Come, O Come, Thou Quickening Spirit

Representative Text

1 Come, O come, life-giving Spirit,
God from all eternity!
May your power never fail us;
dwell within us constantly.
Then shall truth and life and light
banish all the gloom of night.

2 Show us, Lord, the path of blessing;
when we trespass on our way,
cast, O Lord, our sins behind you
and be with us day by day.
Should we stray, O Lord, recall;
work repentance when we fall.

3 Spirit, guard our faith forever;
let not Satan, death, or shame
ever part us from our Savior.
Lord, our refuge is your name!
When our hearts oppose your will,
let your Word prove stronger still.

4 And when life's frail thread is breaking,
then assure us more and more,
as the heirs of life unending,
of the glory there in store,
glory never yet expressed,
glory of the saints at rest.


Source: Christian Worship: Hymnal #588

Translator: Charles William Schaeffer

(no biographical information available about Charles William Schaeffer.) Go to person page >

Author: Heinrich Held

Held, Heinrich, was son of Valentin Held of Guhrau, Silesia. He studied at the Universities of Königsberg (c. 1637-40), Frankfurt a. Oder (1643), and Leyden. He was also in residence at Rostock in 1647. He became a licentiate of law, and settled as a lawyer in his native place, where he died about 1659, or at least before Michaelmas, 1661 (Koch, iii. 55-56; Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie., xi. 680; Bode, p. 87, &c). One of the best Silesian hymnwriters, he was taught in the school of affliction, having many trials to suffer in those times of war. His only extant poetical work is his Deutscher Gedichte Vortrab, Frankfurt a. Oder, 1643. Only one hymn from that volume came into German use. Much more important are his other hymns, which are k… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Come, O come, thou quickening Spirit, Thou for ever art divine
Title: Come, O Come, Thou Quickening Spirit
German Title: Komm, o komm, du Geist des Lebens
Author: Heinrich Held (ca. 1664)
Translator: Charles William Schaeffer
Meter: 8.7.8.7.7.7
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

KOMM, O KOMM, DU GEIST DES LEBENS (Bach)


LUX PRIMA (Gounod)

French romanticist composer Charles F. Gounod (PHH 165) wrote LUX PRIMA, which means "first light" in Latin. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, Gounod left his native Paris and settled in England for five years. This sturdy tune was published in the Scottish Hymnary in 1872. It uses sev…

Go to tune page >


Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #926
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 7 of 7)

Ambassador Hymnal #125

Text

Christian Worship (1993) #181

TextPage Scan

Christian Worship #588

TextPage Scan

Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #438

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #926

TextPage Scan

Trinity Hymnal (Rev. ed.) #331

TextPage Scan

Trinity Psalter Hymnal #391

Include 43 pre-1979 instances
Suggestions or corrections? Contact us