Thou Life of my life, blessed Jesus

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Thou Life of my life, blessed Jesus

Translator: Frances Bevan; Author: Ernst Christoph Homburg
Tune: [Thou Life of my life, blessed Jesus]
Published in 3 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Thou Life of my life, blessed Jesus,
Thou death of the death that was mine,
For me was Thy cross and Thine anguish,
Thy love and Thy sorrow divine;
Thou suffered the cross and the torment,
That I might forever go free—

Refrain:
A thousand, a thousand thanksgivings,
I bring, blessed Savior, to Thee!

2 For me Thou hast borne the reproaches,
The mockery, hate and disdain;
The blows and the spittings of sinners,
The scourging, the shame and the pain;
To save me from bondage and judgment,
Thou gladly hast suffered for me— [Refrain]

3 O Lord, from my heart I do thank Thee
For all Thou hast borne in my room,
Thine agony, dying, unsolaced,
Alone in the darkness of doom,
That I, in the glory of heaven,
Forever and ever might be— [Refrain]

Source: Choice Hymns of the Faith #371

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Translator: Frances Bevan

Bevan, Emma Frances, née Shuttleworth, daughter of the Rev. Philip Nicholas Shuttleworth, Warden of New Coll., Oxford, afterwards Bishop of Chichester, was born at Oxford, Sept. 25, 1827, and was married to Mr. R. C. L. Bevan, of the Lombard Street banking firm, in 1856. Mrs. Bevan published in 1858 a series of translations from the German as Songs of Eternal Life (Lond., Hamilton, Adams, & Co.), in a volume which, from its unusual size and comparative costliness, has received less attention than it deserves, for the trs. are decidedly above the average in merit. A number have come into common use, but almost always without her name, the best known being those noted under “O Gott, O Geist, O Licht dea Lebens," and "Jedes Herz will etwas… Go to person page >

Author: Ernst Christoph Homburg

Ernst C. Homburg (b. Mihla, near Eisenach, Germany, 1605; d. Naumberg, Germany, 1681) wrote most of his hymns for his own devotions. He described this eight-stanza text as a "hymn of thanksgiving to his Redeemer and Savior for his bitter sufferings." In early life, Homburg was a writer of love and drinking songs. After a difficult time of family illness he experienced a religious conversion, and his poetry took a more serious turn. A lawyer by profession, he wrote hymns to express and strengthen his own faith rather than for public use. Some 150 of his hymn texts were published in his Geistliche Lieder. Bert Polman… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Thou Life of my life, blessed Jesus
German Title:	Jesus, meines Lebens Leben
Translator:	Frances Bevan
Author:	Ernst Christoph Homburg
Language:	English
Refrain First Line:	A thousand, thousand thanksgivings
Publication Date:	1933
Copyright:	Public Domain