Thou, Whose Coming Seers and Sages

Top Media Text Author Translator Text Info Tune Timeline Arrangements Page Scans Instances

Thou, whose coming seers and sages

Author: Karl Johann Philipp Spitta; Translator: Richard Massie
Published in 3 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Piano/Organ
	In Communion - 40 Hymntune Meditations f…

Representative Text

1 Thou, whose coming seers and sages
Long foretold to Israel,
Hast appeared in these last ages,
Jesus Christ Immanuel.
O thou precious day of grace,
Fraught with blessings to our race!
None need now despair of pardon,
Bowed beneath a hopeless burden.

2 Simeon longed for Thy salvation:
David, wrapt with holy fire,
Poured forth strains of inspiration,
As he swept his royal lyre;
Righteous men and gifted seers
Longed for Thee in bygone years,
Some in silence, some loud crying,
Mingling prayers with tears and sighing.

3 God be blesséd, who hath granted
In His grace to you and me,
That for which so many panted--
Vainly hoped to hear and see.
Now God's counsel is revealed,
And the vision is unsealed;
God hath heard your supplication,
And is come to bring salvation.

4 Joyfully we sing Hosanna!
Blessed Savior, enter in;
Feed us with the living manna,
Cleanse our hearts from every sin.
See, we open wide the door!
Enter, to depart no more;
Come, and let us now enthrone Thee
In the hearts that long to own Thee.

5 Sin, alas! hath long compelled us
Her dread bidding to obey,
And, both soul and body, held us
Captive with resistless away;
All our efforts have been vain
To cast off her iron chain;
Thou, and thou alone, Lord Jesus,
Canst from all our sins release us.

6 Take Thy kingdom, wait no longer,
Since to Thee it doth belong;
And He only who is stronger
Can release us from the strong.
Make us happy, God's dear Son,
Reap the fruit Thy love has won;
Till earth's farthest realms adore Thee,
And her kings fall down before Thee.

Source: The Lutheran Hymnary #191

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

Author: Karl Johann Philipp Spitta

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 >

Translator: Richard Massie

Massie, Richard, eldest son of the Rev. R. Massie, of Goddington, Cheshire, and Rector of Eccleston, was born at Chester, June 18, 1800, and resides at Pulford Hall, Coddington. Mr. Massie published a translation of Martin Luther’s Spiritual Songs, London, 1854. His Lyra Domestica, 1st series, London, 1860, contains translations of the 1st Series of Spitta's Psalter und Harfe. In 1864 he published vol. ii., containing translations of Spitta's 2nd Series, together with an Appendix of translations of German hymns by various authors. He also contributed many translations of German hymns to Mercer's Church Psalter & Hymn Book; to Reid's British Herald; to the Day of Rest, &c. He died Mar. 11,1887. -- John Julian, Di… Go to person page >

^ top

Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Thou, whose coming seers and sages
Title:	Thou, Whose Coming Seers and Sages
German Title:	Du, des Zukunft Einst Erflehten
Author:	Karl Johann Philipp Spitta
Translator:	Richard Massie
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

^ top

Tune

WERDE MUNTER

JESU JOY is a form of the tune WERDE MUNTER, MEIN GEMUETE by Johann Schop (b. Hamburg [?], Germany, c. 1595; d. Hamburg, 1667). In 1614 Schop was appointed court musician in the Hofkapelle at Wolfenbüttel. A virtuoso violinist, he also played the lute, cornetto, and trombone. He became a musician f…

Go to tune page >

[Nu er Frelsens Dag oprundet]

All tunes published with 'Thou, Whose Coming Seers and Sages'^ top