Bei dir Jesu, will ich bleiben. C. J. Spitta. [Confirmation.] Founded on Ps. lxxiii. 23, and first published in the 1st Series of his Psalter und Harfe, 1833, p. 58, in 6 stanzas of 8 lines, entitled, "I remain continually with Thee." In the Württemberg Gesang-Buch, 1842, No. 383, Knapp's Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz , 1837, No. 1709 (1865, No. 890). The translations in common use are:—
1. In Thy service will I ever. A full and good translation by R. Massie in his Lyra Dominica. 1860, p. 59, and thence in Schaff's Christ in Song, edition 1879, p. 452. Altered and transposed as Nos. 542, 543 in Adams's American Church Pastorals, 1864. No. 543 begins with stanza v., "Let Thy light on me be shining," and incorporates, as stanza ii., a cento from stanzas i., ii. of Massie's translation of Spitta's "Meine Stund ist noch nicht kommen" (q. v.). In Horder's Congregational Hymns , 1884, No. 267, stanza iv., lines 5-8, and v., lines 5-8, are omitted.
2. By Thee, Jesus, will I stay. A translation of stanzas i., v., vi. as No. 35 in Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1876, marked as by "J. B. Walter, 1868."
Other translations are:—
(1) "So will I abide for ever," by J. D. Burns in his Memoir & Remains , 1869, p. 236. (2) "Jesus, with Thee I would abide," by Lady Durand, 1873, p. 48.
[Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Spitta, Carl Johann Philipp, D.D., was born Aug. 1, 1801, at Hannover, where his father, Lebrecht Wilhelm Gottfried Spitta, was then living, as bookkeeper and teacher of the French language. In his eleventh year Spitta fell into a severe illness, which lasted for four years, and so threw him back that his mother (the father died in 1805) abandoned the idea of a professional career, and apprenticed him to a watchmaker. This occupation did not prove at all congenial to him, but he would not confess his dislike, and his family were ignorant of it till an old friend, who was trying to comfort him after the death of a younger brother, discovered his true feelings. The younger brother had been preparing for ordination, and so Carl was now invited… Go to person page >
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