84 OUR HYMNS:
Keformed faith, which he thought he ought to pursue, his tender conscience would not allow him to occupy a false position, and he was again superseded.
Deprived of his office, he was also afflicted with family be reavements. He had lost three children in their infancy, and in 1668 his affectionate wife, to whom he was devotedly attached, and who had proved a true help-meet for him. was, after much weakness and affliction, taken from him hy death.
The same year, 1668, he was appointed to Liihben, in Saxony, where he became archdeacon. His portrait in the church there bears the inscription, " Theologus in cribro Satance versatus ; " i. e., "A divine sifted in Satan s sieve" probably in reference to the detraction and unkindness he experienced at Liibben during the last seven years of his life. While thus maturing both by age and affliction, he wrote some of his most valued hymns.
Having charged his only remaining son to abide in the faith, he died on the 7th of June, 1676, repeating one of his own hymns
" Wherefore should I grieve and pine."
And in the very act of repeating the words,
" him no
Death has power to kill, But from many a dreaded ill Bears his spirit safe away, &c."
In German sacred poetry of the older school, Gerhard ranks next to Luther, whom he in some respects resembles, and from whom he was separated by about a century. His hymns happily combine simplicity with depth and force. They are the heart- utterances of one who had a simple but sublime faith in God, and who recognized His fatherly presence in the operations of nature, the superintendence of Providence, and the daily bestowment of the surpassing gifts of redemption. They have reasonably been favourites with the German people, and are justly taking their place in our modern collections. Schiller s mother was one of
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