Scripture Verse

They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matthew 24:30

Introduction

portrait
Martin Luther (1483–1546)

Words: Au­gust H. Franc­ke, Schrifft Mäß­ige An­wei­sung recht und Gott wol­ge­fäl­lig zu be­ten (Hal­le, Ger­ma­ny: 1695), page 534 (Gott­lob ein Schritt zur Ewig­keit). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ca­the­rine Wink­worth, Cho­rale Book for Eng­land (Lon­don: Long­man, Green, Long­man, Ro­berts & Green, 1863), num­ber 173.

Music: Nun freut euch Mar­tin Lu­ther, in Gett­lich’ christ­liche Lied­er (Wit­ten­berg, Ger­ma­ny: 1524) (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
August H. Francke
1663–1727

Lyrics

Oh wouldst Thou in Thy glo­ry come,
As Thou, Lord, hast fore­told it!
I count the mo­ment’s wea­ry sum
Until we may be­hold it;
With burn­ing lamp, the Church, Thy bride,
Is wait­ing for the ho­ly tide
When Thou, Lord, wilt un­fold it.

Yet I would leave it to Thy choice,
The hour when we shall meet Thee!
Though Thou dost love that heart and voice
Should dai­ly thus en­treat Thee,
And hence­forth all my course should be
Still look­ing on and up to Thee,
With heart pre­pared to greet Thee.

I joy that from Thy love di­vine
No pow­er my soul can se­ver;
That I may dare to call Thee mine,
My Lord, my friend, for ev­er!
That I, O Prince of Life, shall be
Made whol­ly one in Hea­ven with Thee,
In life that end­eth ne­ver.

And there­fore do my thanks o’er­flow
That one more year is end­ed,
And of this time, so poor, so slow,
Another step as­cend­ed;
And with a heart that may not wait
I hast­en to­wards the gold­en gate
Where long my hopes have tend­ed.

And when the wea­ried hands give way,
And wea­ried knees are fail­ing,
Then make Thy migh­ty arm my stay,
Though faith and hope seem quail­ing;
That so my heart drink in new strength,
And fear no more the jour­ney’s length,
O’er doubt and pain pre­vail­ing.

Then on, my soul, with fear­less faith,
Let naught to ter­ror move thee,
Nor list what earth­ly plea­sure saith,
When she would lure and prove thee;
The ea­gles’ wings of love and pray­er
Will bear thee through life’s toil and care
To Him who still doth love thee.