Scripture Verse

That they may be one, even as We are One. John 17:22

Introduction

portrait
Nikolaus L. von Zinzendorf
(1700–1760)

Words: Ni­ko­laus L. von Zin­zen­dorf, Die Letz­ten Re­den Unsers Herrn und Hey­land­es Je­su Chris­ti vor Sein­em Creutz­es-To­de (Frank­furt & Leip­zig, Ger­ma­ny: 1725). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish as Flock of Je­sus, Be Unit­ed (by John Mill­er & Fred­er­ick W. Fos­ter, Mo­ra­vi­an Hymn Book, 1789); and as Grant, Lord, That with Thy Di­rec­tion (1808 Sup­ple­ment to the Mo­ra­vi­an Hymn Book). These trans­la­tions were re­writ­ten in­to their pre­sent form, and the first stan­za added, in the 1886 edi­tion of the Mo­ra­vi­an Hymn Book.

Music: Cas­sell Chris­ten-Schatz (Ba­sel, Swit­zer­land: 1745) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Mill­er or Fos­ter (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Christian hearts, in love unit­ed,
Seek alone in Je­sus rest;
Has He not your love ex­cit­ed?
Then let love in­spire each breast;
Members on our head de­pend­ing
Lights re­flect­ing Him, our sun,
Brethren His com­mands at­tend­ing,
We in Him, our Lord, are one.

Come, then, come, O flock of Je­sus,
Covenant with Him anew;
Unto Him who con­quered for us,
Pledge we love and ser­vice true;
And should our love’s un­ion ho­ly
Firmly linked no more re­main,
Wait ye at His foot­stool low­ly,
Till He draw it close again.

Grant, Lord, that with Thy di­rect­ion,
Love each oth­er, we com­ply,
Aiming with un­feigned af­fect­ion
Thy love to ex­em­pli­fy;
Let our mu­tu­al love be glow­ing,
Thus will all men plain­ly see,
That we, as on one stem grow­ing,
Living branch­es are in Thee.

O that such may be our un­ion,
As Thine with the Fa­ther is,
And not one of our com­mun­ion
E’er for­sake the path of bliss;
May our light ’fore men with bright­ness,
From Thy light re­flect­ed, shine;
Thus the world will bear us wit­ness,
That we, Lord, are tru­ly Thine.