singing the sublime lyrics of Paul Gerhardt, prince of Lutheran hymnists,
the spirit of hymnody was beginning to stir in the soul of another German
poet--Joachim Neander. This man, whose name will always be remembered as
the author of one of the most glorious hymns of praise of the Christian
Church, was the first hymn-writer produced by the Reformed, or
Calvinistic, branch of the Protestant Church.
Hymnody in the Reformed Church had been seriously retarded by the
iconoclastic views of Calvin and Zwingli. These Reformers at first
frowned on church choirs, organs, and every form of ecclesiastical art.
Even hymns, such as those used by the Lutherans, were prohibited because
they were the production of men. God could be worshiped in a worthy
manner, according to Calvin's principles, only by hymns which were
divinely inspired, namely, the Psalms of the Old Testament Psaltery.
This gave rise to the practice of versifying the Psalms. Calvin's
insistence that there should be the strictest adherence to the original
text often resulted in crude paraphrases. The exclusive use of the Psalms
explains the development of so-called "psalmody" in the Reformed Church
as over against "hymnody" in the Lutheran Church.
Psalmody had its inception in France, where Clement Marot, court poet to
King Francis I, rendered a number of the Psalms into metrical form. Marot
was a gifted and versatile genius, but not inclined to piety or
serious-mindedness. However, his versified Psalms became immensely
popular with the French Huguenots and exerted a great influence in the
struggle between the Protestants and the papal party. When Marot was
compelled to flee to Geneva because of Roman persecution, he collaborated
with Calvin in publishing the famous Genevan Psalter, which appeared in
1543.
Following the death of Marot in 1544, Calvin engaged Theodore de Beza to
continue the work, and in 1562 the Genevan Psalter was published in
completed form, containing all the Psalms in versified dress. The musical
editor during the greater part of this period was Louis Bourgeois, to
whom is generally ascribed the undying honor of being the composer of
probably the most famous of all Christian hymn tunes, "Old Hundredth."
The Genevan Psalter was translated into many languages, and became the
accepted hymn-book of the Reformed Church in Germany, England, Scotland,
and Holland, as well as in France. In Germany the most popular version
was a translation by Ambrosius Lobwasser, a professor of law at
Koenigsberg, who, oddly enough, was a Lutheran.
For more than 150 years Lutheran hymn-writers had been pouring out a
mighty stream of inspired song, but the voice of hymnody was stifled in
the Reformed Church. Then came Joachim Neander. His life was short--he
died at the age of thirty--and many of his hymns seem to have been
written in the last few months before his death; but the influence he
exerted on the subsequent hymnody of his Church earned for him the title,
"the Gerhardt of the Reformed Church."
Neander's hymns are preeminently hymns of praise. Their jubilant tone and
smooth rhythmical flow are at once an invitation to sing them. They
speedily found their way into Lutheran hymn-books in Germany, and from
thence to the entire Protestant world. Neander's most famous hymn,
"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty," with its splendid chorale melody,
grows in popularity with the passing of years, and promises to live on as
one of the greatest _Te Deums_ of the Christian Church.
Joachim Neander was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1650. He came from a
distinguished line of clergymen, his father, grandfather, great
grandfather and great great grandfather having been pastors, and all of
them bearing the name Joachim Neander.
Young Joachim entered the Academic Gymnasium of Bremen at the age of
sixteen years. It seems that he led a careless and profligate life,
joining in the sins and follies that characterized student life in his
age.
In the year 1670, when Neander was twenty years old, he chanced to attend
services in St. Martin's church, Bremen, where Theodore Under-Eyck had
recently come as pastor. Two other students accompanied Neander, their
main purpose being to criticize and scoff at the sermon. However, they
had not reckoned with the Spirit of God. The burning words of Under-Eyck
made a powerful impression on the mind and heart of the youthful Neander,
and he who went to scoff came away to pray.
It proved the turning point in the spiritual life of the young student.
Under the guidance of Under-Eyck he was led to embrace Christ as his
Saviour, and from that time he and Under-Eyck were life-long friends.
The following year Neander became tutor to five young students,
accompanying them to the University of Heidelberg. Three years later he
became rector of the Latin school at Duesseldorf. This institution was
under the supervision of a Reformed pastor, Sylvester Luersen, an able
man, but of contentious spirit. At first the two men worked together
harmoniously, Neander assisting with pastoral duties, and preaching
occasionally, although he was not ordained as a clergyman. Later,
however, he fell under the influence of a group of separatists, and began
to imitate their practices. He refused to receive the Lord's Supper on
the grounds that he could not partake of it with the unconverted. He
induced others to follow his example. He also became less regular in his
attendance at regular worship, and began to conduct prayer meetings and
services of his own.
In 1676 the church council of Duesseldorf investigated his conduct and
dismissed him from his office. Fourteen days after this action was taken,
however, Neander signed a declaration in which he promised to abide by
the rules of the church and school, whereupon he was reinstated.
There is a legend to the effect that, during the period of his suspension
from service, he spent most of his time living in a cave in the beautiful
Neanderthal, near Mettmann, on the Rhine, and that he wrote some of his
hymns at this place. It is a well-established fact that Neander's great
love for nature frequently led him to this place, and a cavern in the
picturesque glen still bears the name of "Neander's Cave." One of the
hymns which tradition declares was written in this cave bears the title
"Unbegreiflich Gut, Wahrer Gott alleine." It is a hymn of transcendent
beauty. One of the stanzas reads:
Thee all the mountains praise;
The rocks and glens are full of songs of Thee!
They bid me join my lays,
And laud the mighty Rock, who, safe from every shock,
Beneath Thy shadow here doth shelter me.
Many of Neander's hymns are odes to nature, but there is always a note of
praise to nature's God. Witness, for instance:
Heaven and earth, and sea and air,
All their Maker's praise declare;
Wake, my soul, awake and sing,
Now thy grateful praises bring!
"Here behold me, as I cast me," a penitential hymn by Neander, has found
favor throughout all Christendom.
In 1679 Neander's spiritual friend, Pastor Under-Eyck, invited him to
come to Bremen and become his assistant in St. Martin's church. Although
his salary was only 40 thalers a year and a free house, Neander joyfully
accepted the appointment. The following year, however, he became sick,
and after a lingering illness passed away May 31, 1680, at the age of
only thirty years.
During his illness he experienced severe spiritual struggles, but he
found comfort in the words, "It is better to hope unto death than to die
in unbelief." On the day of his death he requested that Hebrews 7:9 be
read to him. When asked how he felt, he replied: "The Lord has settled my
account. Lord Jesus, make also me ready." A little later he said in a
whisper: "It is well with me. The mountains shall be moved, and the hills
shall tremble, yet the grace of God shall not depart from me, and His
covenant of peace shall not be moved."
A Hymn Classic by Scheffler
Thee will I love, my Strength, my Tower,
Thee will I love, my Joy, my Crown;
Thee will I love with all my power,
In all Thy works, and Thee alone;
Thee will I love, till Thy pure fire
Fill all my soul with chaste desire.
I thank Thee, uncreated Sun,
That Thy bright beams on me have shined;
I thank Thee, who hast overthrown
My foes, and healed my wounded mind;
I thank Thee, whose enlivening voice
Bids my freed heart in Thee rejoice.
Uphold me in the doubtful race,
Nor suffer me again to stray;
Strengthen my feet with steady pace
Still to press forward in Thy way;
That all my powers, with all their might,
In Thy sole glory may unite.
Thee will I love, my Joy, my Crown;
Thee will I love, my Lord, my God;
Thee love beneath Thy smile or frown,
Beneath Thy scepter or Thy rod.
What though my flesh and heart decay?
Thee shall I love in endless day.
Johann Scheffler, 1657.
A ROMAN MYSTIC AND HYMN-WRITER
In Johann Scheffler we have the singular example of a man who forsook the
Lutheran Church to become a Romanist, but whose hymns have been adopted
and sung by the very Church he sought to oppose and confound.
