Scripture Verse

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels. Revelation 3:5

Introduction

portrait
Valerius Herberger (1562–1627)

Words: Va­le­ri­us Her­ber­ger, 1613 (Valet will ich dir ge­ben). First pub­lished on a broad­sheet in Leip­zig, Ger­ma­ny, in 1614. Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ca­the­rine Wink­worth, Chor­ale Book for Eng­land, 1863, alt. Her­ber­ger wrote these words dur­ing a pe­ri­od of plague.

Music: Va­let will ich dir ge­ben Mel­chi­or Tesch­ner, 1613 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

portrait
Catherine Winkworth
(1827–1878)

A de­vout pray­er with which the Evan­gel­ical ci­ti­zens of Fraw­en­stadt in the au­tumn of the year 1613 moved the heart of God the Lord so that He mer­ci­ful­ly laid down the sharp rod of wrath un­der which nea­rly two thou­sand fell on sleep. And al­so a hymn of con­so­la­tion in which a pi­ous heart bids fare­well (Val­et) to this world. Both com­posed by Va­le­ri­us Her­ber­ger, preach­er at the Kripp­lein Chri­sti.

Julian, p. 511

Lyrics

Farewell I glad­ly bid thee,
False, ev­il world, fare­well.
Thy life is vain and sin­ful,
With thee I would not dwell.
I long to be in Hea­ven,
In that un­trou­bled sphere
Where they will be re­ward­ed
Who served their God while here.

By Thy good coun­sel lead me,
O Son of God, my stay;
In each per­plex­ing tri­al
Help me, O Lord, I pray.
Mine hour of sor­row short­en,
Support my faint­ing heart,
From ev­ery cross de­li­ver,
The crown of life im­part.

When dark­ness round me ga­thers,
Thy name and cross, still bright,
Deep in my heart are spark­ling
Like stars in black­est night.
O heart, this image cher­ish:
The Christ on Cal­va­ry,
How pa­tient­ly He suf­fered
And shed His blood for me!

Lord, hide my soul se­cure­ly,
Deep in Thy wound­ed side;
From ev­ery dan­ger shield me
And to Thy glo­ry guide.
He has been tru­ly bless­èd
Who reaches Heav’n above;
He has found perfect healing
Who rests upon Thy love.

Lord, write my name, I pray Thee,
Now in the Book of Life
And with all true believers
Take me where joys are rife.
There let me bloom and flourish,
Thy perfect freedom prove,
And tell, as I adore Thee,
How faithful was Thy love.