O Gott! O Geist! O Licht des Leben. G. Tersteegen. [Whitsuntide.] This beautiful hymn is one of the finest breathings of Tersteegen's mysticism. First published in the 4th edition, 1745, of his Geistliches Blumengärtlein, Book iii., No. 76, in 8 stanzas of 6 lines, and entitled "Prayer for the inward working of the Holy Spirit." Included in Knapp's Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz, 1837, No. 749 (1865, No. 763). Translated as:—
1. 0 God, 0 Spirit, Light of all that live. A good translation, omitting stanza vii., by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica, 1st Ser., 1855, p. 140. Her translations of stanzas i., iv., vi. altered to four 10's are included in the Hymns of the Spirit, Boston, U.S., 1864, No. 10. Another cento is No. 105, in M. W. Stryker's Christian Chorals, 1885.
2. 0 God, 0 Spirit, Light of life. A spirited but free translation, omitting stanza vii., by Mrs. Bevan, in her Songs of Eternal Life, 1858, p. 7. From this stanzas i.-v. considerably altered and beginning "Spirit of Grace, Thou Light of life," were included as No. 1182 in Kennedy, 1863; and repeated in this form, abridged, in the Ibrox Hymnal, 1871; Dr. Martineau's Hymns of Praise & Prayer, 1873; Thring's Collection, 1880-82, &c. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Tersteegen, Gerhard, a pious and useful mystic of the eighteenth century, was born at Mörs, Germany, November 25, 1697. He was carefully educated in his childhood, and then apprenticed (1715) to his older brother, a shopkeeper. He was religiously inclined from his youth, and upon coming of age he secured a humble cottage near Mühlheim, where he led a life of seclusion and self-denial for many years. At about thirty years of age he began to exhort and preach in private and public gatherings. His influence became very great, such was his reputation for piety and his success in talking, preaching, and writing concerning spiritual religion. He wrote one hundred and eleven hymns, most of which appeared in his Spiritual Flower Garden (1731). He… Go to person page >
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