Scheffler was a contemporary of Gerhardt and Neander. He was born in
Breslau, Silesia, in 1624. His father, Stanislaus Scheffler, was a Polish
nobleman who had been compelled to leave his native land because of his
Lutheran convictions. Young Scheffler became a medical student at
Strassburg, Leyden, and Padua, returning to Oels, Silesia, in 1649 to
become the private physician to Duke Sylvius Nimrod of Wuerttemberg-Oels.
During his sojourn in foreign lands he had come in contact with the
writings of various mystics and he began to lean strongly toward their
teachings. At Oels he began to flaunt his separatist views by absenting
himself from public worship and the Lord's Supper. When the Lutheran
authorities refused to permit the publication of some poems he had
written, because of their strong mystical tendencies, Scheffler resigned
his office and betook himself to Breslau, where he joined himself to a
group of Jesuits. Here he pursued the study of the medieval mystics of
the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1653 was confirmed as a member of that
communion. At this time he took the name of Angelus Silesius, probably
after a Spanish mystic named John ab Angelis.
In 1661 he was ordained a priest of the Roman Church. He became a
prolific writer and took special delight in directing bitter polemics
against the Church of his childhood. Of these writings, it has been well
said: "He certainly became more Roman than the Romans; and in his more
than fifty controversial tractates, shows little of the sweetness and
repose for which some have thought he left the Lutheran Church."
Scheffler, however, was a poet of the first rank. His poems, always
tinged by the spirit of mysticism, sometimes attain to sublime heights,
and again they descend to a coarse realism, particularly when he
describes the terrors of judgment and hell.
His hymns, on the other hand, are almost uniformly of a high order. They
are marked by a fervent love for Christ the heavenly Bridegroom, although
the imagery, largely based on the Song of Solomon, is sometimes
overdrawn, almost approaching the sensual. Few of his hymns reveal his
Catholic tendencies, and therefore they were gladly received by the
Protestants. Indeed, they came into more general use among the Lutherans
than among the Catholics. They were greatly admired by Count von
Zinzendorf, who included no less than 79 of them in his Moravian
collection.
The mysticism of Scheffler often brought him dangerously near the
border-line of pantheism. Vaughn, in his "Hours with the Mystics,"
compares Scheffler with Emerson, and declares that both resemble the
Persian Sufis. Something of Scheffler's pantheistic ideas may be seen in
the following lines:
God in my nature is involved,
As I in the divine;
I help to make His being up,
As much as He does mine.
And again in this:
I am as rich as God; no grain of dust
That is not mine, too: share with me He must.
Duffield, commenting on these astonishing lines, observes, "We need not
wonder that this high-flown self-assumption carried him to the door of a
Jesuit convent. It is in the very key of much that passes with Romanist
theology for heavenly rapture and delight in God."
The pantheistic views of Scheffler may be discerned even in his dying
prayer: "Jesus and Christ, God and man, bridegroom and brother, peace and
joy, sweetness and delight, refuge and redemption, heaven and earth,
eternity and time, love and all, receive my soul."
However, we must agree with Albert Knapp in his judgment of Scheffler's
beautiful hymns, that "whencesoever they may come, they are an unfading
ornament of the Church of Jesus Christ." The gem among them is "Thee will
I love, my Strength, my Tower." Others that have come into general use
are "Earth has nothing sweet or fair," "Thy soul, O Jesus, hallow me,"
"Come, follow me, the Saviour spake," "Jesus, Saviour, come to me," "Thou
holiest Love, whom most I love," and "Loving Shepherd, kind and true."
A Gem among Pietistic Hymns
O Jesus, Source of calm repose,
Thy like no man nor angel knows,
Fairest among ten thousand fair!
E'en those whom death's sad fetters bound,
Whom thickest darkness compassed round,
Find light and life, if Thou appear.
Renew Thine image, Lord, in me,
Lowly and gentle may I be;
No charms but these to Thee are dear;
No anger may'st Thou ever find,
No pride, in my unruffled mind,
But faith, and heaven-born peace, be there.
A patient, a victorious mind,
That life and all things casts behind,
Springs forth obedient to Thy call,
A heart that no desire can move,
But still to praise, believe, and love,
Give me, my Lord, my Life, my All!
Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, 1704.
HYMN-WRITERS OF THE PIETIST SCHOOL
Spiritual revivals in the Christian Church have always been accompanied
by an outburst of song. This was true of the Reformation, which witnessed
the birth of the Lutheran Church, and it was also characteristic of the
Pietistic movement, which infused new life and fervor into that
communion. The Pietistic revival, which in many respects was similar to
the Puritan and Wesleyan movements in England, had its inception in
Germany in the latter part of the 17th century and continued during the
first half of the 18th century. It quickly spread to other Lutheran
countries, particularly Scandinavia, and its influence has been felt even
to the present time.
The leader of the movement was Philipp Jacob Spener, pastor of St.
Nicolai Church, in Berlin. Spener, although a loyal and zealous son of
the Lutheran Church, was not blind to the formalism and dead orthodoxy
which had overtaken it following the Thirty Years' War and which
threatened to dry up the streams of spiritual life. To stimulate
spiritual endeavor and personal piety, Spener and his followers organized
Bible study groups. They also encouraged private assemblies for mutual
edification. These were known as _collegia pietatis_, which gave rise to
the name, "Pietists."
August Hermann Francke, the foremost disciple of Spener, succeeded the
latter as leader of the movement. The University of Halle, where Francke
was called as professor in 1691, became the center of Pietism. Here
Francke laid the foundations for the remarkable philanthropic and
educational institutions that made his name known throughout the
Christian world. It began in 1695 when the great-hearted man opened a
room in his own house for the instruction of poor children. Within a few
years he had established his great orphanage, a high school, and a home
for destitute students. The orphans' home was erected on a site where
there had been a beer and dancing garden.
When Francke began he had no money, nor did he receive any support from
the state, but as the marvelous work progressed funds poured in from all
quarters. In the year of his death, 1727, more than 2,000 children were
receiving care and instruction from 170 teachers. Altogether, some 6,000
graduates of theology left Halle during Francke's career, "men imbued
with his spirit, good exegetes, and devoted pastors, who spread their
doctrines all over Germany, and in the early decades of the 18th century
occupied a majority of the pulpits."
Halle also became the cradle of the modern missionary movement. From this
place, in 1705, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Pluetschau, were sent
forth as the first missionaries to India, nearly a century before William
Carey left England for the same field. At Halle the youthful Count von
Zinzendorf became a pupil under Francke and received the inspiration that
in later years led to the establishment of the far-reaching missions of
the Moravians. To Halle the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, came in
1738, shortly after his conversion in London, in order to become more
familiar with the teachings of Luther and the Pietists.
The secret of the marvelous success of Francke's efforts may be read in
the simple inscription on the monument erected to his memory in front of
the famous orphanage at Halle. It reads: "He trusted in God."
Neither Francke nor Spener were hymn-writers of note, although each
composed a few songs. The Pietist movement, however, gave birth to a
great revival in hymnody in Germany, both in Lutheran and Reformed
circles. At Halle it was Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen who not only
became the representative hymnist of the Pietists, but also succeeded
Francke as head of the great Halle institutions.
Freylinghausen was a student at the University of Jena when he first
heard the preaching of Francke. Shortly afterward he followed him to
Halle, and in 1695 became Francke's colleague. He preached at vesper
services, conducted midweek meetings, taught classes in the orphanage
school, and delivered lectures on homiletics. He served without salary
for ten years, since Francke was obliged to use all his income for the
support of his institutions of mercy. In 1715 Freylinghausen married
Francke's only daughter. At her baptism as an infant he had been her
sponsor, and she had received his name, Johanna Anastasia. It was after
Francke's death in 1727 that the Halle institutions reached their highest
development under the direction of Freylinghausen. When the latter died
in 1739, he was buried beside his beloved friend.
Freylinghausen's "Geistreiches Gesangbuch" became the standard hymn-book
of the Pietistic movement. The first edition appeared in 1704 and
contained 683 hymns. A second hymn-book was published in 1714, containing
815 additional hymns. The two collections were combined in 1741 by G. A.
