Abide in Me, and I in You: the Soul’s Answer, a prayer-poem by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1855/1865)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Gustav Gottheil and Harriet Beecher Stowe

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23 September 2019 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

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Morning Baqashot, Lincoln's Birthday (February 12th)

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רשות reshut, 19th century C.E., Openers, 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Congregation Adath Jeshurun, hymns, paraliturgical elohai neshamah, paraliturgical modeh ani

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Abide in Me, and I in You: the Soul’s Answer
	1. That mystic word of Thine, Sovereign Lord! Is all too pure, too high, too deep for me; Weary of striving, and with longing faint, I breathe it back again in prayer to Thee.^[1] This stanza is not provided in Gustav Gottheil’s Hymns and Anthems Adapted for Jewish Worship (1886).
	[Abide in me, O Lord,^[2] Originally: “I pray.” “O Lord” appears first in Gustav Gottheil’s Hymns and Anthems Adapted for Jewish Worship (1886). and I in thee;^[3] Cf. John 15:4. From this good hour, O leave me nevermore; Then shall the discord cease, the wound be healed, The life-long bleeding of the soul be o’er.]^[4] Stanza added in Religious Poems (Harriet Beecher Stowe 1867).
	2. Abide with me^[5] Originally: “Abide in me.” “Abide with me” appears in Gustav Gottheil’s Hymns and Anthems Adapted for Jewish Worship (1886). — o’ershadow with thy love Each half-formed purpose and dark thought of sin; Quench e’re it rise each selfish, low desire, And keep my soul as Thine — calm and divine.
	3. As some rare perfume in a vase of clay Pervades it with a fragrance not its own — So, when thou dwellest in a mortal soul. All heaven’s own sweetness seems around it thrown.^[6] This and the following stanza are not provided in Gustav Gottheil’s Hymns and Anthems Adapted for Jewish Worship (1886).
	4. The soul alone, like a neglected harp, Grows out of tune, and needs that Hand divine; Dwell Thou within it, tune and touch the chords, Till every note and string shall answer Thine.^[7] This stanza is missing from the poem as it appears in Religious Poems/em> (1867).
	5. Abide in me; there have been moments blest, When I have heard thy voice and felt thy power;^[8] Harriet Beecher Stowe’s original lines read as follows: “Abide in me; there have been moments pure, / When I have seen thy face and felt thy power;”. This new wording appears in Religious Poems (1867). Then evil lost its grasp, and passion, hushed, Owned the divine enchantment of the hour.
	6. These were but seasons beautiful and rare; Abide in me — and they shall ever be; Fulfil at once thy precept and my prayer;^[9] Harriet Beecher Stowe’s original line reads as follows: “I pray Thee now fulfill my earnest prayer.” This new wording appears in Religious Poems (1867). Come and abide in me, and I in thee.

“Abide in Me” by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was first published in Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes; for the use of Christian Congregations (Henry Ward Beecher, 1855), p.215. A second version with a new second stanza, the 4th stanza removed, and additional edits was published by Beecher Stowe as the poem “Abide in Me, and I in You: The Soul’s Answer” in Religious Poems (1867). In 1886, Gustav Gottheil (1827-1903) included an abridged form of that poem, (removing the first, third, and fourth stanzas of the original hymn) in Hymns and Anthems Adapted for Jewish Worship. Finally, Gottheil’s variation was reprinted in Rabbi Max D. Klein’s Hymns of Praise and Prayer (Congregation Adath Jeshurun of Philadelphia, 1926).

I’ve retained the numbering of the stanzas for the hymn as it originally appears in the Plymouth Collection and I have enclosed the second stanza added by Beecher Stowe in [brackets]. –Aharon Varady.

Sources

Notes[+]

Notes
1	This stanza is not provided in Gustav Gottheil’s Hymns and Anthems Adapted for Jewish Worship (1886).
2	Originally: “I pray.” “O Lord” appears first in Gustav Gottheil’s Hymns and Anthems Adapted for Jewish Worship (1886).
3	Cf. John 15:4.
4	Stanza added in Religious Poems (Harriet Beecher Stowe 1867).
5	Originally: “Abide in me.” “Abide with me” appears in Gustav Gottheil’s Hymns and Anthems Adapted for Jewish Worship (1886).
6	This and the following stanza are not provided in Gustav Gottheil’s Hymns and Anthems Adapted for Jewish Worship (1886).
7	This stanza is missing from the poem as it appears in Religious Poems/em> (1867).
8	Harriet Beecher Stowe’s original lines read as follows: “Abide in me; there have been moments pure, / When I have seen thy face and felt thy power;”. This new wording appears in Religious Poems (1867).
9	Harriet Beecher Stowe’s original line reads as follows: “I pray Thee now fulfill my earnest prayer.” This new wording appears in Religious Poems (1867).
10	This second version of the poem appears two years earlier in Caroline Snowden Whitmarsh’s Hymns of the ages, Third series (1865).

