My truest Friend abides in heaven

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My truest Friend abides in heaven

Author: Benjamin Schmolck; Translator: H. Brueckner (1925)
Tune: [Der beste Freund ist in dem Himmel]
Published in 3 hymnals

Representative Text

1 My truest Friend abides in heaven;
On earth our friends are rare and few;
The world no proof to me hath given
Of friendship constant, firm and true.
And so my soul doth here contend
That Jesus is my truest Friend.

2 Men in their friendship often falter,
But Jesus like a rock doth stand;
Tho' storms of woe my fortune alter,
He holds me firmly by the hand;
He is my stay till life doth end:
My Jesus is my truest Friend.

3 For me He suffers crucifixion.
For me He sheds His precious blood;
He comforts me in my affliction,
His counsels all are wise an good;
Upon His word I may depend:
He is indeed my truest Friend.

4 My Friend, such faithful love possessing,
My Friend, whose own I am for aye,
My Friend, so tender and caressing,
Beyond the grave my Friend will stay.
May I not then in truth contend
That Jesus is my truest Friend?

Source: American Lutheran Hymnal #631

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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 >

Translator: H. Brueckner

Born: March 11, 1866, Grundy County, Iowa (birth name: Herman Heinrich Moritz Brueckner). Died: January 25, 1942, Hebron, Nebraska (funeral held in Beatrice, Nebraska). Buried: St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery, Waverly, Iowa. After ordination in 1888, Brueckner pastored in Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, and Wisconsin. He later moved to Iowa City, Iowa, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Iowa State University in 1917. In 1926, he joined the faculty of Hebron College in Nebraska. In 1938, Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, conferred an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree on him. He retired as professor emeritus from Hebron College in 1941. Sources: Erickson, p. 254 Findagrave, accessed 14 Nov 2016 Hustad, p. 213 Stulken, p.… Go to person page >

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