Francke and published as one hymn-book, containing 1,582 hymns and 600
tunes. Freylinghausen was the author of forty-four of these hymns, and is
also said to have composed some of the melodies.
The hymns of Freylinghausen are the most worthy of all those produced by
the Pietistic school. They are marked by genuine piety, depth of feeling,
rich Christian experience, and faithfulness in Scriptural expression. The
tunes employed, however, were often a distinct departure from the
traditional Lutheran chorales, and were not always suited to
congregational worship. Freylinghausen's most famous hymn, "O Jesus,
Source of calm repose," was greatly admired by John Wesley, who
translated it into English in 1737. The so-called "Jesus hymns," which
reached their greatest development among the Pietists, find their
sweetest expression in Freylinghausen's:
Who is there like Thee,
Jesus, unto me?
None is like Thee, none above Thee,
Thou art altogether lovely;
None on earth have we,
None in heaven like Thee.
It is not strange that from Halle, from whence such mighty missionary
influences flowed, should also go forth the first Protestant missionary
hymn. It was in 1750 that Karl Heinrich von Bogatzky, while working among
the orphans of the Franckean institutions, wrote his famous hymn, "Awake,
thou Spirit, who didst fire."
Bogatzky, who came from a noble Hungarian family, was disowned by his
father when he chose to enroll as a theological student at Halle rather
than to prepare for a career as an army officer. His health failed him,
however, and he was unable to enter the ministry. For many years he
devoted himself to hymn-writing and devotional literature. He also
traveled as a lay preacher. Because of his noble birth he was able to
exert a considerable influence in the higher circles of German society.
From 1746 to his death in 1774, he lived at the Halle orphanage. He was
the author of some 411 hymns, but few of them possess the poetic and
spiritual fire of his missionary hymn. Two of its glorious stanzas read:
Awake, Thou Spirit, who didst fire
The watchmen of the Church's youth,
Who faced the foe's envenomed ire,
Who day and night declared Thy truth,
Whose voices loud are ringing still,
And bringing hosts to know Thy will.
O haste to help, ere we are lost!
Send preachers forth, in spirit strong,
Armed with Thy Word, a dauntless host,
Bold to attack the rule of wrong;
Let them the earth for Thee reclaim,
Thy heritage, to know Thy Name.
Johann Jacob Rambach was another important hymn-writer of this period.
The son of a cabinet maker of Halle, young Rambach attended the free
school established by Francke and came under the direct influence of the
great Pietist leader.
Like many a youth, however, he felt that his education was complete at
the age of thirteen years, at which time he left school to work in his
father's shop. The Lord, on the other hand, seems to have had other plans
for the lad, and it was not long before young Rambach suffered a
dislocated ankle. Confined to his bed for several weeks, he again turned
to his books, and, before he had recovered, the desire to resume his
studies took possession of him.
Rambach eventually became one of the outstanding theologians of Halle, as
well as preacher at the school church. In 1731 he removed to Giessen to
become superintendent and first professor of theology. Here he found
conditions vastly different from those at Halle. He was particularly
grieved over the fact that his preaching did not seem to bear fruit.
Often his efforts to bring about healthier spiritual conditions met with
opposition and scoffing on the part of his adversaries. He died in 1735
at the early age of forty-two years--from intense sorrow over the
spiritual indifference of his flock, so it has been said.
Rambach wrote many splendid hymns, among them the confirmation hymn,
"Baptized into Thy Name most holy." His fame rests principally on his
work as a hymnologist, however. During his life-time he published a
number of collections from all sources. These hymns were chosen with fine
discrimination, and Rambach was the first hymn editor to make a
distinction between hymns for congregational worship and those
particularly suited for private devotion.
The beautiful Advent hymn, "Rejoice, all ye believers," as well as the
Epiphany hymn, "O Saviour of our race," also date from the Pietistic
period. Both hymns apparently were written in 1700 by Laurentius
Laurentii, cantor and director of music in the Lutheran cathedral at
Bremen. Laurentii was not only a splendid musician, but also a
hymn-writer of high order, and no less than thirty-four of his hymns were
included in the Freylinghausen collections.
Other hymnists of the Pietistic school include Christian Scriver, writer
of the famous devotional book, "Seelenschatz;" Gottfried Arnold, a noted
church historian; Ernst Gottlieb Woltersdorf, founder of an orphanage at
Bunzlau, and Christian Richter, a pious physician and an associate of
Francke. Few of their hymns, however, are in common use today.
A Hymn of Longing for Christ
O Son of God, we wait for Thee,
We long for Thine appearing;
We know Thou sittest on the throne,
And we Thy Name are bearing.
Who trusts in Thee may joyful be,
And see Thee, Lord, descending
To bring us bliss unending.
We wait for Thee, 'mid toil and pain,
In weariness and sighing;
But glad that Thou our guilt hast borne,
And cancelled it by dying.
Hence, cheerfully may we with Thee
Take up our cross and bear it,
Till we the crown inherit.
We wait for Thee; here Thou hast won
Our hearts to hope and duty;
But while our spirits feel Thee near,
Our eyes would see Thy beauty;
We fain would be at rest with Thee
In peace and joy supernal,
In glorious life eternal.
We wait for Thee; soon Thou wilt come,
The time is swiftly nearing;
In this we also do rejoice,
And long for Thine appearing.
O bliss 'twill be when Thee we see,
Homeward Thy people bringing,
With ecstasy and singing!
Philipp Friedrich Hiller, 1767.
THE WUERTTEMBERG HYMN-WRITERS
The Pietistic movement quickly made its influence felt in all parts of
Germany. In some quarters, especially in the latter stages of the
movement, it assumed more radical forms. Sometimes it developed into
emotionalism and mysticism. The hymns were often of a subjective type,
which led the worshiper to think more about his own inner processes and
feelings than to direct his thoughts to Him alone who can redeem and
sanctify.
Some of the Pietistic hymnists, notably Woltersdorf, were given to the
use of inordinate language and even sensuous descriptions for the purpose
of arousing intense emotion. In one of Woltersdorf's passion hymns, he
dwells morbidly on every detail of the physical sufferings of Christ, and
in another hymn he borrows Scheffler's figure which likens the soul to a
bee deriving sustenance from the crimson wounds of Christ.
On the other hand, the Pietistic hymn is exemplified in its highest and
noblest form in the writings of the so-called Wuerttemberg school of
hymnists, the chief exponent of which was Philipp Friedrich Hiller.
Wuerttemberg was blessed with the famous scholar and theologian, Johann
Albrecht Bengel, whose sound doctrinal views and profound understanding
of human nature not only led to a healthy development of Pietism in
southern Germany, but also left a lasting impression on all the
theological students who came under his influence at the training schools
at Denkendorf, near Esslingen. Hiller was one of these.
Hiller's hymns and those of the other Wuerttemberg hymnists never indulge
in the weak emotional effusions of which the later Halle hymn-writers
were often guilty.
Hiller was a man sorely tried in the school of adversity. Shortly after
he began his pastorate at Steinheim, in 1748, he lost his voice and was
unable to continue his pulpit duties. However, he believed implicitly in
the Pauline teaching that "to them that love God all things work together
for good," and, when his voice became silent, his spirit began to sing
hymns richer and sweeter than ever. Witness, for example, the note of
tenderness in the last stanza of his baptismal hymn, "God, in human flesh
appearing":
Feeble is the love of mother,
Father's blessings are as naught,
When compared, my King and Brother,
With the wonders Thou hast wrought;
Thus it pleased Thy heavenly meekness;
Pleasing also be my praise,
Till my songs of earthly weakness
Burst into celestial lays.
