Rist, Johann—1607-1667—of the province of Holstein, born at Ottensen, near Altona, member of the ecclesiastical council and minister at Wedel; one of the most celebrated and influential poets of his time. He was, in the pulpit, as well as in sacred poetry, a zealous preacher of Christianity, and was consequently attacked by the zealots of his time, because he did not preach enough upon matters in dispute, and against erroneous doctrine. To this he replied, that, “In his parish there were scarcely two persons who held erroneous doctrine, but there were many who led sinful lives.” He had great trials in his youth, and in his later years he suffered from pillage, pestilence, and all the horrors of war. “The blessed cross,” he says, “has produced from me many hymns.” Though a great number of his hymns were adopted by many churches even during his life-time, he would never suffer them to be sung in his own church, with the exception of a Christmas hymn, which, on one occasion, he allowed the children of the school to practise, and to begin to sing on that festival, “wenn das Volk aus der Kirche zu gehen beginnt,” as the people were beginning to go out of church.