Lord Jesus Christ, to Us Attend

Tune: Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend

  1. Lord Jesus Christ, to us attend,
    Thy Holy Spirit to us send,
    With grace to rule us day by day,
    And lead us in true wisdom’s way.

  2. Teach Thou our lips to sing Thy praise,
    Our hearts in true devotion raise.
    Our faith increase, and grant us light
    That we may know Thy name aright;

  3. Until we join the hosts that cry,
    “O holy, holy Lord most high!”
    And in the light of that blest place
    Shall gaze upon Thee face to face.

  4. All glory be to Father, Son,
    And Holy Spirit, Three in One!
    To Thee, O holy Trinity,
    Be praise throughout eternity!

Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend
Attr. Wilhelm II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 1651
Tr. Catherine Winkworth, alt.
Source: Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book, 1930, No. 1, alt.

German Text

Tune: Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend

  1. Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend,
    Dein Heilgen Geist du zu uns send,
    Mit Hilf und Gnad er uns regier
    Und uns den Weg zur Wahrheit führ.

  2. Tu auf den Mund zum Lobe dein,
    Bereit das Herz zur Andacht sein,
    Den Glauben mehr, stärk den Verstand,
    Daß uns dein Nam wird wohl bekannt.

  3. Bis wir singen mit Gottes Heer:
    Heilig, heilig ist Gott, der Herr!
    Und schauen dich von Angesicht
    In ewger Freud und selgem Licht.

  4. Ehr sei dem Vater und dem Sohn,
    Dem Heilgen Geist in einem Thron,
    Der heiligen Dreieinigkeit
    Sei Lob und Preis in Ewigkeit.

Attr. Wilhelm II., Herzog zu Sachsen-Weimar, 1651
Source: C.F.W. Walther’s Kirchen-Gesangbuch, 1898 printing

 

Author: Unknown; attr. Wilhelm II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar
Origin: Before 1643
Source: Sts. 1–3, Lutherisch Hand-Büchlein, Johann Niedling, Altenburg, 1651; st. 4, Cantionale Sacrum, Gotha, 1651

The earliest extant source for this text is Johann Niedling’s Lutherisch Hand-Büchlein, Altenburg, 1651 (Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenlieds und Kirchengesangs, VIII,149, refers to an edition of 1638, which has since been lost; Fischer/Tümpel II,73 refers to an edition of 1648, also lost; a scan of a later sixth edition, 1668, is available here), which includes only the first three stanzas under the superscription, “The Pious Christian’s Little Sigh of the Heart for Grace and the Aid of the Holy Ghost, during the Divine Service in the Church, before the Sermon.” The fourth, concluding doxological stanza first appears in the Cantionale Sacrum, Gotha, 1651, under the superscription, “To be sung before the Sermon.” A 1936 handbook (Ernst Schmidt, Führer durch das neue Gesangbuch der Evang.-Luth. Kirche in Bayern rechts des Rheins, Erlangen, 1936) includes an unverifiable reference to an otherwise unknown handwritten “Gochsheimer Gesangbuch,” Redwitz, 1643, which reportedly includes the text and its proper melody with an ascription to a “Cantionale Germanicum,” 1628, also unknown. The attribution to Wilhelm II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, is first made in the Altdorf Liederfreund, 1676, and is unlikely. The hymn became standard throughout Lutheran Germany as an opening hymn.