Hiller was a prolific writer, his hymns numbering no less than 1,075 in
all. Most of these were written for his devotional book, "Geistliches
Liederkaestlein," a work that holds an honored place beside the Bible in
many pious homes in southern Germany. Indeed, it has been carried by
German emigrants to all parts of the world. It is related that when a
Germany colony in the Caucasus was attacked by a fierce Circassian tribe
about a hundred years ago, the parents cut up their copies of the
"Liederkaestlein" and distributed its leaves among their children who were
being carried off into slavery. Hiller's hymns, though simple in form and
artless in expression, have retained a strong hold on the people of
Wuerttemberg and are extensively used to this day. Among the more popular
are "O boundless joy, there is salvation," "Jesus Christ as King is
reigning," and "O Son of God, we wait for Thee."
Hiller's rule for hymn-writing, as set forth in one of his prefaces,
could be followed with profit by many modern writers of sentimental
tendencies. He says: "I have always striven for simplicity. Bombastic
expressions of a soaring imagination, a commonplace and too familiar
manner of speaking of Christ as a brother, of kisses and embraces, of
individual souls as the particular Bride of Christ, of naive and pet
images for the Christ-child,--all these I have scrupulously avoided, and
serious-minded men will not blame me if, in this respect, I have revered
the majesty of our Lord."
Another representative of the Wuerttemberg school was Baron Christoph Carl
Ludwig von Pfeil, a diplomat of high attainments and noble, Christian
character. In September, 1763, he was appointed by Frederick the Great as
Prussian ambassador to the Diets of Swabia and Franconia. He was created
a baron by Emperor Joseph II shortly afterwards.
Pfeil began writing hymns at the age of eighteen years and continued it
as his chief diversion throughout life. He was a prolific writer, his
published hymns numbering about 850. He was a warm friend of Bengel, who
wrote the introduction to one of Pfeil's hymn collections. Pfeil wrote
hymns on various phases of civil life. His hymn on the Christian home is
typical:
O blest the house, whate'er befall,
Where Jesus Christ is All in all;
Yea, if He were not dwelling there,
How poor and dark and void it were!
The Silesian pastors, Johann Andreas Rothe and Johann Mentzer, also may
be regarded as belonging to the more conservative Pietistic hymn-writers.
Rothe was pastor at Berthelsdorf, having been brought there through the
influence of Count von Zinzendorf, who had heard him preach in Silesia.
The Moravian community of Herrnhut formed a part of Rothe's parish, and
he took a keen interest in the activities of Zinzendorf and his
followers. However, when Rothe, in 1737, found it necessary to report to
the ecclesiastical authorities that the Moravians were deviating from
sound Lutheran doctrine, the friendship between him and Zinzendorf
ceased, and Rothe found it advisable to remove to Thommendorf, where he
died in 1758.
Rothe wrote approximately forty hymns, the most famous of which is "Now I
have found the ground wherein." This hymn was greatly admired by John
Wesley and was translated by him in 1740. Because it first appeared in
the Moravian hymn-book, the Lutherans suspected that Zinzendorf was the
author. Upon discovering that it was by Rothe, they quickly adopted it.
The first stanza reads:
Now I have found the ground wherein
My soul's sure anchor may remain:
The wounds of Jesus, for my sin
Before the world's foundation slain;
Whose mercy shall unshaken stay
When heaven and earth are fled away.
Mentzer, who has given us the beautiful hymn, "O would, my God, that I
could praise Thee," was born at Jahmen, Silesia, in 1658. For
thirty-eight years he was pastor at Kemnitz, Saxony, at which place he
wrote his hymns, about thirty in number. There is an exalted strain in
his hymns of praise:
O all ye powers that He implanted,
Arise, keep silence thus no more,
Put forth the strength that He hath granted,
Your noblest work is to adore;
O soul and body, be ye meet
With heartfelt praise your Lord to greet.
This hymn sometimes begins with the line, "O that I had a thousand
voices."
A Noble Hymn of Worship
Light of light, enlighten me,
Now anew the day is dawning;
Sun of grace, the shadows flee,
Brighten Thou my Sabbath morning.
With Thy joyous sunshine blest,
Happy is my day of rest!
Fount of all our joy and peace,
To Thy living waters lead me;
Thou from earth my soul release,
And with grace and mercy feed me.
Bless Thy Word, that it may prove
Rich in fruits that Thou dost love.
Kindle Thou the sacrifice
That upon my lips is lying;
Clear the shadows from mine eyes,
That, from every error flying,
No strange fire may in me glow
That Thine altar doth not know.
Let me with my heart today,
Holy, holy, holy, singing,
Rapt awhile from earth away,
All my soul to Thee upspringing,
Have a foretaste inly given,
How they worship Thee in heaven.
Benjamin Schmolck, 1715.
HOW A GREAT ORGANIST INSPIRED TWO HYMNISTS
While all the hymn-writers of Germany in the early part of the eighteenth
century were more or less influenced by the Pietistic movement, there
were some who nevertheless refused to be carried away by the emotional
extravagances of which some of the Halle song-writers were often guilty.
In the hymns of these more conservative psalmists we find a happy
blending of objective teaching and a warm, personal faith that reminds us
of the earlier hymns of Gerhardt.
The chief representatives of this more typical Lutheran school were
Benjamin Schmolck, a beloved pastor and a poet of rare ability, and
Erdmann Neumeister, creator of the Church Cantata. It was the age in
which John Sebastian Bach lived and wrought, and this prince of Lutheran
organists, whose title of "high priest of church music" has never been
disputed, gave of his musical genius to help make the hymns of Schmolck
and Neumeister immortal.
Next to Gerhardt, there is no German hymnist whose name is so frequently
found in hymn-books today as that of Schmolck. Born at Brauchitzdorf,
Silesia, where his father was pastor, he was sent to school at Lauban at
the age of sixteen. After an absence of five years the young man returned
home and was invited to fill his father's pulpit. The sermon he preached
so pleased the father that he determined to send him to the University of
Leipzig to study for the ministry. In 1697 he returned to Brauchitzdorf
to be ordained as his father's assistant.
In 1702 Schmolck became pastor of Friedenskirche at Schweidnitz, in
Silesia. According to the terms of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, all
of the churches in this district had been turned over to the Catholics,
and only a "meeting-house," built of timber and clay and without tower or
bells, was allowed to the Lutherans. Here Schmolck labored patiently for
thirty-five years under the most trying circumstances, not even being
permitted to administer communion to the dying except by consent of the
Catholic authorities.
Schmolck's hymns and spiritual songs, numbering 1,183 in all, brought him
fame all over Germany. Many have been translated into English. His
fervent love for the Saviour is beautifully reflected in the hymn:
My Jesus, as Thou wilt!
O may Thy will be mine!
Into Thy hand of love
I would my all resign;
Through sorrow or through joy,
Conduct me as Thine own,
And help me still to say,
"My Lord, Thy will be done!"
"Light of light, enlighten me," a noble hymn of praise and adoration, has
been happily wedded to a glorious chorale by Bach. Other hymns that have
won renown throughout the Christian world include "Open now thy gates of
beauty," "Welcome, Thou Victor in the strife," "Blessed Jesus, here we
stand," "What our Father does is well," "My God, I know that I must die,"
"Hallelujah, Lo, He wakes," "My truest Friend abides in heaven," and
"Precious Word from God in heaven." The joyous spirit in many of
Schmolck's hymns may be seen reflected in the beautiful temple hymn:
Open now thy gates of beauty,
Zion, let me enter there.
Where my soul in joyful duty
Waits for Him who answers prayer;
O how blessed is this place,
Filled with solace, light, and grace!
Neumeister followed the example of Schmolck in becoming an ardent
champion of the older, conservative Lutheranism. Although he was greatly
influenced as a youth by the writings of Francke, he later became
convinced that there were dangerous tendencies in the Halle and Herrnhut
movements, and he did not hesitate to issue violent polemics against
them.
His hymns, on the other hand, offer a curious contrast to his other
writings. Often they reveal a warmth and tenderness of feeling that would
have merited a place for them in any Pietistic hymn-book. This may be
seen in the hymn, "Jesus sinners doth receive," which has also been
translated "Sinners may to Christ draw near:"
"Jesus sinners doth receive!"
Word of surest consolation;
Word all sorrow to relieve,
Word of pardon, peace, salvation!
