412 THE METHODIST HYMN-BOOK ILLUSTRATED
thought to imply that the blessed are already in the full fruition of their future and everlasting glory the Beatific Vision ; but, as Canon Ellerton points out, Dr. Wordsworth showed that he did not intend it to be an exposition of the present condition of the saints in the Intermediate State.
The bishop said, The whole hymn from beginning to end is in harmony with the Epistle for the festival of the day (Rev. vii. 2, &c.), and like it in the utterance in triumphant song of a vision of the final gathering of the saints.
��Hymn 811. Lord of our life, and God of our salvation.
MATTHAUS APELLES VON LOWENSTERN ; translated by PHILIP
PUSEY.
Christe, du Beistand deiner Kreuzgemeine, appeared in 1644, entitled Sapphic Ode. For spiritual and temporal peace. It reflects the atmosphere of the Thirty Years War, during which the writer lived.
Philip Pusey (1799-1855), elder brother of Dr. Pusey and sou of the first Viscount Folkestone, contributed this version to Reinagle s Psalm and Hymn Tunes, 1840.
The fourth verse is here omitted
Peace in our hearts, our evil thoughts assuaging, Peace in Thy Church, where brothers are engaging, Peace, when the world its busy war is waging, Calm Thy foes raging.
Lowenstern was a saddler s son, born at J^eustadt, Silesia, in 1594. He early distinguished himself by his musical abilities, and in 1625 was appointed music treasurer and director at Bernstadt by Duke Heinrich Wenzel of Miinsterberg. In 1631 he became Rath and secretary and director of finance. He passed into the service of the Emperor Ferdinand II as Rath, and was ennobled by Ferdinand III. He died at Breslau in 1648. His thirty hymns were accompanied by music of his own, and some were written on the mottoes of the princes under whom he served.
Niebuhr the historian was sometimes heard to repeat this hymn to himself in the midst of his literary research. It was also a favourite of Bunsen s.
�� �
