the letters "H. L. L." (Hymns from the Land of Luther);^664 James W. Alexander,^665 Henry Mills,^666
John Kelly,^667 not to mention many others who have furnished admirable translations of one or
more hymns for public or private hymnological collections.^668
English and American hymnody began much later than the German, but comes next to it
in fertility, is enriching itself constantly by transfusions of Greek, Latin, and German, as well as
by original hymns, and may ultimately surpass all hymnodies.
§ 83. Common Schools.
Luther: An die Rathsherren aller Städte deutschen Landes, dass sie christliche Schulen aufrichten
und halten sollen. Wittenberg, 1524. The book appeared in the same year in Latin (De
constituendis scholis), with a preface of Melanchthon, the probable translator, at Hagenau. In
Walch, x. 533; in the Erlangen. ed., xxii. 168–199.
Church and school go together. The Jewish synagogue was a school. Every Christian church
is a school of piety and virtue for old and young. The mediaeval church was the civilizer and
instructor of the barbarians, founded the convent and cathedral schools, and the great universities
of Paris (1209), Bologna, Padua, Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow, Salamanca, Alcala,
Toledo, Prague (1348), Vienna (1365), Heidelberg (1386), Cologne (1388), Erfurt (1393), Leipzig
(1409), Basel (1460), Ingolstadt (1472), Tübingen (1477), Wittenberg (1502), etc. But education
in the middle ages was aristocratic, and confined to the clergy and a very few laymen of the higher
classes. The common people were ignorant and superstitious, and could neither read nor write.
Even noblemen signed their name with a cross. Books were rare and dear. The invention of the
printing-press prepared the way for popular education. The Reformation first utilized the press on
a large scale, and gave a powerful impulse to common schools. The genius of Protestantism favors
the general diffusion of knowledge. It elevates the laity, emancipates private judgment, and stimulates
the sense of personal responsibility. Every man should be trained to a position of Christian freedom
and self-government.
(^664) Hymns from the Land of Luther, translated from the German by H. L. L., Edinburgh and New York, in 4, parts, 1854; fifth ed., Edinb.
1884 (15th thousand), enlarged by the Alpine Lyrics of Mrs. Meta Heusser. The translations of Miss Borthwick reproduce the spirit rather
than the letter of the original. Several of them have become more widely known through hymnbooks and private collections: as Franck’s
eucharistic hymn, "Schmücke dich, Oliebe Seele.""Soul, arise, dispel thy sadness;" Gerhardt’s "Ich bin ein Gast auf Erden.""A pilgrim
and a stranger, I journey here below;" Tersteegen’s "Gott rufet noch.""God calling yet;" Schmolck’s "Mein Jesu, wie Du willst, So lass
mich allzeit wollen" "My Jesus, as Thou wilt;" Zinzendorf’s "Jesu, geh voran.""Jesus, still lead on;" Spitta’s "Was macht ihr, dass ihr
weinet.""What mean ye by this wailing" and his "Angel of Patience" (Es zieht ein stiller Engel."" A gentle angel walketh throughout this
world of woe"); Lange’s "Was kein Auge hat gesehen."" What no human eye hath seen; "Mrs. Heusser’s "Noch ein wenig Schweiss und
Thränen," " A few more conflicts, toils and tears;" "O Jesu Christ, mein Leben."" O Christ, my Life, my Saviour;" besides other religious
lyrics which are not intended for hymns. Miss Borthwick has since published Lyra Christiana, a Treasury of Sacred Poetry, edited by H.
L. L., Edinb. 1888, which contains a few German poems, but is mostly selected from English sources.
(^665) Presbyterian minister in New York City, died 1859. He Is the best translator of Gerhardt’s "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" ("O
sacred Head, now wounded"), and several other famous hymns, German and Latin. His translations were first published in Schaff’s
"Kirchenfreund"or 1849-’51 (with the originals), then in the "Mercersburg Review" for 1869, pp. 304 sqq., 414 sqq., and have since
passed into many American hymn-books.
(^666) Horae Germanicae, Auburn and New York, 1845, 2d ed. 1856. Mills was professor of biblical criticism in the Presbyterian Theol.
Seminary at Auburn, N. Y., and died 1867.
(^667) Paul Gerhardt’s Spiritual Songs, London, 1867.
(^668) e.g., for Schaff’s Christ in Song, New York, 1868, and London, 1870. In my German Hymn-book (Philad. 1859, revised and enlarged
ed., 1874), I have noted the English translations as far as I knew them.