Naught like this can comfort give:
"Jesus sinners doth receive!"
Neumeister became pastor of St. James church in Hamburg in 1715, where he
remained for forty-one years until his death in 1756. His fame does not
rest merely upon his hymns, although he wrote 650 in all, but Neumeister
will also be remembered as the originator of the Church Cantata. In this
new field of musical art he was fortunate in having the cooperation of
such a genius as Bach.
Bach belonged to the fifth generation of a remarkable family of
musicians. As many as thirty-seven of the family are known to have held
important musical positions. John Sebastian, who is by far the greatest
musician the Protestant Church has produced, was born in Eisenach, on
March 21, 1685. The greater part of his life was spent in Leipzig, where
he labored from 1723 until his death in 1750 as cantor of the Thomas
school and director of music at the Thomas and Nicolai churches.
Bach's devotion to the Lutheran Church has been likened to that of
Palestrina to the Catholic Church. There is no loftier example of musical
genius dedicated to the service of the Christian religion than we find in
the life of Bach. He felt that his life was consecrated to God, to the
honor of his Church, and to the blessing of mankind. Although it was the
age when the opera was flourishing in Europe, Bach gave no attention to
it, but devoted all his remarkable talent to church music.
As master of the organ, Bach has never been equaled. His chorales and
passion music also belong in a class by themselves. A famous critic has
written: "Mozart and Beethoven failed in oratorio, Schubert in opera; the
Italian operas of Gluck and Handel have perished. Even in the successful
work of these men there is a strange inequality. But upon all that Bach
attempted--and the amount of his work is no less a marvel than its
quality--he affixed the stamp of final and inimitable perfection."
With the passing of years, Bach's genius is being recognized more and
more throughout the Christian Church. The performance of his cantatas by
the Catholic Schola Cantorum of Paris "is one of the many testimonies to
the universality of the art of this son of Lutheranism." There is
something in his mighty productions that touches the deepest chords of
religious emotion, regardless of creed or communion.
A Hymn on the Mystical Union
Thou hidden love of God, whose height,
Whose depth unfathomed no man knows,
I see from far Thy beauteous light,
Inly I sigh for Thy repose:
My heart is pained, nor can it be
At rest; till it find rest in Thee.
Is there a thing beneath the sun
That strives with Thee my heart to share?
Ah! tear it thence, and reign alone,
The Lord of every motion there.
Then shall my heart from earth be free,
When it hath found repose in Thee.
O hide this self from me, that I
No more, but Christ in me, may live!
My base affections crucify,
Nor let one favorite sin survive;
In all things nothing may I see,
Nothing desire, or seek, but Thee.
Each moment draw from earth away
My heart that lowly waits Thy call!
Speak to my inmost soul, and say:
"I am thy Love, thy God, thy All!"
To feel Thy power, to hear Thy voice,
To taste Thy love, be all my choice!
Gerhard Tersteegen, 1729.
GERHARD TERSTEEGEN, HYMN-WRITER AND MYSTIC
While Benjamin Schmolck must be regarded as the greatest of Lutheran
hymn-writers in Germany during the eighteenth century, Gerhard Tersteegen
holds the same distinction among German Reformed hymnists. Except for the
Wesleys in England, no man during his age exerted so great a spiritual
influence in evangelical circles of all lands as did Tersteegen. In some
respects his religious views bordered on fanaticism, but no one could
question his deep sincerity and his earnest desire to live the life
hidden with Christ in God.
Born at Moers, Rhenish Prussia, November 25, 1697, Tersteegen was only six
years old when his father died. It had been the plan of his parents that
he should become a Reformed minister, but the death of the father made it
impossible for the mother to carry out this purpose. At the age of
sixteen he was apprenticed to a merchant, and four years later entered
business on his own account.
Although he was only twenty years old at this time, he began to
experience seasons of deep spiritual despondency. This lasted for nearly
five years, during which time he changed his occupation to that of silk
weaving, since he desired more time for prayer and meditation. It was not
until the year 1724, while on a journey to a neighboring town, that light
seemed to dawn on his troubled soul, and he was filled with the assurance
that God's grace in Christ Jesus was sufficient to atone for all sin. In
the joy and peace which he had found, he immediately wrote the beautiful
hymn, "How gracious, kind and good, my great High Priest, art Thou."
From this time until the close of his life, Tersteegen began to devote
his energies more and more to religious work and literary activities. An
independent religious movement known as "Stillen im Lande" had begun
about this time, and he soon became known as a leader among these people.
Tersteegen had already ceased to associate with his friends in the
Reformed Church, and had gone over to religious mysticism. In one of his
strange spiritual moods he wrote what he called "a covenant between
himself and God" and signed it with his own blood.
Finally he gave up business pursuits entirely, and his home became the
refuge of multitudes of sick and spiritually troubled people. It came to
be known as the "Pilgrim's Hut," from the fact that many found a
temporary retreat there, as well as spiritual help and guidance.
Tersteegen also traveled extensively in his own district, and made
frequent visits to Holland to hold meetings there.
Tersteegen never married, and for this reason he was accused of teaching
celibacy. Several sects, including the Moravians, sought to induce him to
become one of their number, but he steadfastly refused to identify
himself with any organized church body. He died at Muelheim, April 30,
1769.
Tersteegen's hymns, as well as his other writings, reflect his spirit of
mysticism. His soul was imbued with the sense of the nearness of God,
and, through a life of spiritual communion and a renunciation of the
world, he developed a simplicity of faith and a child-like trust that
found beautiful expression in his hymns.
Two of these, "Thou hidden love of God whose height" and "Lo, God is
here, let us adore," made a deep impression on John Wesley, who
translated the former during his visit to Georgia in 1736. Wesley became
familiar with Tersteegen's hymns through contact with Moravian pilgrims
who were crossing the Atlantic on the same ship on which he sailed. "Lo,
God is here, let us adore" has several English versions, including "God
is in His temple" and "God Himself is present."
Another of Tersteegen's hymns, "God calling yet! shall I not hear?" is
one of the most stirring calls to repentance in all the realm of
Christian hymnody. It was rendered into English by Mrs. Sarah Borthwick
Findlater in the series of translations known as "Hymns from the Land of
Luther."
Other noted hymns by Tersteegen include "Jesus, whom Thy Church doth
own," "O Love divine, all else transcending," and "Triumph, ye heavens,"
the latter a Christmas lyric of exultant strain.
Tersteegen's conception of the high place which hymnody should occupy in
Christian worship is revealed in his writings. He says: "The pious,
reverential singing of hymns has something angelic about it and is
accompanied by divine blessing. It quiets and subdues the troubled
emotions; it drives away cares and anxieties; it strengthens, refreshes
and encourages the soul; it draws the mind unconsciously from external
things, lifts up the soul to joyful adoration, and thus prepares us to
worship in spirit and in truth. We should sing with the spirit of
reverence, with sincerity, simplicity and hearty desire.... When you
sing, O soul, remember that you are as truly communing with the holy and
omnipresent God as when you are praying. Consider that you are standing
in spirit before the throne of God with countless thousands of angels and
spirits of the just and that you are blending your weak praises with the
music of heaven. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling."
Following a Heavenly Leader
Jesus, still lead on,
Till our rest be won,
And although the way be cheerless,
We will follow, calm and fearless.
Guide us by Thy hand
To our Fatherland!
If the way be drear,
If the foe be near,
Let not faithless fear o'ertake us,
Let not faith and hope forsake us;
For through many a foe
To our home we go!
When we seek relief
From a long-felt grief,
When temptations come alluring,
Make us patient and enduring,
Show us that bright shore
Where we weep no more!
Jesus, still lead on,
Till our rest be won;
Heavenly Leader, still direct us,
Still support, console, protect us,
Till we safely stand
In our Fatherland!
Nicolaus Ludwig, Count Zinzendorf, 1721
ZINZENDORF AND MORAVIAN HYMNODY
The church of the Moravian Brethren is famous for two things: its
missionary zeal and its love for church music. It owes both of these
distinguishing characteristics to its great founder and patron leader,
Nicolaus Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf. Not only was this very unusual man
a gifted writer of hymns, but he was also an ardent exponent of foreign
missions.
