Gott der Vater wohn tins bei. [Holy Trinity.] Old Litany revised by Martin Luther. The original of this hymn is probably of the 15th century, or earlier. Wackernagel , ii., No. 684, quotes a form dating 1422, in 15 lines, beginning "Sanctus Petrus, won uns bey." In Michael Vehe's Gesangbüchlein, 1537 (edition 1853, p. 57), it is entitled, "A Litany in the time of Pro¬cessions upon St. Mark's Day and in Rogation Week"; and consists of 5 stanzas of 12 lines, followed by a series of Invocations of Patriarchs, Prophets, &c. Luther adopted stanza i. lines 1-6, rewrote stanza i. lines 7-12, and cut off the invocations to Mary, the Angels, and the Saints. His version appeared in the Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn, Wittenberg, 1524…
In the Erfurt Enchiridio, 1526, it bears the title, "The hymn ' Godt der vatter won uns bey’ improved and evangelically corrected." In Luther's form it speedily became popular, and Lauxmann, iKoch, viii. 102-104, relates many instances of its use—at weddings, by the dying, in times of trouble, &c. It is given in Wackernagel , iii. p. 16, as quoted above; in Schircks's edition of Luther's Geistliche Lieder , 1854, p. 40, and in the Unverfälscher Liedersegen, 1851, No. 187. A translation in common use:—
3. 0 God, the Father! draw Thou nigh, In full, by Dr. M. Loy, in the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal , 1880. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)