Scripture Verse

Christ, who is our life. Colossians 3:4

Introduction

portrait
Ernst C. Homburg (1607–1681)

Words: Ernst C. Hom­burg, 1659 (Je­su, ein­es Le­bens Le­ben). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ar­thur T. Rus­sell, Psalms and Hymns (Cam­bridge, Eng­land: John Deigh­ton, 1851), num­ber 88, alt.

Music: Je­su, mein­es Le­bens Le­ben Darm­stadt Ge­sang­buch, 1687 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

Jesu! life! the life of Hea­ven,
Thou who death’s de­struc­tion art,
Thou whose love for me hath giv­en
To un­fathomed woes Thine heart,
So to mer­it my sal­va­tion
From eter­nal con­dem­na­tion,
Thousand, thou­sand thanks to Thee,
Gracious Je­su! ev­er be.

Lo! for me, O Lord, Thou bear­est
Mockery, spit­ting, scorn and shame:
Stripes and bands and wounds Thou shar­est,
Son of God! most holy name!
Thus from Sa­tan to re­gain,
That no more his chains de­tain.
Thousand, thou­sand thanks to Thee,
Gracious Je­su! ev­er be.

Lo! with grief Thy form is wast­ed,
Suffering pa­tient­ly for me!
All death’s bit­ter­ness is tast­ed,
From its doom my soul to free:
Willingly Thou all en­dure;
So re­demp­tion Thou pro­cure!
Thousand, thou­sand thanks to Thee,
Gracious Je­su! ev­er be.

Thy hu­mi­li­ty ap­peas­eth
Wrath the fruit of all my pride:
In Thy death death’s ter­ror ceas­eth;
All is well, for Thou hast died.
From Thy deep hu­mi­li­ation
Comes my glo­ri­ous ex­al­ta­tion!
Thousand, thou­sand thanks to Thee,
Gracious Je­su! ev­er be.

Lord, I bring Thee thanks un­feign­èd
For Thy life of grief be­low,
For the wounds Thy love sus­tain­èd,
For Thy death of won­drous woe!
For Thy soul did ter­rors shake,
I my tongue to praise will wake.
Thousand, thou­sand thanks to Thee,
Gracious Je­su! ev­er be.