Himmelan

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Himmelan geht unsre Bahn

Author: Benjamin Schmolck
Published in 66 hymnals

Piano/Organ
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Choral
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Instrumental
	Holy God, We Praise Your Name - (Choral…

Representative Text

1 Himmelan geht unsre Bahn,
wir sind Gäste nur auf Erden,
bis wir dort in Canaan durch
die Wüste kommen werden,
Hier ist unser Pilgrimsstand,
droben unser Vaterland.

2 Himmelan schwing dich, mein Geist;
denn du bist ein himmlisch Wesen,
und kannst das, was irdisch heißt,
nicht zu deinem Zweck erlesen.
Ein von Gott erleuchter Sinn
kehrt in seinen Ursprung hin.

3 Himmelan! die Welt kann dir
nur geborgte Güter geben.
Deine himmlische Begier
muß nach solchen Schätzen streben,
die uns bleiben, wenn die Welt
in ihr erstes Nichts zerfällt.

4 Himmelan! ich muß mein Herz
auch bei meinem Schatze haben,
denn es kann mich anderwärts
kein so großer Reichtum laben,
weil ich schon im Himmel bin,
wenn ich nur gedenk an ihn.

5 Himmelan! ruft er mir zu,
wenn ich ihn im Worte höre;
das weist mir den Ort der Ruh,
wo ich einmal hingehöre.
Wenn mich dieses Wort verwahrt,
halt ich eine Himmelfahrt.

6 Himmelan denk ich allzeit,
wenn er mir die Tafel decket,
und mein Geist hier allbereit
eine Kraft des Himmels schmecket.
Nach der Kost im Jammerthal
folgt des Lammes Hochzeitsmahl.

7 Himmelan! mein Glaube zeigt
mir das schönste Loos von ferne,
daß mein Herz schon aufwärts steigt
über Sonne, Mond und Sterne;
denn ihr Licht ist viel zu klein
gegen jenen Glanz und Schein.

8 Himmelan, ach himmelan!
das soll meine Losung bleiben.
Ich will allen eitlen Bahn
durch die Himmelslust vertreiben.
Himmelan steht nur mein Sinn,
bis ich in dem Himmel bin.

Source: Evang.-Lutherisches Gesangbuch #473

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Author: Benjamin Schmolck

Schmolck, Benjamin, son of Martin Schmolck, or Schmolcke, Lutheran pastor at Brauchitschdorf (now Chrόstnik) near Liegnitz in Silesia (now Poland) was born at Brauchitschdorf, Dec. 21, 1672. He entered the Gymnasium at Lauban in 1688, and spent five years there. After his return home he preached for his father a sermon which so struck the patron of the living that he made Benjamin an allowance for three years to enable him to study theology. He matriculated, at Michaelmas, 1693, at the University of Leipzig, where he came under the influence of J. Olearius, J. B. Carpzov, and others, and throughout his life retained the character of their teaching, viz. a warm and living practical Christianity, but Churchly in tone and not Pietistic. In th… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Himmelan geht unsre Bahn
Title:	Himmelan
Author:	Benjamin Schmolck
Language:	German
Notes:	Polish translation: See "Ku niebiosom dążmy wciąż"; Swahili translation: See "Tunakewnda mbinguni"
Copyright:	Public Domain

English

German

10 shown out of 62

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Notes

Suggested tune: JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT
================
Himmelan geht unsre Bahn. B. Schmolck. [Ascensiontide.] First published as the concluding hymn in his Bochim und Elim, Breslau, 1731 (No. 105, p. 275), in 10 stanza of 6 L, entitled "The sweet thought of heaven." It is a beautiful hymn of looking forward to the heavenly aim and the heavenly prize. It is found in many recent German hymn-books as in the Berlin Geistliche Lieder, edition 1863, No. 706 (omitting stanza vii.). Translated as:—
1. Heavenward still our pathway tends, a good translation, omitting stanzas iii., iv., vii., by Miss Cox in her Sacred Hymns from the German, 1841, p. 117, and thence in the Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book, 1868. She revised her translation for Lyra Eucharistica, 1864, p. 296, and her Hymns from the German, 1864, p. 211. This revised form is in the Baptist Hymnal, 1879.
2. Heavenward doth our journey tend, a good translation, omitting stanzas iii., iv., vii., by Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Germanica, first Ser., 1855, p.108, and repeated in Harland's Church Psalter & Hymnal, No. 452, Baptist Psalms & Hymns, 1858, &c. In her Chorale Book for England, 1863, No. 65, altered in metre, and thence, omitting the translation of stanza viii., in the Ohio Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal, 1880.
3. Heavenward our path still goes, a translation of stanzas i., ii., ix., x., based on Miss Cox, as No. 231, in Bp. Kyle's Collection, 1860; repeated in Dr. Pagenstecher's Collection, 1864. Altered and beginning "Heavenward still our pathway goes," in Kennedy, 1863.
Other translations are:—
(1) “Heavenward may our course begin," by Lady E. Fortescue, 1843, p. 50. (2) "Heavenward our pathway lies," by Miss Dunn, 1857, p. 63. (3) "Heavenward our pathway lies, In this world," &c., by Dr. F. W. Gotch, in the Baptist Magazine, Jan. 1857. (4) "Heavenward our road doth lie," by Miss Warner, 1858, p. 117. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Tune

HURSLEY

HURSLEY is a Protestant French Huguenot melody by an anonymous composer.

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GROSSER GOTT (11171)

Also known as: FRAMINGHAM GROSSNER GROSSER GOTT HALLE HUNGARIAN MELODY LAUDAMUS PARIS PASCHAL STILLORGAN GROSSER GOTT was set to the German versification in the Katholisches Gesangbuch (see above). Variants of the tune abound; the version found in the Psalter Hymnal came from Johann Schicht's Allg…

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JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT (Crüger)

First published in Johann Crüger's Praxis Pietatis Melica (1653) without attribution, JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT was credited to Crüger (PHH 42) in the 1668 edition of that hymnal. (The later isorhythmic RATISBON is related to this tune; see 34.) JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT is named for its association w…

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