Gerhardt, Paulus

GERHARDT, g&r'hdrt, PAULUS: The foremost of German hymn-writers; b. at Grafenhainichen (10 m. s. w.of Wittenberg), Electoral Saxony, Mar. 12, 1607; d. at L�bben (40 m. s.w. of Frankfort-on-the-Oder) June 7, 1676. He studied at Wittenberg from 1628, but, probably owing to the disorders of war, it was not until 1651 that he

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obtained his first charge as provost in Mittenwalde. In 1657 he was called to the church of St. Nicholas in Berlin. When the great elector of Brandenburg required that all the clergy should pledge themselves by a declaration to follow his edicts of 1662 and 1664, Gerhardt refused to sign the deolaration (Feb., 1666) and was dismissed from his office. So far as the content of the declaration was concerned, Gerhardt could have signed it without hesitation. His was not a disputatious nature and he had never used contumelious expressions in his sermons, at which the declaration was specially aimed. The reason for his refusal clearly lay in the fact that he regarded the declaration as an infringement upon his right to uphold his Lutheran convictions, his scrupulous conscience making him feel that all yielding in matters relating to the doctrines of the Reformation was wrong. For this reason he could not decide to resume his office, although his dismissal was recalled and the elector agreed that he should not sign the declaration (1667). In 1668 he was called to Lubben as archdeacon, where he spent the last seven years of a life consecrated to good works.

Gerhardt's Hymns.

Gerhardt is the most gifted author of religious songs whom the German Church has ever known. In him, more than in any other, all the requisites for this style of poetry are united. He possessed a firm conviction of the objective truth of the Christian doctrine of salvation and also a genuine sentiment for all that is purely human; deep Christian feeling coupled with sterling good sense; and a fresh and healthy appreciation of life in nature and in mind. In addition to all this, his hymns possess a beauty of form in which the influence of the progress in technique initiated by Opitz can be traced. In the history of religious poetry Gerhardt marks the beginning of a new era; with him sacred poetry assumes a strongly personal character. This was later corrupted by mystical and rationalistic tendencies, but with Gerhardt it always remained in full accord with the objective realities of religious faith. It is characteristic that out of his 120 hymns not leas than sixteen begin with " I," and of the rest more than sixty concern only his own heart and God. In the hymns of the Reformation period the Church is the exclusive subject and object of religious song and the personal note is only rarely sounded. This quality of Gerhardt's hymns is, however, merely the concrete individual form in which Christian faith and Christian life, a common possession of Christ's Church, find expression. As another characteristic of Gerhardt's hymns may be noted the purely human sentiment that animates them. He sings of summer and harvest, of travel and marriage, indeed of the whole of life in nature (cf. his hymn to summer, " Go forth, my heart, and seek for joy"). His whole view of nature, and especially of nature's accord with religious life, is absolutely unaffected and therefore harmonious. In spite of his delicacy of feeling, however, Gerhardt did not altogether escape the influence of the taste of his time; there are parts of his hymns which must to-day be considered harsh and even tasteless. Not satisfied, however, with removing these real blemishes, the critics of a later time, in their emendations, ruthlessly trod under foot all that was most beautiful in the garden of Gerhardt's poesy and transplanted thither their own thistles. This age has given proof of a better historical sense by turning back lovingly to the "unadulterated" Gerhardt.

Gerhardt did not himself collect or publish his hymns. Most of them appeared for the first time in Johann Criiger s Praxis pietatia melica (let and 2d eds. not known; 3d ed., Berlin, 1648). The first complete collection was the work of Johann Georg Ebeling, in ten parts, each containing twelve hymns with tunes (Frankfort-on-the-Oder and Berlin, 1666 and 1667). Among later editions that of J. H. Feustking (Zerbst, 1707) deserves attention because the editor claims that he has corrected the text "according to a copy revised by the author's very hand." Of the more recent critical editions mention may be made of that by J. F. Bachmann (Berlin, 1866), and that of Karl Goedeke (Deutsche Dichter des aiebzehnlen Jahrhunderts, vol, viii., Leipsic, 1877). The best is the latest edition by August Ebeling (Hanover and Leipsic, 1898), in which for the first time the fifth edition of the Praxis pietatia melica could be used for the restoration of the text (cf. Ebeling's essay, Wo iet der Originaltext der Paul Gerhardt'achen Lieder zu findea 1 in O. Lyon's Zeib schrift /fir den deutschen Unterricht, xi., 1897, pp. 745-783).

Carl Bertheau.

Many of Gerhardt's hymns have been incorporated in English collections of hymns or of devotional poetry, and one of them, "O sacred Head now wounded," an adaptation of a hymn attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (q.v.), is widely known and frequently sung. Other familiar ones begin," Ohl how shall I receive thee; " " Commit thou all thy griefs," and "Give to the winds thy fears." More than thirty of his hymns are classical. His English translators include John Wesley, Miss C. Winkworth, James W. Alexander, and John Kelly, who has furnished a complete translation, Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs (London, 1867).

Bibliography: The editions of the poems and hymns by J. F. Bachmann, K. Goedeke, and A. Eberling contain discussions of the fife of Gerhardt. For his life consult also: E. G. Roth, Paul Gerhardt, Leipsic, 1829; F. W. Krummacher, in Piper's Evangelischer Kalender, pp. 204 sqq., Berlin, 1866; E. Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenliedes, iii. 297-327, Stuttgart, 1867; K. Goedeke, Zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung, iii. 182, Dresden, 1887; ADB, viii. 774-783; E. Achelis, in the Blatter für Hymnolo&, 1884, pp. 51 sqq., 71 sqq. More popular lives are those by C. E. Wildenhahn, Leipsic, 1845, and A. Stein, Halle, 1897. Consult also S. W. Duffield, English Hymns, pp. 21 et passim, New York, 1886; Julian, Hymnology, pp. 409-412. The celebration in Germany in 1907 of the 300th anniversary of Gerhardt's birth educed a number of monographs of great merit, including: P. Wernle's Paulus Gerhardt, Tübingen, 1907; G. Kawerau's address, Halle, 1907; and H. Petrieh, Paul Gerhardt, seine Liader und seine Zeit, Gütersloh, 1907; R. Hupfeld, Die Ethik Johann Gerharda. Ein