Zinzendorf was only ten years old when his soul was fired with a
passionate desire to do something to help win the world for Christ. He
was a pupil at the famous Pietist school of Francke at Halle, Germany, at
the time, and through his endeavors a mission society known as "The Order
of the Grain of Mustard Seed," was organized among the lads of his own
age.
A few years later he chanced to see a copy of Sternberg's masterpiece,
"Ecce Homo," depicting Christ wearing His crown of thorns before Pilate
and the Jewish mob. Beneath the famous picture were inscribed the words:
This have I done for thee;
What hast thou done for Me?
From that moment Zinzendorf took as his life motto: "I have but one
passion, and that is He and only He." On his wedding day, in 1722, he and
his young bride decided to renounce their rank and to dedicate their
lives to the task of winning souls for Christ.
The Lord took them at their word. In that same year a number of
Protestant refugees from Moravia, who had been compelled to leave their
homes because of Roman Catholic persecution, arrived in Saxony and found
refuge on Zinzendorf's large estate. They were a remnant of the Bohemian
Brethren, a heroic religious communion which dated back to the days of
the noble martyr, John Huss. Though relentlessly hunted and persecuted
for more than three centuries, this early evangelical body had continued
to maintain its existence in the form of secret religious circles known
as "the hidden seed."
Under the protection of Count Zinzendorf, the little band of Moravian
refugees established a religious center which they called "Herrnhut."
Zinzendorf, who was a Lutheran, induced them to adopt the Augsburg
Confession as a statement of their doctrine, but they continued to exist
as an independent church body. People from all over Europe, hearing that
religious freedom was enjoyed on the Zinzendorf estates, flocked to
Herrnhut in large numbers to escape persecution, and it soon became a
flourishing colony.
In 1737 Zinzendorf accepted ordination as a bishop of the Brethren, and
thus became the real leader of the organization. He immediately began to
impart his own missionary zeal to the Moravian movement. Two of the
earliest missionaries, David Nitschmann and Leonard Dober, were sent to
the island of St. Thomas, in the West Indies, to preach the gospel to the
negro slaves. The blacks were so embittered because of the cruel
treatment received at the hands of their taskmasters that they refused to
listen to the missionaries, and very little progress could be made. At
last, in order to gain their confidence, Dober sold himself as a slave
and shared their hardships with them. He soon died, however, as a result
of this deed. The story of his heroic sacrifice so moved the heart of
Prime Minister Wilberforce of England that he forthwith determined to
begin the movement which eventually led to the emancipation of all slaves
in the British empire.
Missionary zeal continued to flourish among the Moravians, and the little
colony of Herrnhut became known as one of the most famous missionary
centers of Christendom. Every one of its members felt that he possessed
no permanent habitation in this world, and was prepared every day to be
sent to any part of the globe.
Though still a small organization today, the Moravian Church has never
lost its missionary spirit. It is claimed that for every fifty-eight
members of the Church at home, there is one missionary in foreign lands.
When Carey went to India, the Moravians already had 165 missionaries in
the pagan world.
Zinzendorf was a great lover of music. Even as a boy, he wrote hymns. The
first was written at the age of twelve, and he was still producing hymns
in 1760, the year of his death. Altogether, he is credited with the
authorship of more than 2,000 lyrics. His most famous is "Jesus, still
lead on," which is also known as "Jesus, lead the way." John Wesley was a
great admirer of Zinzendorf's hymns and has given us the beautiful
English translation of "Jesus, thy blood and righteousness." James
Montgomery, the noted English hymnist, was a member of the Moravian
communion.
A Glorious Hymn of Adoration
Beautiful Saviour!
King of Creation!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Truly I'd love Thee,
Truly I'd serve Thee,
Light of my soul, my Joy, my Crown.
Fair are the meadows,
Fair are the woodlands,
Robed in flowers of blooming spring;
Jesus is fairer,
Jesus is purer;
He makes our sorrowing spirit sing.
Fair is the sunshine,
Fair is the moonlight,
Bright the sparkling stars on high;
Jesus shines brighter,
Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels in the sky.
Beautiful Saviour!
Lord of the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor,
Praise, adoration,
Now and for evermore be Thine!
Muenster Gesangbuch, 1677.
TWO FAMOUS HYMNS AND SOME LEGENDS
Every hymn has a story. Ofttimes, however, the origin is obscure, and it
is difficult to trace its birth out of the misty past. Again there are so
many legends that have gathered around the great lyrics of the ages, many
of them generally accepted, that it becomes a painful process to get rid
of these excrescences. Two beautiful German hymns, "Schoenster Herr Jesu"
and "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!" may serve to illustrate these
difficulties.
In innumerable hymn-books the former hymn, sometimes translated
"Beautiful Saviour" and sometimes "Fairest Lord Jesus," is designated as
"The Crusaders' Hymn." The hymn was first introduced to American
worshipers by Richard Storrs Willis, who included it in his "Church
Chorals and Choir Studies," published in 1850. It was accompanied with
this explanation: "This hymn, to which the harmony has been added, was
lately (1850) discovered in Westphalia. According to the traditionary
text by which it is accompanied, it was wont to be sung by the German
knights on their way to Jerusalem. The only hymn of the same century
which in point of style resembles this is one quoted by Burney from the
Chatelaine de Coucy, set about the year 1190, very far inferior, however,
to this."
In a London hymn-book, "Heart Melodies" by Morgan and Chase, the same
error is repeated. There it is referred to as "Crusader's Hymn of the
Twelfth Century. This air and hymn used to be sung by the German pilgrims
on their way to Jerusalem."
"For these statements," writes James Mearns, "there does not seem to be
the shadow of foundation, for the air referred to has not been traced
earlier than 1842, nor the words than 1677."
The hymn appeared anonymously in the "Muenster Gesangbuch" of 1677, where
it was published as the first of "Three beautiful selected new hymns." In
a book of Silesian folk songs, published in Leipzig in 1842, the text is
found in altered form and the beautiful melody to which it is now sung is
given for the first time. Both text and melody, it is explained in this
book, were taken down from oral recitation in the district of Glaz, in
lower Silesia. From these facts we are compelled to draw the conclusion
that this glorious hymn of adoration to the Saviour probably dates back
to the seventeenth century, while the melody is undoubtedly a Silesian
folk song of much later origin.
The English translation, "Beautiful Saviour," has come to us from the pen
of Joseph A. Seiss, the noted Lutheran preacher of Philadelphia.
"Silent night, holy night" also is a hymn around which numerous legends
have clustered. The most unfortunate of these deals with its origin.
According to this story, the hymn was written on a Christmas Eve by a
"Mr. Mohr," whose wife that very day had gone to celebrate Christmas in
heaven. In an adjoining room the grief-stricken husband and father could
see his little motherless children sleeping. Outside the house of
mourning the stillness of the night was broken suddenly by the singing of
Christmas carolers. They were singing the very songs his wife and
children used to sing. Now, he thought, she is blending her voice with
the angels. Then came the inspiration for the hymn, and in a few moments
he had penned the now famous "Stille Nacht."
This is a very touching story, but its fatal defect lies in the fact that
"Mr. Mohr" was a Roman Catholic priest.
The true story of the origin of the hymn has much less of the emotional
appeal. The author, Joseph Mohr, was born at Salzburg, Austria, December
11, 1792. He was ordained as a priest at the age of twenty-three,
becoming assistant at Laufen, near his native city. It was here, three
years later, that the beautiful Christmas carol was written.
It seems that a shipowner at Oberndorf named Maier and his wife had
invited the young priest to be their guest at a pre-Christmas party. As a
special surprise for the priest, Maier had invited some wandering
minstrels to stage a crude representation of the Christmas story as
recounted in the Bible. The thoughtful hospitality of the Maier couple
and the touching simplicity of the festival play so stirred the heart of
Mohr that, instead of going straightway home, he climbed the so-called
"Totenberg," (mountain of the dead) overlooking Oberndorf, and stood in
silent meditation.
