Schwenkfelder Hymnology/Chapter VI

by Allen Anders Seipt

CHAPTER VI.
George Weiss: Writer and Compiler of Hymns.

Our bibliographical account of Rev. George Weiss, the first minister of the Schwenkfelders in America, has been reduced to the minimum, both in order to save space, and also because the sources cited in the footnote below will furnish the reader a sufficient life-sketch of the subject of our study in this chapter. As already noted, he was the son of Caspar Weiss, whose work on behalf of Schwenkf elder hymnology we have just considered. He was born at Harpersdorf, in Silesia, 1687, and died within the present limits of Lower Sal ford township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, on the eleventh of March, 1740.

Like his father, he was admirably fitted for the work of a hymnodist. He had a natural bent for the writing of poetry, although unfortunately he never received training in the poetic art—a fact which he himself lamented frequently, both in his efforts as a compiler of hymns, as well as when acting in the role of a hymn writer. He had rendered his father much assistance in transcribing and compiling the hymns of the collection of 1709. He was versed in three of the ancient languages—Hebrew,' Greek and Latin. Being of pious parentage, he was early indoctrinated with Biblical principles, as well as grounded in the creed and tenets of Caspar von Schwenkfeld. Indeed, it may safely be said that there has never been a more intensely spiritual Schwenkfelder than George Weiss.^[1]

The following brief account of George Weiss, extant in manuscript, may be submitted in this connection; inasmuch as it is here published for the first time, and also because it was penned by his co-eval and lifelong bosom friend, Rev. Balthaser Hoffmann. It bears the date of 1753.

The Hymn Collection Compiled by George Weiss. (Manuscript.)

"George Weiss war gebührtig von Harpersdorfr, einem Dorffe im Fürstenthum Lignitz in Schlesien; sein Vater hat geheissen Caspar Weiss, von Deutmanns-Dorff gebührtig; seine Mutter Anna, eine gebohrne Andersin, gebiihrtig von Harpersdorff, alle beyde schlecht,^[2] arm und unansehnlich vor der Welt. George hatte einen Bruder mit Nahmen Caspar, und eine Schwester mit Nahmen Maria; sind alle beyde in bester Jugend in Schlesien gestorben. Im Jahr 1715 hat er sich in Ehestand begeben, sein Weib hat Anna geheissen, eine gebohrne Meschterin, gebiihrtig von Langen-Neundorff; diselbe ist biss in das^[3] Land mit gekommen, und bald nach der Ankunfft in Philadelphia gestorben, ligt daselbst auff dem Pilgrims-Begrabnüss in der Erde.^[4] Ein Söhnlein haben si mit einander gezeuget, und ist genant worden Abraham; ist in seinem andren Jahr ihnen schon wider entnommen; ist er also in disem Lande gantz arm, einfältig und allein, und vor der Welt unwerth gewesen. Weil er denn in heiliger Schrifft einen zihmlichen Fleiss gehabt, und einen Willen zu Gott und seiner Ehren; wiwohl aber auch mit viler Schwachheit und Verhindernüss, hat ihm Gott aber ein herrlich Maass, Gabe und Pfund verlihen, zu einem Aufschluss der heiligen Schrifft, der Geheimniisse Gottes, und zum Unterscheide der reinen Christliche Theologia, in diser letzten verwirrten Zeit. * * * Also ist er demnach unter unss zu einem Vorsteher, als in Ordnung einer Gemein, zu einem Handleiter des Bekäntnüsses, Zu einem Wegweiser im christlichen Leben, und zu einem Anführer der Jugend angenommen worden, in Bezeugung dass er fahig dazu erkannt würde, dass er solches vermöge; da er denn nach seinem Erkäntnüss, mit Berathung und Befragung seines Gewissens und mit vilem Seuffzen zu Gott eine Ordnung und Einrichtung gestellet, und einen solchen Eyffer um Gott dabey bezeiget, dass auch wohl einige Kennzeichen sich geäussert———und überzeugende Merkmahle gewesen, dass ein solcher Weg richtig———der grade Buss-Weg zur Seeligkeit ist, nehmlich, eine gäntzliche Erkäntnüss und Absterbung des Verderbniisses, in vvahrer Dehmutt, Thränen und Gebet; Auf-opfferung und Ergebung in den Willen Gottes, und solches alle Tage zu erneuern; fleissige Übung in heiliger Schrifft, mit täglichem Gebett um Aufschluss gottlicher Geheimnüss, und um Gn'ade zur Besserung und Verneuerung des Lebens, nach Anweisung der heiligen Schrifft etc. Da er denn solchen Dinst mit hertzlichem Eyffer um Gott und der Menschen Seeligkeit 4 Jahr gepflogen, hat das letzte Jahr seine Natur zihmlich abgenommen, auch durch eine Krankheit, seines Todes Erinnerung geschehen, hat er aber bey aller Schwachheit seinen Fleiss, sovil als es möglichsten mochte seyn gethan, biss eine Woche vor seinem Ende er bettlagrich worden. Seine Krankheit bestunde meistens in Mattigkeit, und ein wenig Seitenstechen, wurde ein Magen-Fiber genennt, dass er keinen Schmakk mehr zura Essen hatte, machte ihm auch hefftige Beschwerde im Leibe, ist also mit gutter Besonnenheit 1740, den 11. Mertz, im 53. Jahr seines Alters auss der Zeit abgefordert, und also zur Erden bestattet worden, ligt begraben zu Schippach auff dem Lande George Jäkkels.^[5]"

