Words: , in his Geist­lich­es Blum­en Gärt­lein, se­cond edi­tion, 1735 (Gott ruf­et noch, sollt ich nicht end­lich hör­en); trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by , Hymns from the Land of Lu­ther, se­cond ser­ies, 1855.

This hymn is a re­mark­a­ble so­lil­o­quy of an awak­ened and pe­ni­tent soul. It could have been writ­ten on­ly by one who had him­self through the deep spir­it­u­al ex­per­i­enc­es in­volved in con­vict­ion of sin and con­ver­sion from sin. The au­thor was a some­what ec­cen­tric but deep­ly pi­ous mys­tic…At the age of twen­ty-se­ven Ter­stee­gen wrote, in his own blood, a ded­i­ca­tion of him­self to God, in which he says: “God gra­cious­ly called me out of the world and grant­ed me the de­sire to be­long to him and to be will­ing to fol­low him. I long for an eter­ni­ty, that I may suit­a­bly glor­i­fy him for it.”

Music: Breslau, As Hymn­o­dus Sa­cer (Leip­zig, Ger­ma­ny: 1625). Al­ter­nate tunes:

• Ham­burg, , 1824
• Ingham, (1792-1872)