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August Hermann Francke

1663 - 1727 Author of "Thank God, towards eternity" Francke, August Hermann, son of Johann Francke, a lawyer in Lubeck, was born at Lubeck, March 22, 1663. He studied at the Universities of Erfurt, Kiel, and Leipzig, graduated M.A. at Leipzig, 1685, and thereafter lectured on Biblical subjects at Leipzig for some time. About Michaelmas, 1687, he went to Lüneburg to work under the pious superintendent C. H. Sandhagen; and there while composing his first sermon (on St. John xx. 31) he underwent that change which made him call Lüneburg his spiritual birthplace. After spending the greater part of 1688 at Hamburg, he stayed two months with P. J. Spener at Dresden, and then returned about Lent, 1689, to Leipzig, where he resumed his Biblical lectures until the old orthodox party procured an edict forbidding them in the beginning of 1690. On March 10, 1690, he received a call to become diaconus of the Augustine Church at Erfurt, and there, by his stirring exhortations to renewal of heart, living faith and holy life, he drew many, even Roman Catholics, around him, but by a combination of the old orthodox Lutherans with the Romanists he was expelled from Erfurt, Sept. 27, 1691. After a lengthened visit to P. J. Spener, then Probst of St Nicholas's Church, Berlin, he was appointed by the Elector of Brandenburg, Dec. 22, 1691, as professor of Greek and the Oriental languages, and in 1698 ordinary professor of Theology in the University of Halle; being also appointed in 1691 preacher at St. George's Church in Glaucha (suburb of Halle), a post which he exchanged in 1715 for the pastorate of St. Ulrich's, Halle. After his left side was paralysed in Nov. 1726, he patiently endured much suffering till his death on June 8, 1727, at Halle ( Koch , iv. 305-322; Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, vii. 219-231). Francke was the spiritual son of P. J. Spener, and became one of the leaders in the " Pietistic" movement which so powerfully influenced Germany, 1680-1750, raised the tone of the community after the depression of the Thirty Years' War, revived the educational system, began systematic provision for the poor, and refined and purified domestic life. Francke was the spiritual leader and teacher, and under him and the band of professors that gathered to Halle, Halle became the headquarters of Pietism. During his time Halle sent out some 6000 graduates in theology, 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 cent, occupied a majority of the pulpits. The extensive buildings at Halle, which now bear the title of the "Francke Institutions," are a monument of his simple faith and philanthropic zeal. He began at Easter, 1695, by opening a room in his house for instructing the poor children of Glaucha, with a capital of about thirteen shillings. About Whitsuntide, 1695, were the beginnings of the Paedagogium, 1697 of the Latin School, 1698 of the bookselling and apothecary businesses, 1705 of the mission to the East Indies, 1710 of the Bible Society. On a place formerly occupied by beer and dancing gardens, the foundation stone of the great Orphanage was laid July 13, 1698, in a spirit of humble faith in God and fervent prayer, trusting to Him for the means to pay for the work as it progressed; and week by week as they were needed the supplies came in from far and near. In this work, as in regard to his sermons and lectures, Francke had great opposition to meet, but the Commission of Enquiry which his enemies procured resulted in a cabinet order of 1702, which is the Charter of his Institutions. In 1727 there were 134 orphans in the orphanage; and besides these 2207 scholars in the various training schools, of whom some 360, as well as 225 poor students, received daily rations; while in 1863 the value of the buildings was about £45,000., and nearly 3500 scholars received instruction. Distinguished as a professor, as a philanthropist, as a pastor, and as a preacher of gospel simplicity and soul-stirring earnestness, Francke was not prolific as a hymnwriter. Only three hymns are known by him, two of which are:— i. Gottlob em Schritt zur Ewigkeit. New Year, first published in his Schrifftmässige Anweisung recht und Gott wolgefällig zu beten, Halle, 1695, p. 534, in 12 st. of 7 