O how blest the hour, Lord Jesus

O how blest the hour, Lord Jesus. Karl Johann Philipp Spitta* (1801-1859), translated by Richard Massie* (1800-1887). This is Massie’s translation of Spitta’s ‘O wie freun wir uns der Stunde’*. Spitta’s hymn was published in his Psalter und Harfe. Zweite Sammlung (Leipzig, 1843), the second series of his hymns. Massie’s translation appeared in his Lyra Domestica: Second Series. Christian Songs and Hymns. Translated from the German of C.J.P. Spitta and other favourite Hymn-Writers (1864). It had six 8-line stanzas. Recent Methodist books (MHB and HP), which have made more use of Spitta/Massie than those of other denominations, print a shortened version in six 4-line stanzas: O how blest...