The translation is mainly from Catherine Winkworth, but partly from Frances Cox.
For comments on Miss Winkworth see [Hymn 236]. For Miss Cox, [Hymn 512].
MUSIC. GOTT SEI DANK, also known as “Lübeck,” “Berlin,” and “Carintha,” is by an unknown composer. The tune, since slightly altered, first appeared in J. A. Freylinghausen’s Neues Geistreiches Gesangbuch, Halle, 1704, an important collection described as “the only book which can, as a collection, be set alongside with Praxis Pietatis Melica.” It is a lively, spirited tune, its moderate range making it especially suitable for unison singing.
511. Lord, with glowing heart I’d praise Thee
Francis Scott Key, 1779-1843
The author of this hymn, Francis Scott Key, is known to every American child as the man who wrote our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.” Born in Frederick County, Virginia, he was educated at St. John’s College, Annapolis. He practiced law in Washington, D. C., and served as United States District Attorney for three terms, till his death on January 11, 1843. As a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, he held a lay reader’s license and for many years read the service and visited the sick. He taught a Bible class and conducted family prayers twice a day, requiring all members of the household, including the servants, to be present. He did much for the negroes of the south and although he lived in a slave state, he was moved by conscientious scruples to free his own slaves. The hymn, as he wrote it, had four stanzas. The second and third stanzas, omitted here, read as follows:
Praise, my soul, the God that sought thee,
Wretched wanderer, far astray;
Found thee lost, and kindly brought thee
From the paths of death away;