? 2 THE METHODIST HYMN-BOOK ILLUSTRATED
and they keep their place to the present day among the most cherished hymns of Methodism the world over.
Mr. Garrett Horder thinks John Wesley s translations have probably never been surpassed. He considers him as great a translator as Charles is an original hymnist. For congregational use, they are probably the finest translations in the English language, whilst they have the high honour of having opened to us the rich treasures of sacred song which Germany possesses.
Dean Furneaux says, Not only is Wesley entitled to the credit of being the first to reveal to Englishmen the rich treasures of German hymnody, but his translations are by far the finest for congregational use, being almost alone in reading like original English compositions.
We see how Wesley turned to the Moravian hymns in the days of spiritual unrest that followed his work in Georgia. On Sunday, April 23, 1738, he tells us that he was beaten out of his last retreat by the concurring evidence of several living witnesses to their own experience of instantaneous conversion. Bohler says he took four of his English brethren, and Wesley was thunderstruck at their narrations. After a short time he stood up and said, We will sing that hymn, " Hier legt mein Sinn sich vor dir nieder." It was C. F. Richter s (1676-1711) hymn on Spiritual Conflict and Difficulty, of which Wesley had published a translation in his Charlestown Psalms and Hymns, 1737-
My soul before Thee prostrate lies ;
To Thee, her Source, my spirit flies ;
My wants I mourn, my chains I see :
Oh, let Thy presence set me free.
During the singing of the Moravian version he often wiped his eyes. Immediately after he took me alone into his own room and declared that he was now satisfied of what I said of faith, and he would not question any more about it ; that he was clearly convinced of the want of it.
Hymn 37. God is a name my soul adores.
ISAAC WATTS, D.D. (3). In Horae Lyricae t 1706, Headed The Creator and His Creatures.
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