Scripture Verse

Gather together in one the children of God. John 11:52

Introduction

portrait
Eduard Kremser
(1838–1914)

Words & Mu­sic: This song of praise was orig­in­al­ly writ­ten in 1597 to ce­le­brate a Dutch vic­to­ry. It ap­peared in Ne­der­landtsche Ge­denck­clanck, by Ad­ri­an­us Va­le­ri­us (Haar­lem, Hol­land: 1626) (Wilt he­den nu tre­den). Ar­ranged and trans­lat­ed from Dutch to La­tin by Edu­ard Krem­ser in Sechs Alt­nie­der­länd­ische Volks­lied­er (Leip­zig, Ger­ma­ny: 1877) (🔊 pdf nwc). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Theo­dore Bak­er, 1894.

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

portrait
Adrianus Valerius (1575–1625)

Lyrics

We ga­ther to­ge­ther to ask the Lord’s bless­ing;
He chast­ens and hast­ens His will to make known.
The wick­ed op­press­ing now cease from dis­tress­ing.
Sing prais­es to His name; He for­gets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us join­ing,
Ordaining, main­tain­ing His king­dom di­vine;
So from the be­gin­ning the fight we were win­ning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glo­ry be Thine!

We all do ex­tol Thee, Thou lead­er tri­um­phant,
And pray that Thou still our de­fend­er will be.
Let Thy con­gre­ga­tion es­cape tri­bu­la­tion;
Thy name be ev­er praised! O Lord, make us free!