Author: Gerhard Tersteegen (1697-1769) Music Source: Johann Balthasar König's Harmonisches Lieder-Schatz, Frankfurt, Germany, 1738
1. Sit and pause awhile, my spirit, This great miracle behold; See the King of highest merit On the cross, so bare and cold! Out of heaven God has given His own Son in love untold!
2. That your Saviour loves you dearly, He upon the cross has proved, Where in torments most severely He from God was far removed. In His anguish He must languish For the sinful men He loved.
3. Thus His soul of God forsaken, Filled with sorrow to its depth, And His flesh is likewise shaken, Tortured unto His last breath; All His vigor, all His power Is exhausted unto death.
4. These, the fruits of our transgression, Fell unto Thee, Saviour dear, While this wrathful condemnation We deserved as sinners here. These afflictions and convictions We unworthy ones should bear.
5. Yet Thy suff’ring has defeated Satan’s pow’r, yea, death and hell; Through Thy death Thou hast completed Thy dear heav’nly Father’s will, Thus is given to us even Life eternal to fulfill.
6. In humility, dear Saviour, Thou for me, I know, hast died; Though I was Thy foe, Redeemer, Thou for me wast crucified. Silence keep I, humbly weep I! Thus through Thee I’m justified!
7. Thou, Lord, hast for me devoted Soul and body, life and all; So there shall be consecrated All I have, both great and small, All my efforts and endeavor To Thy service and Thy call.
8. Through the power of Thy dying, Into Thy death, Lord, draw me; Let my body, all my being, There be nailed, Lord, with Thee; Calm and gentle may my will be; To my love give purity!