The New International Encyclopædia/Gerhardt, Paulus

GERHARDT, Paulus, or Paul (1607-76). After Luther, the greatest of German hymnwriters. He was born in Saxony, studied at Wittenberg, and became pastor at Mittenwalde. In 1657 he removed to Berlin, and in 1669 to Lübben, Saxony, where he died in 1676. He was an active supporter of the Lutherans in their controversies with the Reformed churches. Among his most familiar hymns are “O sacred head once wounded” (English by J. W. Alexander); “Commit thou all thy griefs;” and “Jesus, Thy boundless love to me” (English by John Wesley). Consult the critical editions of his hymns by Bachmann (Berlin, 1866), and Goedeke (Leipzig, 1877); his life by Langbecker (Berlin, 1841); Kelly, Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs (London, 1867). The first collection of his hymns appeared in 1667.