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My God, lo! here before Thy face

Appears in 7 hymnals

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Published text-tune combinations (hymns) from specific hymnals

My God, lo, here before Thy face

Author: Drewes; Catherine Winkworth Hymnal: Lyra Germanica #16 (1861) Meter: 8.6.8.6 Lyrics: My God, lo, here before Thy face I cast me in the dust; Where is the hope of happier days, Where is my wonted trust? Where are the sunny hours I had Ere of Thy light bereft? Vanished is all that made me glad, My pain alone is left. I shrink with fear and sore alarm When threatening ills I see, As though in time of need Thine arm No more could shelter me; As though Thou couldst not see the grief That makes my courage quail, As thou Thou wouldst not send relief, When human helpers fail. Cannot Thy might avert e'en now What seems my certain doom, And still with light and succour bow To him who weeps in gloom? Art Thou not evermore the same? And hast not Thou revealed That Thou wilt be our strength, Thy Name Our tower of hope, our shield? O Father, compass me about With love, for I am weak; Forgive, forgive my sinful doubt, Thy pitying glance I seek; For torn and anguished is my heart, Thou seest it, my God, Oh soothe my conscience' bitter smart, Lift off my sorrows' load. I know that I am in Thy hands, Whose thoughts are peace toward me, That ever sure thy counsel stands, — Could I but build on Thee! I know that Thou wilt give me all That Thou has promised, Lord, Here will I cling, nor yield, nor fall, I live but by Thy Word. Though mountains crumble into dust, Thy covenant standeth fast; Who follows Thee in pious trust Shall reach the goal at last. Though strange and winding seem the way While yet on earth I dwell, In heaven my heart shall gladly say, Thou, God, dost all things well! Take courage then, my soul, nor steep Thy days and nights in tears, That soon shalt cease to mourn and weep, Thou dark are now thy fears. He comes, He comes, the Strong to save, He comes nor tarries more, His light is breaking o'er the wave, The clouds and storms are o'er! Languages: English

My God, lo, here before Thy face

Author: Drewes; Catherine Winkworth Hymnal: Lyra Germanica #S1-16 (1881) Languages: English

My God, lo, here before thy face

Author: Drewes Hymnal: Lyra Germanica #38 (1856) Languages: English

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Catherine Winkworth

1827 - 1878 Translator of "My God, lo, here before Thy face" Catherine Winkworth (b. Holborn, London, England, 1827; d. Monnetier, Savoy, France, 1878) is well known for her English translations of German hymns; her translations were polished and yet remained close to the original. Educated initially by her mother, she lived with relatives in Dresden, Germany, in 1845, where she acquired her knowledge of German and interest in German hymnody. After residing near Manchester until 1862, she moved to Clifton, near Bristol. A pioneer in promoting women's rights, Winkworth put much of her energy into the encouragement of higher education for women. She translated a large number of German hymn texts from hymnals owned by a friend, Baron Bunsen. Though often altered, these translations continue to be used in many modern hymnals. Her work was published in two series of Lyra Germanica (1855, 1858) and in The Chorale Book for England (1863), which included the appropriate German tune with each text as provided by Sterndale Bennett and Otto Goldschmidt. Winkworth also translated biographies of German Christians who promoted ministries to the poor and sick and compiled a handbook of biographies of German hymn authors, Christian Singers of Germany (1869). Bert Polman ======================== Winkworth, Catherine, daughter of Henry Winkworth, of Alderley Edge, Cheshire, was born in London, Sep. 13, 1829. Most of her early life was spent in the neighbourhood of Manchester. Subsequently she removed with the family to Clifton, near Bristol. She died suddenly of heart disease, at Monnetier, in Savoy, in July, 1878. Miss Winkworth published:— Translations from the German of the Life of Pastor Fliedner, the Founder of the Sisterhood of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserworth, 1861; and of the Life of Amelia Sieveking, 1863. Her sympathy with practical efforts for the benefit of women, and with a pure devotional life, as seen in these translations, received from her the most practical illustration possible in the deep and active interest which she took in educational work in connection with the Clifton Association for the Higher Education of Women, and kindred societies there and elsewhere. Our interest, however, is mainly centred in her hymnological work as embodied in her:— (1) Lyra Germanica, 1st Ser., 1855. (2) Lyra Germanica, 2nd Ser., 1858. (3) The Chorale Book for England (containing translations from the German, together with music), 1863; and (4) her charming biographical work, the Christian Singers of Germany, 1869. In a sympathetic article on Miss Winkworth in the Inquirer of July 20, 1878, Dr. Martineau says:— "The translations contained in these volumes are invariably faithful, and for the most part both terse and delicate; and an admirable art is applied to the management of complex and difficult versification. They have not quite the fire of John Wesley's versions of Moravian hymns, or the wonderful fusion and reproduction of thought which may be found in Coleridge. But if less flowing they are more conscientious than either, and attain a result as poetical as severe exactitude admits, being only a little short of ‘native music'" Dr. Percival, then Principal of Clifton College, also wrote concerning her (in the Bristol Times and Mirror), in July, 1878:— "She was a person of remarkable intellectual and social gifts, and very unusual attainments; but what specially distinguished her was her combination of rare ability and great knowledge with a certain tender and sympathetic refinement which constitutes the special charm of the true womanly character." Dr. Martineau (as above) says her religious life afforded "a happy example of the piety which the Church of England discipline may implant.....The fast hold she retained of her discipleship of Christ was no example of ‘feminine simplicity,' carrying on the childish mind into maturer years, but the clear allegiance of a firm mind, familiar with the pretensions of non-Christian schools, well able to test them, and undiverted by them from her first love." Miss Winkworth, although not the earliest of modern translators from the German into English, is certainly the foremost in rank and popularity. Her translations are the most widely used of any from that language, and have had more to do with the modern revival of the English use of German hymns than the versions of any other writer. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ============================ See also in: Hymn Writers of the Church