The silence of the night, the starry splendor of the winter sky, the
murmur of the Salzach river thrilled his soul. Quickly he descended to
his parish house, and late that night wrote the words of "Stille Nacht."
The next day he hurried to his friend and co-worker, Franz Gruber,
organist and school teacher, and asked him to write music for his lines.
The latter eagerly embraced the opportunity, and thus was given to the
world one of the most exquisite of Christmas carols.
A Classical Harvest Hymn
We plow the fields and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand;
He sends the snow in winter,
The warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine,
And soft, refreshing rain.
He only is the Maker
Of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower,
He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey Him,
By Him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, His children,
He gives our daily bread.
We thank Thee, then, O Father,
For all things bright and good,
The seedtime and the harvest,
Our life, our health, our food;
No gifts have we to offer
For all Thy love imparts,
But that which Thou desirest,
Our humble, thankful hearts.
Matthias Claudius, 1782.
HYMNODY IN THE AGE OF RATIONALISM
In religion, as in other things, the pendulum often swings from one
extreme to the other. Scarcely had the Pietistic movement run its course
before the rationalistic tendencies which had thrown religious thought
into confusion in France and England began to make their appearance in
Germany. Rationalism was an attempt to subject all revealed religion to
the test and judgment of the human reason. That which seemed to
contradict reason was rejected as superstitious and untrue.
Strangely enough, the University of Halle, which had been the citadel of
Pietism, became the stronghold of Rationalism in Germany. Christian Wolff
and Johann Semler, noted philosophers of Halle, were leaders in the
movement. It was not their purpose to establish a new religion of reason,
but to "purge" Christianity of the things that seemed unreasonable. But
the results of the movement were devastating. The miracles of the Bible
that could not be explained by natural causes were rejected as "fables."
Christ was robbed of His glory as a divine Saviour and was regarded only
as a teacher of morals. Religion became merely the knowledge of God and
the pursuit of virtue. What remained of Christianity was a mere shadow: a
hypothesis concerning God and immortality, and a teaching of external
morality, the attainment of which was largely a matter of man's own
efforts.
Rationalism cast its blight over the hymnody of all Europe, but
particularly in Germany. It was the golden age of German literature, but
such geniuses as Goethe, Schiller, Lessing and Wieland were not filled
with the Christian zeal of earlier poets, and they wrote no hymns. Most
of the hymns that were produced were so tinged with the spirit of the
"new theology" that they contained no elements of vitality to give them
permanent value.
The Rationalists were not satisfied with criticizing the Bible; they also
sought to "purge" the hymn-books. The old hymns of Luther, Heermann,
Selnecker, and Gerhardt were so completely altered that a noted German
hymnologist, Albert Knapp, was moved to observe ironically: "The old
hymns were subjected to a kind of transmigration of soul by which their
spirits, after having lost their own personality, entered into other
bodies."
Only a few writers, such as Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Balthasar
Muenter, Christian Gellert and Matthias Claudius, wrote hymns of any
abiding worth.
Klopstock, the German Milton, whose epic, "Messiah," thrilled Germany as
had no other poetic work in centuries, essayed to write a few hymns, but
he soared too high. His hymns lacked simplicity of style and were too
emotional and subjective to be used for public worship. Only two English
translations are familiar--"Blessed are the heirs of heaven," a funeral
hymn, and "Grant us, Lord, due preparation," a communion hymn.
Klopstock spent nearly twenty years of his life at the Danish court,
having been invited there by King Fredrik V through the influence of
Count von Bernstorff, who had become greatly interested in the epic,
"Messiah." The Danish monarch gave the poet an annual pension in order to
assist him in completing his famous poem without being oppressed by
financial worries. In 1770 Klopstock returned to Hamburg, where he died
in 1803.
Gellert, who was born in Hainichen, Saxony, July 4, 1715, intended to
become a Lutheran pastor. After completing his theological course at the
University of Leipzig, however, he found it difficult to deliver sermons
without the use of a manuscript, and therefore decided to take up
teaching. In 1745 he became a member of the faculty of the University of
Leipzig, where he remained until his death in 1769. Among his pupils were
many famous men of Germany, including Goethe and Lessing.
Gellert's hymns, although influenced by the age in which he lived, are
singular for their genuine, evangelical utterance. It is said that he
never attempted to write a hymn except when he was in the proper frame of
mind, and only after a season of prayer. His Easter hymn, "Jesus lives!
thy terrors now," has gained great popularity, both in England and in
America. In the former country it has been sung at the funerals of some
of England's greatest churchmen. His communion hymn also breathes a
spirit of true faith in Christ:
Crushed by my sin, O Lord, to Thee
I come in my affliction:
O full of pity, look on me,
Impart Thy benediction.
My sins are great, where shall I flee?
The blood of Jesus speaks for me;
For all my sins He carried.
Matthias Claudius, the author of the splendid hymn, "We plow the fields
and scatter," like Gellert, had intended to prepare himself for the
Lutheran ministry. While attending the University of Jena, however, the
Rationalistic teachings with which he came in contact caused him to lose
interest in religion, and he decided to take up journalism instead. In
1777 he became editor of a newspaper at Darmstadt, at which place he
became acquainted with Goethe and a group of freethinking philosophers.
Stricken by a serious illness, Claudius began to realize something of the
spiritual emptiness of the life he had been living, and in his hour of
need he turned again to his childhood faith. When he had recovered, he
gave up his position and removed to Wandsbeck, where he edited the
"Wandsbecker Bote" in a true Christian spirit.
In the life-story of Claudius we may discern something of the reaction
that was already taking place in many quarters against the deadening
influence of Rationalism. Men were hungering for the old evangel of
salvation, and there were evidences everywhere of the dawn of a happier
day. Although Claudius' poems were not essentially Church hymns, they
were lyrics that seemed to strike anew some of the strings of Gerhardt's
harp. This is seen especially in his surpassingly beautiful ode to
evening, "The silent moon is risen," written in the same spirit and meter
as Gerhardt's famous evening hymn. The first stanza has been translated:
The silent moon is risen,
The golden star-fires glisten
In heaven serene and bright;
The forest sleeps in shadow,
And slowly off the meadow
A mist is curling, silver-white.
Another stanza, reflecting something of Claudius' own spiritual groping
and, at the same time, confessing the futility of all human efforts to
attain moral perfection, reads:
We, poor, frail mortals, groping,
Half fearing and half hoping,
In darkness seek our way;
Our airy cobwebs spinning
With erring and with sinning,
Far from the mark we sadly stray.
In the lyrics of Claudius we may observe a transition from the
spiritually impoverished hymn production of the rationalistic period to a
new type of hymnody, giving expression to the old rugged faith in a more
elegant form. Men's souls could no longer be satisfied with the dry husks
of philosophical speculation and were turning again to the Bread of God
which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world.
Balthasar Muenter was another faithful witness to the truth in this
unhappy age of widespread skepticism and unbelief. Born at Luebeck in
1735, he became Lutheran court pastor at Gotha and afterwards of the
German Church of St. Peter in Copenhagen. He was the writer of about 100
hymns, many of which were set to tunes composed for them by the greatest
musicians of the day. Among the best known hymns of Muenter are "Lord,
Thou Source of all perfection," "Full of reverence, at Thy Word," "Behold
the man! how heavy lay," and "Woe unto him who says, There is no God."
A Picture of a Christian Home
O happy home, where Thou art loved the dearest,
Thou loving Friend and Saviour of our race,
And where among the guests there never cometh
One who can hold such high and honored place!
O happy home, where two, in heart united,
In holy faith and blessed hope are one,
Whom death a little while alone divideth,
And cannot end the union here begun!
O happy home, whose little ones are given
Early to Thee in humble faith and prayer,
To Thee, their Friend, who from the heights of heaven
Guides them, and guards with more than mother's care.
O happy home, where each one serves Thee lowly,
Whatever his appointed work may be,
Till every common task seems great and holy,
When it is done, O Lord, as unto Thee!
