Scripture Verse

Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20

Introduction

Words: Ni­ko­laus Sel­neck­er et al. (Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Je­su Christ). Pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in Geist­liche Psal­men (Nur­em­berg, Ger­ma­ny: 1611). Com­po­site trans­la­tion.

Music: Ach bleib bei uns Geist­liche Lied­er (Leip­zig, Ger­ma­ny: 1589) (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Nikolaus Selnecker (1532–1592)

Lyrics

Lord Je­sus Christ, with us abide,
For round us falls the ev­en­tide;
Nor let Thy Word, that heav’n­ly light,
For us be ev­er veiled in night.

In these last days of sore dis­tress
Grant us, dear Lord, true stead­fast­ness
That pure we keep, till life is spent,
Thy ho­ly Word and sac­ra­ment.

Lord Je­sus, help, Thy Church up­hold,
For we are slug­gish, thought­less, cold.
Oh, pros­per well Thy Word of grace
And spread its truth in ev­ery place!

Oh, keep us in Thy Word, we pray;
The guile and rage of Sa­tan stay!
Oh, may Thy mer­cy ne­ver cease!
Give con­cord, pa­tience, cour­age, peace.

O God, how sin’s dread works abound!
Throughout the earth no rest is found,
And false­hood’s spi­rit wide has spread,
And er­ror bold­ly rears its head.

The haugh­ty spi­rits, Lord, re­strain
Who o’er Thy Church with might would reign
And al­ways set forth some­thing new,
Devised to change Thy doc­trine true.

And since the cause and glo­ry, Lord,
Are Thine, not ours, to us af­ford
Thy help and strength and con­stan­cy,
With all our heart we trust in Thee.

A trus­ty wea­pon is Thy Word,
Thy Church’s buck­ler, shield, and sword.
Oh, let us in its pow­er con­fide
That we may seek no other guide!

Oh, grant that in Thy ho­ly Word
We here may live and die, dear Lord;
And when our jour­ney end­eth here,
Receive us into glo­ry there.