Johann Friedrich Ludwig Dreves

1762 - 1834 Person Name: Drewes Author of "My God, lo, here before Thy face" Dreves, Johann Friedrich Ludwig, son of F. C. Dreves, burgomaster of Horn, in the Principality of Lippe-Detmold, was born at Horn, Nov. 17, 1762. After the completion of his studies at the University of Marburg he was for some time conrector of the school at Detmold. In 1790 he became third pastor of the Reformed Church at Detmold, and after being pastor at Hillentrup from June 28 to Oct. 25, 1795, returned to Detmold as second pastor. He remained in Detmold till 1820, when he again became pastor at Hillentrup, and died there Nov. 30, 1834. (MS. from Pastor A. Koppen, Detmold.) His hymn:— Hier lieg ich, Herr! im Staube. Trust in God. Was written at Detmold after the death, on Nov. 14. and before the burial, Nov. 17, 1798, of his first wife Lischen (Elizabeth) nee Ewald. It was 1st published as No. 91 of the hymns for the sick and sorrowing appended to his Easter Sermon published at Lemgo, 1813, entitled Wiedersehen. It is in 12 stanza of 8 1., and when included as No. 601 in the Berlin Gesang-Buch, 1829, st. v.-vii., ix., xii., were omitted, and the rest altered. This form was repeated in Bunsen's Versuch, 1833, No. 914. Translated as:— 1. My God, lo, here before Thy face, a D. C. M. version from Bunsen, by Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Ger., 1st Series, 1855, p. 38. Her stanza iii., v., are altered in later editions. In full in the Schaff-Gilman Library of Religious Poetry, ed. 1883, p. 821. In the American hymnbooks it appears in the following forms from the 1855 text:— (1) "My Father, God, before Thy face," No. 226, in Boardman's Selections, Philadelphia, 1861, is from her stanza i., 11.1-4; iv., 11.1-4, and vi. (2) " O Father, compass me about," No. 362, in the Hymns of the Spirit, Boston, 1864, is her st. iv., 11. 1-4; v., 11. 1-4; vi., 11. 1-4; vii., 11. 4-8. (3) " I know Thy thoughts are peace towards me," No. 978, in the Sabbath HymnBook, 1858, is her st. v., vi. (4) " Father, Thy thoughts are peace towards me," No. 905, in Robinson's Songs for the Sanctuary, 1865, is her st. v., 1. 1-4, and vi. 2. My God, behold me lying. A good translation of Bunsen's st. i., ii., iv., v., vii., by Miss Winkworth in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, No. 108. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] - John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)