Himmel, Erde, Luft und Meer. J. Neander. [Thanksgiving.] A beautiful hymn of praise and thanksgiving for the wonders and delights of Creation and Providence, founded on Acts xiv., 17. First published in his Glaub- und Liebes-übung: auffgemuntert durch einfältige Bundes-Lieder und Danck-Psalmen, Bremen, 1680, p. 162, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, entitled "Rejoicing in God's Creation” and with the note at the end, “Is also a Traveller's Hymn by land and water." It passed through Freylinghausen's Gesang-Buch, 1704, into later books, and is No. 707 in the Unverfälscher Liedersegen, 1851. Translated as:—
1. Heaven and earth, and tea and air, God's eternal. A good and full translation by Miss Cox in her Sacred Hymns from the German, 1841, p. 195. In more or less altered forms it is found in Alford's Psalms & Hymns, 1844, and his Year of Praise, 1867; in the Marylebone Collection, 1851, &c.; and in America in the Hymns for the Church of Christ, Boston, 1853, &c.
2. Lo, heaven and earth, and sea and air , a full and good translation in L.M. by Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Germanica, 2nd Ser., 1858, p. 148, repeated in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, and in Psalms & Hymns, Bedford, 1859.
3. Heaven and earth, and sea and air, All their. This is a cento, and a good one, in the Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book, 1868. It is mainly from Miss Winkworth, but partly from Miss Cox, and partly new, and in the original metre.
4. Heaven and earth, and sea and air, Still their . A full and good translation by J. D. Burns, included in his Memoir, &c, 1869, p. 229. Repeated in Dale's English Hymn Book, 1875, Baptist Hymnal, 1879, Horder's Congregational Hymnal, &c, 1884.
Other translations are:—
(l) "Heaven and ocean, earth and air," by Lady E. Fortescue, 1843, p. 33. (2) “Heaven, earth, land and sea," by Miss Manington, 1863, p. 105. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Neander, Joachim, was born at Bremen, in 1650, as the eldest child of the marriage of Johann Joachim Neander and Catharina Knipping, which took place on Sept. 18, 1649, the father being then master of the Third Form in the Paedagogium at Bremen. The family name was originally Neumann (Newman) or Niemann, but the grandfather of the poet had assumed the Greek form of the name, i.e. Neander. After passing through the Paedagogium he entered himself as a student at the Gymnasium illustre (Academic Gymnasium) of Bremen in Oct. 1666. German student life in the 17th century was anything but refined, and Neander seems to have been as riotous and as fond of questionable pleasures as most of his fellows. In July 1670, Theodore Under-Eyck came to Breme… Go to person page >
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