O love, how cheering is Thy ray

Representative Text

O Love, how cheering is Thy ray!
All pain before Thy presence flies;
Care, anguish, sorrow, melt away,
Where’er Thy healing beams arise:
O Father! nothing may I see,
And nought desire or seek, but Thee.

Unwearied may I this pursue,
Dauntless to this high prize aspire;
Each hour within my soul renew
This holy flame, this heavenly fire;
And day and night be all my care
To guard the sacred treasure there.

O, that I as a little child
May follow Thee, and never rest,
Till sweetly Thou hast breathed a mild
And lowly mind into my breast!
Nor ever may we parted be,
Till I become as one with Thee.

Still let Thy love point out my way;
How wondrous things that love hath wrought!
Still lead me, lest I go astray;
Direct my word, inspire my thought;
And if I fall, soon may I hear
Thy voice, and know Thy love is near.

Source: A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (15th ed.) #233

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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 >

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