Translation :

"George Weiss was born in Harpersdorf, a village in the principality of Liegnitz in Silesia ; his father was Caspar Weiss, born in Deutmannsdorf; his mother Anna (nee) Anders, born in Harpersdorf, and both were plain, poor and insignificant, as the world goes. George had a brother named. Caspar, and a sister, Mary; both died in Silesia in the bloom of youth. In 1715 he married. His wife was Anna (née) Meschter, born in Langen Neundorff; she accompanied him to this country, and died shortly after the landing at Philadelphia. She is buried there in the Pilgrims' cemetery. They had an infant son whom they named Abraham, who was taken from them in his second year. So that in this country he was quite poor and alone, a plain man and, as the world goes, unimportant. But because he exhibited a seemly zeal for the Holy Scriptures, and was minded to please God and honor Him (although in great frailty and in the face of many obstacles) God vouchsafed to him in magnificent measure a talent for interpreting Holy Writ, for disclosing the mysteries of God and for discerning sound Christian doctrine, in these latter doubtful days. * * * For this reason, he was chosen as our head (regarding ourselves as a congregation), as our chief in our Confession of Faith, as our leader in Christian living, and as the guide of our youth. Thereby we attested that his qualification for these duties was recognized. And having (in accordance with his judgment, and after consultation with his conscience and long agonizing before God) arranged a plan for religious services and an order of worship, and having manifested therewith such a zeal for God that certain signs and indications appeared of the correctness of such a course, the direct course to salvation through penitence; namely, a full apprehension and mortification of our depravity, in true humility, sorrow and prayer; self-sacrifice and surrender to the will of God, and the daily renewal of these things; the zealous practice of Scriptural discipline, with daily supplication for the unlocking of the divine mysteries and for grace for the mending and renewing of our lives, under the direction of the Scriptures———having conducted such a ministry for four years, with a true passion for God and the salvation of men, during the last year his strength failed appreciably, and a subsequent illness warned him of his approaching end. But in spite of his frailty he continued zealous, in as far as this was at all possible, up to a week before his death, when he became confined to his bed. His illness was chiefly of the nature of exhaustion, with some pleurisy (it was said to be gastric fever). He had no desire for food and suffered intense pains in the abdomen. And thus on the eleventh of March, 1740, in full possession of his faculties and in the fifty-third year of his age, he was called away, and his body was conveyed to its interment. He is buried at Schippach on a plot of ground belonging to George Yeakel."

The relation which George Weiss sustains to the hymnody of the Schwenkfelders is three-fold: First, as a writer of hymns; second, as a reviser of hymns; and third, as a transcriber and compiler. Of his activity as a hymn writer, barely an outline can be given here; to wit, (i) "Gesange uber die Evangelia" (1709)—metrical versions of the "Gospel Lessons" for the entire ecclesiastical year; (2) "Meditationes" (ca. 1724 — 30),^[6] being several series of hymns based on the names of numerous Bible characters—the patriarchs, the prophets, the genealogy of Christ as given in Matthew, the genealogy of Christ as recorded by Luke, and the apostles—each group becomes the basis of a series of hymns; and (3) his revision of the hymns of Daniel Sudermann.^[7] This revision consisted of a restrophicising of a number of the Sudermann hymns, and the addition, to the majority of the hymns, of one or more strophes intended as a prayer (Seufzer).

