January 18, 2020 (Saturday)
This song asks a question: “Do you ask what great thing I know?” The verses answer that question. The questioner was Johann Christoph Schwedler (1672-1730), the son of a German farmer and local magistrate, and a “preacher, hymn writer, and humanitarian” according to Rev. Carlton Young. Following graduation from the University of Leipzig in 1697, he served as a church assistant, deacon and pastor in only one location, Niederweise, until his death.
Schwedler was a prolific hymn writer with hundreds of hymns. He lived near his friend Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf (1700-1780), a fellow composer, social reformer and supporter of the Moravian Church. Zinzendorf’s hymns influenced John Wesley after he encountered Moravians on the ship to America in 1736.
The tune (Hendon) is also used in the hymn, “I Gave My Life for Thee”
ASK YE WHAT GREAT THING I KNOW
Words: Johann C. Schwedler (1741)
Translator: Benjamin H. Kennedy (1863)
Music: Henri A. C. Malan; harm. Lowell Mason
Tune: HENDON Meter: 7.7.7.7
1. Ask ye what great thing I know
That delights and stirs me so!
What the high reward I win?
Whose the name I glory in?
Jesus Christ the crucified.
2. What is faith’s foundation strong?
What awakes my lips to song?
He who bore my sinful load,
Purchased for me peace with God,
Jesus Christ, the Crucified.
3. Who is life in life to me?
Who the death of death will be?
Who will place me on His right
With the countless hosts of light?
Jesus Christ, the crucified.
4. This is that great thing I know;
This delights and stirs me so:
Faith in Him who died to save,
Him who triumphed o’er the grave,
Jesus Christ, the crucified.