l., as a "Morning and Evening" hymn, entitled "The Voice of the Bride (‘When shall I come and appear before God?’), which she raises as often as she completes a step of her mortal life; and may be used by an upright and believing soul instead of the [usual] morning and evening hymn, as also at other times." Reprinted in the Geistreiches Gesang-Buch, Halle, 1697, p. 294, Freylinghausen's Gesang-Buch, 1704, &c, and is No. 623 in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen 1851. According to Koch, viii. 176-179, it was written immediately after his expulsion from Erfurt, Sept 27, 1691, while on his way to his mother's house at Gotha, and "in the experience of the overflowing consolation of the Holy Spirit." In the spirit of his favourite motto, "Quocunque die ante aeternitatem uno stamus pede," and based on 2 Cor. v. 6 and Rev. xxii. 17-20, it is modelled on a hymn by J. V. Andreä, 1636. "Gottlob ein Schritt zur Ewigkeit Ist abermals vorbei." Koch adds that in his lifetime Francke found cases where this hymn had been blessed, that two days before his death he caused the hymn to be read to him, and said, "My faithful Jesus, I have given myself to Thee, soul and body that is sure;" and that on the day on which he died, June 8, 1727, this hymn was one of those sung at the choir meeting at Herrnhut. The translations in common use are :— 1. Thank God, that towards eternity, a full and good translation by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica, 2nd series, 1858, p. 9. In 1860, 1 l. 1-4 of st. i., iv., vi., viii., greatly altered, and beginning, "Bless God, that towards eternity," were included as No. 74 in the American Episcopal Hymns for Church and Home. 2. Oh wouldst Thou in Thy glory come, a translation of st. iv., vii.-xi., founded by Miss Winkworth on her 1858 version, and given as No. 173 in her Chorale Book for England, 1863. Other translations are: (1) "Another step is made with God," in the Supplement to German Psalmody, ed. 1765, p. 50. Previously in Select Hymns from German Psalmody, Tranquebar, 1754, p. 79. (2) "Thank God! towards Eternity," by J. Gambold, as No. 626 in pt. i. of the Moravian Hymnbook, 1754 (1886, No. 1232). (3) "Thank God! another stage of time," by Dr. H. Mills, 1856, p. 227. ii. Was von aussen und von innen. Cross and Consolation. A fine hymn of trust in God, founded on Ps. lxii. 5-8. Written in memory of Eleonore, neé Kubitz, wife of J. H. Michaelis, professor at Halle, and appended to the funeral sermon preached by Francke on Ps. lxii. 2, in St. George's Church, Glaucha, Nov. 1, 1711. Included as No. 500 in Freylinghausen's Neues geistreiches Gesang-Buch, 1714, in 9 st. of 8 l., and recently as No. 2250 in Knapp's Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz, 1837 (1865, No. 1997). Lauxmann, in Koch, viii. 508-512, speaks of this lady as one who suffered severe afflictions, but "what from without or from within pressed on her soul she bore in quiet waiting on the help of the Lord, of Whom she could at last gratefully say 'He hath done all things well.'" Lauxmann adds, "This hymn is also a beautiful clear mirror of Francke's own thought and conversation, heart and life experiences." In his Segensvolle Fussstapfen, 1709, he was able already to relate thirty instances in which the Lord had enabled him to receive, exactly at the time when he needed it, pecuniary help in answer to his prayers during the building and conducting of the great Orphanage at Halle. Of this hymn (which should be read with the history of his great work at Halle) the only translation in common use is:— What within me and without, a good and full translation by Miss Winkworth in the first edition of her Lyra Germanica, 1855, p. 126 (st. iii. being added in the 2nd ed., 1856), and thence as No. 139 in her Chorale Book for England, 1863. With the altered first line, "Lord, Thou art my Rock of strength," three centos are in American common use:— 1. St. ii., iv., vii., ix. in Boardman's Selections, Philadelphia, 1861. 2. St. ii., vii., ix. in the Pennsylvania Lutheran Chorale Book, 1868, Dutch Reformed Hymns of the Church, 1869, and Bichards's Collection, 1881. 3. St. ii., iv., ix. in Robinson's Songs for the Sanctuary, 1865, and the Hymns & Songs of Praise, N. Y., 1874. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology

