German Hymnology [pp. 574-602]

German Hymnology.
There was no one who after these beginnings of decline
made a more real contribution to evangelical hymnology than
PIIILIP FREDERICK HILLER, an excellent minister of Wurtemburg, who died in 1769. Next to the Bible, his little volume
of hymns was the most common book in his native kingdom.
His hymns are not at all of the Gellert school, but are coloured
with the oriental imagery of scripture, and are utterances of
just the feelings proper to Christian worship.* In Knapp's
collection a judicious prominence ii given to the hymns of
Hiller.
Among the many names which arise for our consideration
we must give the preference to the eccentric LAVATER. Following Dr. Hagenbach, we may place him between Tersteegen,
Freylinghausen, Woltersdorf and Hiller on one side, and Gillert on the other. Fancy and feeling play their part in his
verses, even though he sometimes trips for a moment into the rhetorical gait of Klopstock and Cramer. The remark has often
been made, that Lavater's poetry is at times as prosaic, as his
prose is poetical; but he was true to his character, verifying
Buffon's saying, Le stile c'est I' homme. Whether he wrote
letters, sermons, poems, dissertations, journals, or any thing
else, or communed with God, with his friends or with his own
soul, Lavater always acted out himself; not without affecta tions, but always with a basis of naturalness, candour, and
honesty, which were the charm of his character and the secret
of his influence.t
Our readers scarcely need to be guarded against the thought
that we make any pretence to record the names of all German
poets who have adorned the sanctuary with their gifts in the
last century. A glance at any German hymn-book will show
how endless such a task would be. The difficulty increases as we
come down to our own times. Adventitious causes have given
eminence to many names, and currency to many productions
Stars have arisen which will soon disappear. To which may
* A few of Hiller's hymns may be cited:' Ich glaube das die Heiligen'-' Gott
gieb mir deinen Geist'-' Mir ist Erbarmnng'-' Wie gut ists von der Siunde
frei'-' Die Gnade sei mit aller'-' Herr, meineo Lebenshiitto sinkt'-' Was sind
wir arme Menschen hier.'
t Kgmhte d. 18. Jahrh IL 509.
596
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