Translator: John Wesley
John Wesley, the son of Samuel, and brother of Charles Wesley, was born at Epworth, June 17, 1703. He was educated at the Charterhouse, London, and at Christ Church, Oxford. He became a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and graduated M.A. in 1726. At Oxford, he was one of the small band consisting of George Whitefield, Hames Hervey, Charles Wesley, and a few others, who were even then known for their piety; they were deridingly called "Methodists." After his ordination he went, in 1735, on a mission to Georgia. The mission was not successful, and he returned to England in 1738. From that time, his life was one of great labour, preaching the Gospel, and publishing his commentaries and other theological works. He died in London, in 17…
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Du unvergleichlich's Gut. J. Scheffler. [Love to God.] Appeared as No. 195 in Bk. v. of his Heilige Seelenlust, Breslau, 1668, p 655 (Werke, 1862, i. p. 323), in 8 stanzas of 6 lines, entitled "She [The Soul] contrasts the Majesty of God with her Nothingness." Included as No. 726 in Freylinghausen's Gesang-Buch1705, and recently, as No. 15, in Knapp's Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz, 1850 (1865, No. 15). The only translation in common use is:—
0 God, of good the unfathom'd sea, a vigorous and full rendering by J. Wesley in Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1739 (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. i. p. 141), and thence in full, as No. 36, in the Hymns & Spiritual Songs, 1753, and as No. 5 in the Pocket Hymn Book, 1785. it did not appear in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, but was added in an edition between 1797 and 1809, and is No. 38 in the revised edition, 1875. Various forms beginning with stanza i. appear in the Leeds Hymn Book, 1853; the Methodist New Connexion, 1863; the Irish Church Hymnal, 1869-73; Baptist Hymnal, 1879; Westminster Abbey Hymn Book, 1883, &c.; and in America in the Methodist Episcopal Collection, 1849; Evangelical Hymnal, N. Y., 1880; Canadian Presbyterian Hymn Book, 1880, &c. In the Methodist Episcopal South Hymn Book, 1847, No. 24, begins with stanza 5, "Fountain of good! all blessing flows."
Another translation is:—"O Good beyond compare," by Miss Winkworth, 1869, p. 249. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Tune
ST. PETERSBURGDmitri Stephanovich Bortnianski (b. Gloukoff, Ukraine, 1751; d. St. Petersburg, Russia, 1825) was a Russian composer of church music, operas, and instrumental music. His tune ST. PETERSBURG (also known as RUSSIAN HYMN) was first published in J. H. Tscherlitzky's Choralbuch (1825).
The tune is suppo…
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