Catherine Winkworth

1827 - 1878 Person Name: Catherine Winkworth, 1827-1878 Translator of "Thank God That Towards Eternity" in The Cyber Hymnal Catherine Winkworth (b. Holborn, London, England, 1827; d. Monnetier, Savoy, France, 1878) is well known for her English translations of German hymns; her translations were polished and yet remained close to the original. Educated initially by her mother, she lived with relatives in Dresden, Germany, in 1845, where she acquired her knowledge of German and interest in German hymnody. After residing near Manchester until 1862, she moved to Clifton, near Bristol. A pioneer in promoting women's rights, Winkworth put much of her energy into the encouragement of higher education for women. She translated a large number of German hymn texts from hymnals owned by a friend, Baron Bunsen. Though often altered, these translations continue to be used in many modern hymnals. Her work was published in two series of Lyra Germanica (1855, 1858) and in The Chorale Book for England (1863), which included the appropriate German tune with each text as provided by Sterndale Bennett and Otto Goldschmidt. Winkworth also translated biographies of German Christians who promoted ministries to the poor and sick and compiled a handbook of biographies of German hymn authors, Christian Singers of Germany (1869). Bert Polman ======================== Winkworth, Catherine, daughter of Henry Winkworth, of Alderley Edge, Cheshire, was born in London, Sep. 13, 1829. Most of her early life was spent in the neighbourhood of Manchester. Subsequently she removed with the family to Clifton, near Bristol. She died suddenly of heart disease, at Monnetier, in Savoy, in July, 1878. Miss Winkworth published:— Translations from the German of the Life of Pastor Fliedner, the Founder of the Sisterhood of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserworth, 1861; and of the Life of Amelia Sieveking, 1863. Her sympathy with practical efforts for the benefit of women, and with a pure devotional life, as seen in these translations, received from her the most practical illustration possible in the deep and active interest which she took in educational work in connection with the Clifton Association for the Higher Education of Women, and kindred societies there and elsewhere. Our interest, however, is mainly centred in her hymnological work as embodied in her:— (1) Lyra Germanica, 1st Ser., 1855. (2) Lyra Germanica, 2nd Ser., 1858. (3) The Chorale Book for England (containing translations from the German, together with music), 1863; and (4) her charming biographical work, the Christian Singers of Germany, 1869. In a sympathetic article on Miss Winkworth in the Inquirer of July 20, 1878, Dr. Martineau says:— "The translations contained in these volumes are invariably faithful, and for the most part both terse and delicate; and an admirable art is applied to the management of complex and difficult versification. They have not quite the fire of John Wesley's versions of Moravian hymns, or the wonderful fusion and reproduction of thought which may be found in Coleridge. But if less flowing they are more conscientious than either, and attain a result as poetical as severe exactitude admits, being only a little short of ‘native music'" Dr. Percival, then Principal of Clifton College, also wrote concerning her (in the Bristol Times and Mirror), in July, 1878:— "She was a person of remarkable intellectual and social gifts, and very unusual attainments; but what specially distinguished her was her combination of rare ability and great knowledge with a certain tender and sympathetic refinement which constitutes the special charm of the true womanly character." Dr. Martineau (as above) says her religious life afforded "a happy example of the piety which the Church of England discipline may implant.....The fast hold she retained of her discipleship of Christ was no example of ‘feminine simplicity,' carrying on the childish mind into maturer years, but the clear allegiance of a firm mind, familiar with the pretensions of non-Christian schools, well able to test them, and undiverted by them from her first love." Miss Winkworth, although not the earliest of modern translators from the German into English, is certainly the foremost in rank and popularity. Her translations are the most widely used of any from that language, and have had more to do with the modern revival of the English use of German hymns than the versions of any other writer. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ============================ See also in: Hymn Writers of the Church