O happy home, where Thou art not forgotten
When joy is overflowing, full and free,
O happy home, where every wounded spirit
Is brought, Physician, Comforter, to Thee.
And when at last all earthly toil is ended,
All meet Thee in the blessed home above,
From whence Thou camest, where Thou hast ascended--
Thine everlasting home of peace and love.
Carl Johann Philipp Spitta, 1833.
HYMNS OF THE SPIRITUAL RENAISSANCE
In the early part of the nineteenth century a great spiritual revival
swept over Germany and other parts of evangelical Europe. In some
respects it resembled the earlier Pietistic movement in Germany and the
Wesleyan revival in England, except that it was more conservative than
either. In Germany the old orthodox conservatives and the more radical
Pietists joined forces to fight Rationalism, and the union was of benefit
to both groups.
There were many influences that contributed to the overthrow of
Rationalism. Chief among these was the widespread suffering and distress
in Germany, both physical and spiritual, following the Napoleonic wars.
Jacobs has well said: "When earthly props fall and temporal foundations
crumble, men turn, almost perforce, to God." The downfall of Napoleon and
the great empire he had founded was an object lesson to the world of the
transitory character of all things material.
The great thinker, Immanuel Kant, also helped to undermine the walls of
Rationalism by pointing out the limitatations of the human reason. He was
followed by the famous theologian, Friedrich Schleiermacher, who taught
that the seat of religion is not to be found in either the reason or
will, but in feeling--"the feeling of absolute dependence upon God." The
way was thus paved for the zealous efforts of Claus Harms, who in 1817,
the 300th anniversary of the Reformation, published a new set of
ninety-five theses and called upon his countrymen to return again to the
pure evangelical teachings of Luther.
Spring-time always brings song-birds and flowers. It was spring-time in
the religious life of Germany, and the sweet notes of evangelical hymnody
again were heard throughout the land.
Carl Johann Philipp Spitta was the greatest German hymn-writer of the
nineteenth century. He was born August 1, 1801, in Hannover. His father,
who was a descendant of a Huguenot family that fled from France during
the Catholic persecutions, died when Carl was only four years old. His
mother was a Christian Jewess, and it is a beautiful tribute to her
fostering care that the finest hymn ever written on the Christian home
came from the pen of her son. No doubt it was the memory of his childhood
home that led Spitta to write:
O happy home, whose little ones are given
Early to Thee in humble faith and prayer,
To Thee, their Friend, who from the heights of heaven
Guides them, and guards with more than mother's care.
Spitta began to write verse at the age of eight. It was his mother's
ambition that he should study for the ministry, but, because of his frail
health, it was decided that he should become a watchmaker, and a younger
brother was sent to school instead. The latter died, however, and now
Carl was given his opportunity. He completed his theological studies in
1824, taught school for four years in Luene, and in 1828 he was ordained
to the Lutheran ministry.
During his university days, Spitta had become a bosom friend of Heinrich
Heine, the famous poet and prose writer. When the latter visited Spitta
at Luene, however, and scoffed at holy things in the presence of Spitta's
pupils, the friendship came to an abrupt end. It was about this time that
Spitta passed through a deep spiritual experience, the result of which
was the composition of some of his finest hymns. Writing to a friend in
1826, he says, "In the manner in which I formerly sang, I sing no more.
To the Lord I dedicate my life, my love, and likewise my song. He gave to
me song and melody. I give it back to Him."
Spitta's hymns aroused unparalleled enthusiasm. His "Psalter und Harfe,"
first published in 1833, appeared in a second and larger edition the
following year. Thereafter a new edition appeared every year, and by 1889
no less than fifty-five editions had been published. A second collection
of hymns was printed in 1843, and by 1887 it had passed through forty-two
editions. The popularity of Spitta's hymns also spread to other lands,
and a large number are found in English and American hymn-books.
Spitta's child-like faith and his fervent love to the Saviour may be seen
reflected in such a hymn as:
I know no life divided,
O Lord of life, from Thee:
In Thee is life provided
For all mankind and me;
I know no death, O Jesus,
Because I live in Thee;
Thy death it is that frees us
From death eternally.
Other well-known hymns from this consecrated writer are "O come, Eternal
Spirit," "By the holy hills surrounded," "I place myself in Jesus'
hands," "Thou, whose coming seers and sages," "We are the Lord's: His
all-sufficient merit," "How blessed from the bonds of sin," "We praise
and bless Thee, gracious Lord," "Brethren, called by one vocation,"
"Withhold not, Lord, the help I crave," "O blessed Sun, whose splendor,"
and "Say, my soul, what preparation." The beloved German psalmist passed
away suddenly while seated at his desk, September 28, 1859.
Most noted among the contemporaries of Spitta was Albert Knapp, who,
although his hymns never met with the popular favor that attended
Spitta's efforts, nevertheless excelled the latter as a poet. Knapp was
born at Tuebingen, July 25, 1798, and was educated for the Lutheran
ministry in the University at that place. His most important post after
ordination was at St. Leonard's church in Stuttgart, where he served from
1845 until his death in 1864.
Knapp was not only a hymnist but also a hymnologist. Perhaps the greatest
service he rendered his Church was the editing of a collection of more
than 3,000 of the great hymns of Germany. This monumental work, known as
"Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz," is the most comprehensive hymn collection
ever published in German, and is a veritable gold-mine of the classics of
Protestant hymnody. Knapp has been severely criticized, however, for the
liberties he took in revising the hymns of some of the older writers. The
best known of his own works is a baptismal hymn, "Father, who hast
created all." A hymn for church dedication begins with the line, "O God,
whom we as Father know."
Carl Bernhard Garve, a Moravian pastor, also contributed a number of
compositions to the hymns of this period, the best known of which is the
beautiful tribute to the Holy Scripture:
Thy Word, O Lord, like gentle dews,
Falls soft on hearts that pine;
Lord, to Thy garden ne'er refuse
This heavenly balm of Thine.
Watered by Thee, let every tree
Forth-blossom to Thy praise,
By grace of Thine bear fruit divine
Through all the coming days.
Garve served congregations in Amsterdam, Ebersdorf, Berlin, and Neusalz.
He spent the last years of his life in Herrnhut, where he died in 1841.
Garve was the most important among the later Moravian hymn-writers. Many
of his hymns have been adopted by other communions, particularly the
Lutheran Church.
To Friedrich Adolf Krummacher, a Reformed pastor, we owe the highly
prized hymn:
Thou art the Way, the Truth, the Life from heaven,
This blest assurance Thou to us hast given;
O wilt Thou teach us, Lord, to win Thy pleasure
In fullest measure?
Krummacher was a teacher of theology in the Reformed University of
Duisburg. After the battle of Jena in 1806 Duisburg was taken from
Prussia by Napoleon and the salaries of the professors were cut off.
Krummacher continued to lecture, however, until his class consisted of
one student! He afterwards served as pastor in a number of cities,
finally accepting appointment to St. Ansgarius church in Bremen. He died
in Bremen in 1845.
Of the more modern hymn-writers of Germany the best known is Karl von
Gerok, chief court preacher at Stuttgart, where he died as recently as
1890. An eloquent preacher and able writer, he attained fame principally
through the publication in 1857 of a collection of poems known as
"Palmblaetter." This work received a marvelous circulation in Germany, and
by 1916 no less than 130 editions had been printed. Although most of
Gerok's compositions are poems rather than hymns, a few have found their
way into hymn-books. A devotional hymn by von Gerok reads:
Holy, holy, holy, blessed Lord,
All the choirs of heaven now adore Thee;
O that I might join that great white host,
Casting down their golden crowns before Thee.
Look on me, a creature of the dust,
Pity me, though I have naught of merit;
Let me bring to Thee for Jesus' sake
Humble praises of a contrite spirit.
Bend Thine ear, dear Lord, and hear my prayer;
Cleanse me in Thy blood for sinners given;
Deck me in the robe of spotless white
Thou hast promised to Thy bride in heaven.