Mit Fried' und Freud' fahr' ich dahin

Representative Text

1 Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin
in Gottes Wille;
getrost ist mir mein Herz und Sinn,
sanft und stille,
wie Gott mir verheißen hat:
der Tod ist mein Schlaf worden.

2 Das macht Christus, wahr' Gottes Sohn,
der treu Heiland,
den du mich, Herr, hast sehen lan
und g'macht bekannt,
daß er sei das Leben mein
und Heil in Not und Sterben.

3 Den hast du allen vorgestellt
mit groß Gnaden,
zu seinem Reich die ganze Welt
heißen laden
durch dein teuer heilsam Wort,
an allem Ort erschollen.

4 Er ist das Heil und selig Licht
für die Heiden,
zu'rleuchten, die dich kennen nicht,
und zu weiden.
Er ist deins Volks Israel
Preis, Ehre, Freud und Wonne.

Source: Antwort Finden in alten und neuen Liedern, in Worten zum Nachdenken und Beten: evangelisches Gesangbuch (Bayern, Mitteldeutschland, Thüringen) #519

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

Author: Martin Luther

Luther, Martin, born at Eisleben, Nov. 10, 1483; entered the University of Erfurt, 1501 (B.A. 1502, M.A.. 1503); became an Augustinian monk, 1505; ordained priest, 1507; appointed Professor at the University of Wittenberg, 1508, and in 1512 D.D.; published his 95 Theses, 1517; and burnt the Papal Bull which had condemned them, 1520; attended the Diet of Worms, 1521; translated the Bible into German, 1521-34; and died at Eisleben, Feb. 18, 1546. The details of his life and of his work as a reformer are accessible to English readers in a great variety of forms. Luther had a huge influence on German hymnody. i. Hymn Books. 1. Ellich cristlich lider Lobgesang un Psalm. Wittenberg, 1524. [Hamburg Library.] This contains 8 German h… Go to person page >

^ top

First Line:	Mit Fried' und Freud' fahr' ich dahin
Author:	Martin Luther
Language:	German
Copyright:	Public Domain

Luke 2:29-32
(hymns)

French

Kirchengesangbuch fuer Evangelisch-Lutherische Gemeinden ungeanderter Augsburgischer Konfession #ad260

German

10 shown out of 30

^ top

Notes

Suggested tune: MIT FRIED UND FREUD
================================
Mit Pried und Freud ich fahr dahin. M. Luther. [Nunc Dimittis.] This free rendering of the Song of Simeon (St. Luke ii. 29-32) was first published in the Geystliche gesangh Buchleyn, Wittenberg, 1524, and was included by Luther in 1542 as one of the six funeral hymns in Christliche Geseng... zum Begrebniss. In Wackernagel, iii. p. 17, in 4 stanzas of 6lines; in Schircks's edition of Luther's Geistliche Lieder, 1854, p. 88; and in the Berlin Geistliche Leider, ed. 1863.

This noble swan-song, as Bunsen calls it, has comforted many, princes and pious Christians, in their last hours. Lauxmann, in Koch, viii. 580, gives various instances of its consoling effects, stating, e.g., that Prince Charles of Anhalt, during his last illness in 1561, comforted himself with it, and if with trembling voice, yet with joyful heart, sung the whole hymn a quarter of an hour before his death.

The translation in common use is:—
In peace and joy I now depart, According to. A full and good translation by Miss Winkworth, in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, No. 81, and her Christian Singers, 1869, p. 114. Considerably altered by Dr. Bacon, 1884, p. 41.
Other translations are :—(l) “With peace and with joyfull gladnasse," by Bishop Coverdale, 1539 (Remains, 1846, p. 566). (2) "Lord, let Thy servand now depart," in the Gude and Godly Ballates, ed. 1567-68, folio 30 (1868, p. 51). (3) "According to Thy will I part," in the British Magazine, March 1838, p. 269. (4) "With peace and joy from earth I go," by Miss Fry, 1845, p. 152. (5) "God's will be done! with joy of heart," by J. Anderson, 1846, p. 80. In his ed. 1847, p. 92, altered to "Thy will be done. With joyful heart." (6) "Gladly from earth and time I cease," by Dr. J. Hunt, 1853, p. 153. (7) "In peace and joy I now depart, It is," by R. Massie, 1854, p. 83. (8) " In peace and joy away I go," by Dr. G. Macdonald, in the Sunday Magazine, 1867, p. 840. In his Exotics, 1876, p. 109, beginning "In peace and joy I now depart, As." (9) "In joy and peace I onward fare," by N. L. Frothingham, 1870, p. 234. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

^ top