Later Pietists

272The number of hymn-writers among the Pietists is thus very large: among the principal of the older school are Lange; Winkler and Schade, two of Spener's curates in Berlin; the Freiherr von Canitz, one of his carliest noble converts, and an author of merit in general literature; Richter, the physician of the Orphan-house at Halle; and Laurentius Laurenti, precentor of the cathedral at Bremen. Two of the best hymns of this period were written by men who, as far as we know, never wrote any others. One is "All praise and thanks to God Most High," which was composed in 1673 by Johann Schutz, a man of high standing in the Town Council of Frankfort, who was Spener's most intimate friend during his residence in that city: the other is, "Whate'er my God ordains is right," of which the author was Samuel Rodigast, head-master of the principal gymnasium of Berlin, and also a friend of Spener's, He wrote it in 1675 for a sick friend.

Of the younger Pietists who had grown up under the influence rather of Franke and Freylinghausen than of Spener, the chief hymn-writers are Allendorf, pastor of St. Ulrich's Church in Halle, Woltersdorf, Rambach, and Bogatzky, whose name is still known among us as the author of the "Golden Treasury," a work which has been translated into most European languages, and from fifty to a hundred years ago was the favourite book for daily 273 devotional reading of pious people in England.