Happy the home that welcomes you, Lord Jesus

Author: Karl Johann Philipp Spitta

Spitta, Carl Johann Philipp, D.D., was born Aug. 1, 1801, at Hannover, where his father, Lebrecht Wilhelm Gottfried Spitta, was then living, as bookkeeper and teacher of the French language. In his eleventh year Spitta fell into a severe illness, which lasted for four years, and so threw him back that his mother (the father died in 1805) abandoned the idea of a professional career, and apprenticed him to a watchmaker. This occupation did not prove at all congenial to him, but he would not confess his dislike, and his family were ignorant of it till an old friend, who was trying to comfort him after the death of a younger brother, discovered his true feelings. The younger brother had been preparing for ordination, and so Carl was now invited… Go to person page >

Translator: Honor Mary Thwaites

Honor Mary Thwaites was born in Australia in 1914. She attended the University of Melbourne. She went to England in the 1930s and worked with a group from the Society of Friends assisting Jewish people and others to escape from Nazi Germany. She married the Australian poet and intelligence officer Michael Thwaites in 1939 and they returned to Australia. There she wrote several hymns that appear in Australian hymnbooks. N Naber, Hymnary Go to person page >