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“Abide in Me, and I in You: the Soul’s Answer, a prayer-poem by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1855/1865)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Gustav Gottheil

Gustav Gottheil (May 28, 1827, Pinne/Pniewy, Grand Duchy of Posen, Prussia – April 15, 1903, New York City) was a Prussian born American rabbi. Gottheil eventually became one of the most influential, well-known and controversial Reform Jewish leaders of his time. He was educated in Posen under Rabbi Solomon Plessner, and later continued his studies at the universities of Berlin and Halle (Ph.D.), receiving in the meanwhile his "hattarat hora'ah" in the former city from Samuel Holdheim, whose assistant he became (1855). He also studied under Zunz and Moritz Steinschneider. In 1860 he set out from the Berliner Reformgemeinde to labor for Reform Judaism in new fields. In 1860 he received a call from the Reform Jews of Manchester, England; he went there as rabbi for the Manchester Congregation of British Jews and remained for 13 years. During this time he was connected with the faculty of Owens College as a teacher of the German language. Two of his most noteworthy sermons preached in Manchester were on the slavery question, attacking those who had declared the institution to be sanctioned by Mosaic law. Dr. Gottheil was a member of the Synod of Leipsic in 1871, which took a decided stand on the question of Reform. He left Manchester in 1873, having been elected to succeed the Rev. J. K. Gutheim as assistant to Dr. Samuel Adler, the senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, New York City. When Adler retired about eighteen months later, Gottheil succeeded him. On taking charge he reorganized the religious school, and assisted in founding a theological school where preliminary training might be imparted to future candidates for the rabbinate. He prepared in 1886 the first Jewish hymn-book printed in America (with music in a separate volume by A. Davis); it contains not only traditional Jewish hymns, but also others of Christian origin, and upon it was based the Union Hymnal, which has since been generally adopted by the Reform congregations in the United States. In 1889 he started the first Sisterhood of Personal Service, a philanthropic organization affiliated with Temple Emanu-El which served as a model for similar institutions elsewhere. Dr. Gottheil was the founder of the Association of Eastern Rabbis, and when it was assimilated with the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 1890, he took an active part in its deliberations. He was one of the founders and the president of the (American) Jewish Publication Society, vice-president of the Federation of American Zionists, chairman of the Revision Committee for the Union Prayer Book, and one of the governors of the Hebrew Union College, in Cincinnati. Dr. Gottheil's sympathies and interests were broadly universalist, as evidenced by his connection with various non-Jewish institutions as well as by many of his sermons and writings. He was one of the founders of the New York State Conference of Religions, assisting in the editing of its "Book of Common Prayers"; and a founder and for many years vice-president of the Nineteenth Century Club. In 1893 Gottheil was one of the representatives of the Jews at the Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago during the World Columbian Exposition.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (/stoʊ/; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American abolitionist and author. She came from the Beecher family, a famous religious family, and is best known for her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which depicts the harsh conditions for enslaved African Americans. The book reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and Great Britain, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. Stowe wrote 30 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential for both her writings and her public stances and debates on social issues of the day.

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Works of related interest:

Unless the Land Where Ye Abide (Psalms 127), a hymn on Divine Providence in Relation to Israel by Penina Moïse (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1842)

Prayer after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by Rabbi Sabato Morais (18 April 1865)

Arise! Let the Souls of the Hebrews Rejoice, a hymn for Ḥanukkah by Cordelia Moïse Cohen (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1856)

Abraham Lincoln in Thinking Pose (credit: Mathew Brady, 1862, Public Domain)

שריך לינקאלען | Memorial Prayer for Abraham Lincoln, by Isaac Goldstein haLevi (1865)

President Lincoln's funeral train in Philidelphia near the start of its 13 day 1,600 mile journey from Washington to Springfield. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

אָ, קאפּיטאן! מײַן קאפּיטאן!‏ | O Captain! My Captain!, an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln by Walt Whitman (1865), Yiddish translation by Eliezer Meler (1940)

אָ, קאפּיטאן! מײַן קאפּיטאן!‏ | O Captain! My Captain!, an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln by Walt Whitman (1865), Yiddish translation by Avrom Valt-Lyessin (1913)

הוֹ קְבַרְנִיט! קְבַרְנִיטִי!‏ | O Captain! My Captain!, an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln by Walt Whitman (1865), Hebrew translation by Shimon Halkin (1952)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17