Lowell Mason

1792 - 1872 Person Name: Lowell Mason Composer of "GOMA" in The Cyber Hymnal Dr. Lowell Mason (the degree was conferred by the University of New York) is justly called the father of American church music; and by his labors were founded the germinating principles of national musical intelligence and knowledge, which afforded a soil upon which all higher musical culture has been founded. To him we owe some of our best ideas in religious church music, elementary musical education, music in the schools, the popularization of classical chorus singing, and the art of teaching music upon the Inductive or Pestalozzian plan. More than that, we owe him no small share of the respect which the profession of music enjoys at the present time as contrasted with the contempt in which it was held a century or more ago. In fact, the entire art of music, as now understood and practiced in America, has derived advantage from the work of this great man. Lowell Mason was born in Medfield, Mass., January 8, 1792. From childhood he had manifested an intense love for music, and had devoted all his spare time and effort to improving himself according to such opportunities as were available to him. At the age of twenty he found himself filling a clerkship in a banking house in Savannah, Ga. Here he lost no opportunity of gratifying his passion for musical advancement, and was fortunate to meet for the first time a thoroughly qualified instructor, in the person of F. L. Abel. Applying his spare hours assiduously to the cultivation of the pursuit to which his passion inclined him, he soon acquired a proficiency that enabled him to enter the field of original composition, and his first work of this kind was embodied in the compilation of a collection of church music, which contained many of his own compositions. The manuscript was offered unavailingly to publishers in Philadelphia and in Boston. Fortunately for our musical advancement it finally secured the attention of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, and by its committee was submitted to Dr. G. K. Jackson, the severest critic in Boston. Dr. Jackson approved most heartily of the work, and added a few of his own compositions to it. Thus enlarged, it was finally published in 1822 as The Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music. Mason's name was omitted from the publication at his own request, which he thus explains, "I was then a bank officer in Savannah, and did not wish to be known as a musical man, as I had not the least thought of ever making music a profession." President Winchester, of the Handel and Haydn Society, sold the copyright for the young man. Mr. Mason went back to Savannah with probably $500 in his pocket as the preliminary result of his Boston visit. The book soon sprang into universal popularity, being at once adopted by the singing schools of New England, and through this means entering into the church choirs, to whom it opened up a higher field of harmonic beauty. Its career of success ran through some seventeen editions. On realizing this success, Mason determined to accept an invitation to come to Boston and enter upon a musical career. This was in 1826. He was made an honorary member of the Handel and Haydn Society, but declined to accept this, and entered the ranks as an active member. He had been invited to come to Boston by President Winchester and other musical friends and was guaranteed an income of $2,000 a year. He was also appointed, by the influence of these friends, director of music at the Hanover, Green, and Park Street churches, to alternate six months with each congregation. Finally he made a permanent arrangement with the Bowdoin Street Church, and gave up the guarantee, but again friendly influence stepped in and procured for him the position of teller at the American Bank. In 1827 Lowell Mason became president and conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society. It was the beginning of a career that was to win for him as has been already stated the title of "The Father of American Church Music." Although this may seem rather a bold claim it is not too much under the circumstances. Mr. Mason might have been in the average ranks of musicianship had he lived in Europe; in America he was well in advance of his surroundings. It was not too high praise (in spite of Mason's very simple style) when Dr. Jackson wrote of his song collection: "It is much the best book I have seen published in this country, and I do not hesitate to give it my most decided approbation," or that the great contrapuntist, Hauptmann, should say the harmonies of the tunes were dignified and churchlike and that the counterpoint was good, plain, singable and melodious. Charles C. Perkins gives a few of the reasons why Lowell Mason was the very man to lead American music as it then existed. He says, "First and foremost, he was not so very much superior to the members as to be unreasonably impatient at their shortcomings. Second, he was a born teacher, who, by hard work, had fitted himself to give instruction in singing. Third, he was one of themselves, a plain, self-made man, who could understand them and be understood of them." The personality of Dr. Mason was of great use to the art and appreciation of music in this country. He was of strong mind, dignified manners, sensitive, yet sweet and engaging. Prof. Horace Mann, one of the great educators of that day, said he would walk fifty miles to see and hear Mr. Mason teach if he could not otherwise have that advantage. Dr. Mason visited a number of the music schools in Europe, studied their methods, and incorporated the best things in his own work. He founded the Boston Academy of Music. The aim of this institution was to reach the masses and introduce music into the public schools. Dr. Mason resided in Boston from 1826 to 1851, when he removed to New York. Not only Boston benefited directly by this enthusiastic teacher's instruction, but he was constantly traveling to other societies in distant cities and helping their work. He had a notable class at North Reading, Mass., and he went in his later years as far as Rochester, where he trained a chorus of five hundred voices, many of them teachers, and some of them coming long distances to study under him. Before 1810 he had developed his idea of "Teachers' Conventions," and, as in these he had representatives from different states, he made musical missionaries for almost the entire country. He left behind him no less than fifty volumes of musical collections, instruction books, and manuals. As a composer of solid, enduring church music. Dr. Mason was one of the most successful this country has introduced. He was a deeply pious man, and was a communicant of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Mason in 1817 married Miss Abigail Gregory, of Leesborough, Mass. The family consisted of four sons, Daniel Gregory, Lowell, William and Henry. The two former founded the publishing house of Mason Bros., dissolved by the death of the former in 1869. Lowell and Henry were the founders of the great organ manufacturer of Mason & Hamlin. Dr. William Mason was one of the most eminent musicians that America has yet produced. Dr. Lowell Mason died at "Silverspring," a beautiful residence on the side of Orange Mountain, New Jersey, August 11, 1872, bequeathing his great musical library, much of which had been collected abroad, to Yale College. --Hall, J. H. (c1914). Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company.

John Gambold

1711 - 1771 Author of "Thank God, towards eternity" in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Protestant Church of the United Brethren. Rev. ed. Gambold, John, M.A., was b. April 10, 1711, at Puncheston, Pembrokeshire, where his father was vicar. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1730, M.A. in 1734. Taking Holy Orders, he became, about 1739, Vicar of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, but resigned his living in Oct. 1742, and joined the United Brethren [Moravians], by whom lie was chosen one of their bishops in 1754. He d. at Haverfordwest, Sept. 13, 1771. He published an edition of the Greek Testament; Maxims and Theological Ideas; Sermons, and a dramatic poem called Ignatius. About 26 translations and 18 original hymns in the Moravian Hymn Books are assigned to him. One or two of his hymns, which were published by the Wesleys, have been claimed for them, but the evidence is in favour of Gambold. A collected ed. of his works was published at Bath in 1789, and afterwards reprinted. [George Arthur Crawford, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Richard W. Adams

b. 1952 Adapter of "GOMA" in The Cyber Hymnal Born: 1952, Missouri. Adams graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia (BA 1974, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa).

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