In grateful songs your voices raise

Representative Text

In grateful songs your voices raise,
All people here below,
To Him whom angels ever praise,
In heav’n His glory show.

With gladsome songs now fill the air
To God our chiefest Joy,
Who worketh wonders ev’rywhere,
Whose hands great things employ;

Who from the womb to latest years
Upholds the life He gave;
Who when no help from man appears
Himself appears to save;

Who though our way His heart oft grieves,
Maintains a gracious mood,
Remits the pains, the sin forgives,
And doth us nought but good.

Oh, may He give a joyous heart,
The mind from sorrow keep,
And cast all care, fear, grief, and smart
Into the ocean deep.

And may His blessing ever rest
On Israel’s favour’d head;
May all we do by Him be bless’d,
May His salvation spread.

May love and goodness toward us flow,
In bounteous streams each day,
And every anxious care we know,
Be chas’d by Him away.

As long as beats each throbbing heart,
Our Saviour may He be,
Our portion when from earth we part,
To all eternity.

When sinks the heart, when strength decays,
By Him our eyes be press’d,
Then may we see His open face,
In everlasting rest.

Paul Gerhardt’s Spiritual Songs, 1867

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Author: Paul Gerhardt

Paul Gerhardt (b. Gräfenheinichen, Saxony, Germany, 1607; d. Lubben, Germany, 1676), famous author of Lutheran evangelical hymns, studied theology and hymnody at the University of Wittenberg and then was a tutor in Berlin, where he became friends with Johann Crüger. He served the Lutheran parish of Mittenwalde near Berlin (1651-1657) and the great St. Nicholas' Church in Berlin (1657-1666). Friederich William, the Calvinist elector, had issued an edict that forbade the various Protestant groups to fight each other. Although Gerhardt did not want strife between the churches, he refused to comply with the edict because he thought it opposed the Lutheran "Formula of Concord," which condemned some Calvinist doctrines. Consequently, he was r… Go to person page >

Translator: J. Kelly

Kelly, John, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, educated at Glasgow University, studied theology at Bonn, New College, Edinburgh, and the Theological College of the English Presbyterian Church (to which body he belongs) in London. He has ministered to congregations at Hebburn-on-Tyne and Streatham, and was Tract Editor of the Religious Tract Society. His translations of Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs were published in 1867. Every piece is given in full, and rendered in the metre of the originals. His Hymns of the Present Century from the German were published in 1886 by the Religious Tract Society. In these translations the metres of the originals have not always been followed, whilst some of the hymns have been abridged and others condens… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	In grateful songs your voices raise
German Title:	Nun danket all und bringet Ehr
Author:	Paul Gerhardt
Translator:	J. Kelly (1867)
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain