THE STORY OF THE HYMNS AND THEIR WRITERS 73
Hymn 38. O God, Thou bottomless abyss !
ERNST LANGE (1650-1727); translated by JOHN WESLEY (36).
O Gott, du Tiefc sender Grund, first printed in Freylinghausen, 1714, was called by F. Schleiermacher a masterpiece of sacred poetry."
Wesley s translation (Works, i. 143) appeared in his Charlestown Psalms and Hymns, 1737, in eight verses of twelve lines each, t he- ten th and twelfth lines of which have only six syllables. In ver. 2 the original reads, /plunge me."
Langewas born at Dantzig, where in 1691 he was appointed Judge, and in 1694 Senator. He joined the Mennonites and Pietists, and broke with the Lutheran clergy. Pestilence visited Dantzig in 1710, and next year he wrote sixty-one Gott geheiligte Stitnden, as a thankoffering for deliverance in time of danger. The collection contained a hymn for each year of his life.
��Hymn 39. Thine, Lord, is wisdom, Thine alone.
ERNST LANGE (38) ; translated by JOHN WESLEY (36).
Works, i. 145. Part of the same hymn as 38. The lines in ver. 2
Thy wakened wrath doth slowly move, Thy willing mercy flies apace
are adopted from the New Version of Ps. ciii. 8.
A pace is the form in the Charlestown Psalms and Hymns.
Hymn 40. Glorious God, accept a heart.
CHARLES WESLEY (i).
Hymns for Children, 1763; Works, vi. 381.
Favoured, in ver. 4, is a happy substitute for favourite, which Charles Wesley wrote. The last verse is the personal pleading of a penitent face to face with God.
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