CATHERINE WINKWORTH

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S the author of many fine renderings of German hymns, the Englishspeaking churches of Christendom owe Miss Winkworth a large debt of gratitude. Born in London in 1829, her life came to a sudden close in 1878. She had a deep sympathy for women, and much of her time was devoted to the movement to secure higher education for women in England.

But Miss Winkworth's chief endeavor was to make English and American churches better acquainted with the wealth of German hymns. All her translations are found in her "Lyra Germanica," published in 1855 and reissued in 1858. In 1869 appeared her comprehensive and interesting work, "The Christian Singers of Germany," which contains many biographical sketches and numerous admirable translations of the hymns of the land of Luther.

The German hymn which approaches Luther's "Ein feste Burg" in popularity is Martin Rinckhart's "Now thank we all our God." Miss Winkworth's version supersedes all others in faithfulness and fine poetic art, and is as follows:

Now thank we all our God,

With heart, and hands, and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who from our mothers' arms

Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours to-day.

Oh, may this bounteous God
Through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts

And blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace,

And guide us when perplex'd,
And free us from all ills

In this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given,
The Son, and Him who reigns
With them in highest Heaven,

The One eternal God,

Whom earth and Heav'n adore,

For thus it was, is now,

And shall be evermore.

The original was written about 1644. Rinckhart was minister at his native town, Eilenburg. His pastorate covered the period of the Thirty Years' War, and during that time he and his people lived in severest distress. The plague of 1637 added misery and terror to the situation. He was called upon to bury more than four thousand persons. After he had made. great personal sacrifice and had been reduced to almost unspeakable suffering, the war ended, the plague was stayed, and Martin Rinckhart wrote, "Now Thank we all our God," which has been the Te Deum of Germany for more than three centuries, and is sung at all national festivals of peace and war. Mendelssohn fully appreciated the merit and power of the hymn and introduced it in his " Hymn of Praise."

Another notable rendering by Miss Winkworth is "Lift up your Heads, ye Mighty Gates," by the Rev. Georg Weis

sel of Koenigsberg. He was born in 1590, and died in 1635. The translation illustrates how abundantly competent was Miss Winkworth to popularize and beautify German hymns for use in English churches. A rearrangement of the stanzas, with a number of lines omitted, is extensively used in England and the United States; but the form that is quite suitable for public worship with a greater proportion of the lines retained, and the stanzas arranged as Miss Winkworth designed they should be, is the following:

Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates,
Behold the King of glory waits!
The King of kings is drawing near,
The Saviour of the world is here;
Life and salvation doth He bring,
Wherefore rejoice and gladly sing.

The Lord is just, a helper tried,
Mercy is ever at His side;
His kingly crown is holiness;
His sceptre, pity in distress;

The end of all our woe He brings,

Wherefore the earth is glad and sings.

Oh, blest the land, the city blest,
Where Christ the ruler is confessed!
Oh, happy hearts and happy homes,
To whom this King in triumph comes!
The cloudless sun of joy He is,

Who bringeth pure delight and bliss.

Fling wide the portals of your heart,
Make it a temple set apart

From earthly use, for heaven's employ,
Adorned with prayer, and love, and joy;
So shall your Sovereign enter in,
And new and nobler life begin.

Redeemer! come; we open

wide

Our heart to Thee; here, Lord! abide:

Thine inner presence let us feel,

Thy grace and love in us reveal;
Thy Holy Spirit guide us on,
Until the glorious goal is won.