Of the hymnological studies of George Weiss—studies that were both extensive and productive of valuable information—our space forbids us to speak. Neither does this phase of his activity properly belong to the scope of the present work. It is in his role as the promoter of the work begun by Caspar Weiss, his father, that he demands consideration here. It was about the year 1726, when George Weiss took up the task of rearranging and enlarging the hymn collection of 1709. The addition which was at this time made to the original collection, was composed chiefly of three series of hymns; each complete in itself and written by as many authors. The series in question were: (1) The hymns of Daniel Sudermann which Weiss had revised—a series of hymns interpreting the Song of Solomon; (2) the "Epistel-lieder" so-called, by Balthaser Hoffmann—being a series of metrical versions of the "Epistle-lessons," complete for the church year; (3) the "Meditationes," which we have already characterized. The other hymns added by George Weiss to the first collection constitute a miscellany representing various Moravian and Lutheran hymn writers, as well as the early church fathers. The complete list of the hymns of this miscellany, which had been prepared for this chapter, it has been necessary to omit.

With respect to the plan of arrangement, it should be noted that the compilation made by George Weiss differs from that of 1709 in two important features: First, the hymns selected for each Sunday and holy day are further arranged into four groups having the titles "Frühe," "Vor-Mittage," "Nach-Mittage" and "Kinder-Lehr," the second and third of these groups corresponding to the two-fold division of the collection of Caspar Weiss; second, the individual hymns are classified on the basis of metrical structure—as far as was practicable, hymns with the same type of verse and the same or a similar strophic structure, having been grouped together. Moreover, verse for verse, the syllables were carefully counted in order to exclude entirely the hiatus and to leave not a hymn with an imperfect line.^[8] As hinted above, the arrangement of the hymn-groups by Sundays and holy days—one characteristic, as we have seen, of the original compilation—was retained by the second compiler.

In the earliest manuscript of this collection known to exist there are, unfortunately, missing from the preface those pages which contained the compiler's own account of the sources with which he was operating when enlarging the original collection. However, the loss is luckily repaired in part by the following account of the second compilation, extant in the already cited surviving manuscript of Balthaser Hoffmann. The passage contains, also, Hoffmann's statement of the re-arrangement which the first collection underwent in the hands of George Weiss, the second compiler. We quote Hoffmann in full:

"Lange darnach^[9] und nach Caspar Weissens Tode, und besonders zur Zeit des Mission,^[10] meditirte und schrib auff, George Weiss di Meditationes iiber di Nahmen der Geschlechte in Matheo und Luca, und di andern Nahmen ; welche er erst in Sachsen, nach der ersten Emigration^[11] verfertigte. Darnach in Sachsen, in der Stille und für sich, zu einer Hauss-Übung, weil er still und geruhig lebte, und den Sonntag und di Zeit der Feyer suchte anzuwenden, und eine Obung zu haben, hat er das erste Werk vermehret, und in Vier sonn-tägliche Abtheilungen geordnet, wi es nun am Tage ligt; audi kamen dehmahls dazu, di Lider über di Episteln,^[12] welche Vermehrung auch in der Vorrede weiter mit gedacht ist; hat audi dahmahls di Bitten zum Beschluss der Lider Daniel Sudermanns gestellet. Nun ist aber bey dieser Ordnung, und Eintheilung der Lider zu merken, dass er di Absicht nicht hat gehabt dabey, dass es zu einer Nachmachung seyn soil (wi nun gefolget ist) ob es auch wohl bey seiner Lebens-Zeit (audi ich selber) abgescriben; sondern er pflegte es zu seiner Ubung in der Stille; und nahm Vor-Mittage und Nach-Mittage, di Bekantesten; zu den andern zwey Abtheilungen aber di Fremdesten. Und zwar ordnete er es, dass wi weit es möchte angehen, eine gleiche Vile^[13] im Singen war; daher zehlete er di Syllabon an den Gesangen, und nahm denn einen Gesang hiher, und einen andern dorthin; daher ist geschehen, dass di Lehre der Gesänge, denn nicht auffein- ander zustimmet. Sonst weiss ich wohl, dass wenn er gewust, dass es solte zu einem daurenden Werke seyn, er es würde anders eingerichtet haben; wi er auch einmahl zu mir gesaget: Wenn ichs izt solte einrichten, es könte seyn, dass manch Lid nicht dazu käme. Dises hinterlasse ich nicht, um G. Weissens Werk zu tadeln, oder untüchtig zu machen, sondern um richtiges Wissens Willen. B. H. 1753.

