Mir nach, spricht Christus, unser Held. J. Scheffler. [Following Christ.] This hymn, founded on St. Matt. xvi. 24, has been justly characterised as "a masterpiece of Scriptural didactic poetry." It is No. 171 in Bk. v., 1668, of Scheffler's Heilige Seelenlust (Werte, 1862, i. p. 289), in 6 stanzas of 6 lines; entitled "She [the Soul] encourages to the following of Christ." In the Geistreiches Gesang-Buch, Halle, 1697, p. 423, a new stanza was added as st. iv., and this form passed through Freylinghausen's Gesang-Buch , 1704, and is No. 640 in the Berlin Geistliche Lieder, ed. 1863. Translated as:—
1. Come, follow me, our Lord doth call. A good translation of stanzas i., iii., v., vii., by A. T. Russell, as No. 100 in the Dalston Hospital Hymn Book, 1848, repeated, altered, as No. 183 in his own Psalms & Hymns, 1851.
2. Rise, follow Me! our Master saith. A translation of stanzas i., v., vi., vii., by Miss Winkworth, as No. 78 in her Chorale Book for England, 1863.
3. Says Christ, our Champion, follow me. A translation of stanzas i., ii., vii., included as No. 449 in the Church Praise Book, N. Y., 1882, marked as abridged from a translation by F. M. Finch, 1880.
Other translations are: (l) "My yoke, saith Christ, Upon you take," by F. W. Foster, as No. 310 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1789 (1886, No. 497). (2) "After me! Christ our Champion spake," in the British Magazine, April, 1838, p. 401. (3) "Christians, attend! Our Champion cries," in the Family Treasury, 1877, p. 111. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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