Scripture Verse

Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me. John 17:11

Introduction

portrait
Catherine Winkworth
(1827–1878)

Words: Mar­tin Lu­ther, 1541 (Er­halt uns, Herr, bei dein­em Wort). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ca­the­rine Wink­worth, The Chor­ale Book for Eng­land (Lon­don: Long­man, Green, Long­man, Ro­berts & Green, 1863), num­ber 103.

Music: Er­halt uns, Herr Geist­liche Lied­er (Wit­ten­berg, Ger­ma­ny: 1543) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

  • Midland E. S. K. (Ed­gar Still­man Kell­ey?), in Augs­burg Songs No. 2 (Phi­la­del­phia Penn­syl­van­ia: Lu­ther­an Pub­li­ca­tion So­ci­ety, 1893), num­ber 131 (🔊 pdf nwc)
portrait
Martin Luther (1483–1546)

Lyrics

Lord, keep us stead­fast in Thy Word;
Curb those who fain by craft and sword
Would wrest the king­dom from Thy Son
And set at naught all He hath done.

Lord Je­sus Christ, Thy pow­er make known,
For Thou art Lord of lords alone;
Defend Thy Christ­en­dom that we
May ev­er­more sing praise to Thee.

O Com­fort­er, of price­less worth,
Send peace and un­ity on earth.
Support us in our fi­nal strife,
And lead us out of death to life.