Translation:

"Long afterwards and after the death of Caspar Weiss, and especially at the time of the Mission, George Weiss wrote his "Meditationes" on the names of the generations in Matthew and Luke, and the other names. Not until after the first emigration, in Saxony, were they completed. Thereafter in Saxony, privately, and for his own use and that of his household, because he led a quiet life and

sought to make good use of Sundays and holydays, and also for the training, he enlarged the first collection, making a fourfold division of the hymns for each Sunday, as it still exists. At that time the hymns on the Epistle lessons also were added; and this augmentation receives further mention in the preface. He also wrote at this time the prayer strophes intended as addenda to the hymns of Daniel Sudermann. But with regard to the arrangement of this collection, it should be noted, that he had no thought that it would be imitated (as has been the case), although it was transcribed in his life-time, and I too have transcribed it; but he prepared it for his own private use. And for the divisions "Vor-Mittage" and "Nach-Alittage" he chose the more familiar, for the other two divisions however the less familiar hymns. And furthermore he arranged it in such a way that, as far as might be practicable, there would be a uniform metre for the singing of the hymns. Accordingly he counted the syllables, and placed one hymn here and another there, with the result that the hymns in the matter of theme have no sequence. For I well know, that if he had known that it was destined to be a permanent work, he would have arranged it differently. Indeed he said to me at one time: 'If I were to arrange it now, it might be that a number of the hymns would not be included.' This I submit, not to censure or to condemn the work of George Weiss, but for the sake of exact knowledge."

Summarizing, now, with respect to constituency and size, the collection of George Weiss was composed of: (1) The entire collection of 1709, numbering 874 hymns; (2) the Sudermann hymns as revised by Weiss—230 in number; (3) the "Epistel-lieder," by Hoffmann, 106 hymns; (4) the "Meditationes" by the compiler himself, 178 hymns; and (5) 171 hymns of a miscellaneous character. Total, 1559 hymns.^[14]Such was the Schwenkfelder hymn collection as it came from the hands of Rev. George Weiss. It was completed on the eve of the departure of the Schwenkfelders from Saxony. In September of the year 1734, with its author it reached the genial land of Perm; and for upwards of thirty years it served as the hymnary of the sect, furnishing the hymns sung at their gatherings for religious worship, at the meetings of their youth for "Kinderlehr" and at the annual observance of "Gedaechtnisstag." In our next chapter we shall see that before the appearance (1762) of the first hymn-book of the Schwenkfelders printed in America, their manuscript hymn collection was destined to be once more rearranged, although after 1734 it was augmented but little while it remained in manuscript.

1. For an account of the literary and ministerial activity of Rev. George Weiss, see: H. W. Kriebel, The Schwenkfelders in Pennsylvania, pp. 56ff. and 186ff. Genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelders, pp. xxiii and 1-3.
2. i. e., "schlicht."
3. i. e., America.
4. The cemetery referred to, if still existing, has not been identified. It may have been a burial-place since abolished.
5. Then, a private burying-ground. Now the cemetery of the Lower Salford Schwenkfelder church.
6. Each proper name treated is given in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and German. Then follow the references containing the Biblical account of the character under consideration. Then the "Meditatio" in the form of a hymn.
7. The Sudermann hymns based on the Song of Solomon. See our Descriptive Bibliography.
8. The natural word-stress is frequently disregarded—in accordance with the literary traditions of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, when such verse was not considered imperfect. Compare the "Knittelvers" of Hans Sachs.
9. i. e., after 1709. In the Hoffmann manuscript this citation is a continuation of the one given on page 63f
10. The Jesuit Mission in Silesia. Opened in the year 1719.
11. The Schwenkfelders (about 170 families), to escape the net of the Jesuits, fled to Silesia by night in 1726, escaping to the Oberlausitz in Saxony. Here they were protected by Count von Zinzendorf, the Moravian bishop, for 8 years.
12. Written by Rev. Balthaser Hoffmann.
13. "Count" or number of syllables. Daniel Sudermann occasionally uses this feminine noun, "die Vile" (= number or large number). Cf. Wackernagel, I, 683.
14. Compare with this, The Schwenkfelders in Pennsylvania, p. 107.