Scripture Verse

I came forth to meet Thee, diligently to seek Thy face. Proverbs 7:15

Introduction

portrait
Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676)

Words: Paul Ger­hardt, in D. M. Lu­thers und an­der­er vor­neh­men geist­reich­en und ge­lehrt­en Män­ner geist­liche Lied­er und Psalm­en, by Chris­toph Run­ge (Ber­lin: 1653) (Wie soll ich dich emp­fang­en). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ca­the­rine Wink­worth, Cho­rale Book for Eng­land, 1863, alt.

Music: Va­let will ich dir ge­ben Mel­chi­or Tesch­ner, 1613 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Tesch­ner (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Catherine Winkworth (1827–1878)

Lyrics

O Lord, how shall I meet You, how wel­come you aright?
Your peo­ple long to greet You, my hope, my heart’s de­light!
O kin­dle, Lord most ho­ly, a lamp with­in my breast,
To do in spi­rit low­ly all that may please You best.

Love caused Your in­car­na­tion, love brought You down to me;
Your thirst for my sal­va­tion pro­cured my li­ber­ty.
O love be­yond all tell­ing, that led you to em­brace
In love all loves ex­cell­ing our lost and fall­en race.

A glo­ri­ous crown You gave me, a trea­sure safe on high,
That will not fail nor leave me as earth­ly rich­es fly.
My heart shall bloom for­ev­er for You with prais­es new,
And from Your name shall ne­ver with­hold the hon­or due.

Alternate Translation, by A. T. Russell 1851:

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, Je­sus, give me,
By Thine il­lum­ing light,
To know what­e’er is pleas­ing
And wel­come in Thy sight.

Thy Zi­on palms is strew­ing
With branch­es fresh and fair;
And ev­ery soul awak­ing,
Her an­them shall pre­pare;
Perpetual thanks and prais­es
Forth from our hearts shall spring;
And to Thy name the ser­vice
Of all our pow­ers we bring.

O ye who sor­row, sink­ing
Beneath your grief and pain,
Rejoice in His ap­pear­ing,
Who shall your souls sus­tain;
He comes, He comes with glad­ness!
How great is His good-will!
He comes, all grief and ang­uish
Shall at His Word be still.

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 with the child­ren place,
The child­ren of His Fa­ther,
The heirs of life and grace.

He comes, the Lord, to judg­ment;
Woe, woe to them who hate!
To those who love and seek Him
He opes the hea­ven­ly gate.
Come quick­ly, gracious Sav­ior,
And ga­ther us to Thee,
That in the light eter­nal
Our joy­ous home may be.

Another translation:

O how shall I re­ceive Thee,
How greet Thee, Lord, aright?
All na­tions long to see Thee,
My hope, my heart’s de­light!
O kin­dle, Lord, most ho­ly,
Thy lamp with­in my breast,
To do in spi­rit low­ly
All that may please Thee best.

Thy Zi­on palms is strew­ing,
And branch­es fresh and fair;
My heart, its pow­ers re­new­ing,
An an­them shall pre­pare.
My soul puts off her sad­ness
Thy glo­ries to pro­claim;
With all her strength and glad­ness
She fain would serve Thy name.

I lay in fet­ters groan­ing,
Thou com’st to set me free;
I stood, my shame be­mo­an­ing,
Thou com’st to hon­or me.
A glo­ry Thou dost give me,
A trea­sure safe on high,
That will not fail nor leave me
As earth­ly rich­es fly.

Love caused Thine in­car­na­tion
Love brought Thee down to me;
Thy thirst for my sal­va­tion
Procured my li­ber­ty.
O love be­yond all tell­ing,
That led Thee to em­brace,
In love all love ex­cell­ing,
Our lost and fall­en race!

Rejoice, then, ye sad-heart­ed,
Who sit in deep­est gloom,
Who mourn o’er joys de­part­ed,
And trem­ble at your doom:
He who alone can cheer you,
Is stand­ing at the door;
He brings His pi­ty near you,
And bids you weep no more.