Scripture Verse

Give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways. Proverbs 23:26

Introduction

Words: Ehr­en­fried Lieb­ich, Geist­liche Lied­er und Od­en (Hirsch­berg, Si­le­sia [now Je­le­nia Góra, Po­land] and Leip­zig, Ger­ma­ny, 1768), page 79 (Hier ist mein Herz! Mein Gott, ich geb’ es dir). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Sar­ah B. Find­lat­er, Hymns from the Land of Lu­ther, first ser­ies, 1854, page 16. The text be­low is a cen­to from The Sab­bath Hymn and Tune Book, ed­it­ed by Low­ell Ma­son, Ed­wards A. Park & Aus­tin Phelps (New York: Ma­son Bro­thers, 1859), page 140.

Music: Elbe (Lieb­ich), from The Sab­bath Hymn and Tune Book, 1859, page 140 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

Here is my heart—I give it Thee!
My God, I heard Thee call, and say,
Not to the world, my child—to Me!
I heard Thy voice and will obey:
Here is love’s offering to my king,
Which in glad sacrifice I bring.

Here is my heart!—the gift tho’ poor,
Thou, O my God, wilt not despise;
Long have I sought to make it pure
And fit to meet Thy searching eyes:
Corrupted first in Ad­am’s fall,
The stains of sin pollute it all.

Here is my heart!—so hard before,
But now by Thy rich grace made meet;
Yet bruised and sad it can but pour
Its tears and anguish at Thy feet;
It groans beneath the weight of sin,
It sighs sal­va­tion’s joys to win.

Here is my heart!—its longings end
In Christ as near His cross it draws;
It says, Thou art my rest, my friend;
Thy precious blood my ransom was;
In Thee, the Sav­ior, it has found
That peace and blessedness abound.