here he remained until his death in 1769. Among his pupils were
many famous men of Germany, including Goethe and Lessing.

Gellert's hymns, although influenced by the age in which he lived, are
singular for their genuine, evangelical utterance. It is said that he
never attempted to write a hymn except when he was in the proper frame of
mind, and only after a season of prayer. His Easter hymn, "Jesus lives!
thy terrors now," has gained great popularity, both in England and in
America. In the former country it has been sung at the funerals of some
of England's greatest churchmen. His communion hymn also breathes a
spirit of true faith in Christ:

Crushed by my sin, O Lord, to Thee
I come in my affliction:
O full of pity, look on me,
Impart Thy benediction.
My sins are great, where shall I flee?
The blood of Jesus speaks for me;
For all my sins He carried.

Matthias Claudius, the author of the splendid hymn, "We plow the fields
and scatter," like Gellert, had intended to prepare himself for the
Lutheran ministry. While attending the University of Jena, however, the
Rationalistic teachings with which he came in contact caused him to lose
interest in religion, and he decided to take up journalism instead. In
1777 he became editor of a newspaper at Darmstadt, at which place he
became acquainted with Goethe and a group of freethinking philosophers.

Stricken by a serious illness, Claudius began to realize something of the
spiritual emptiness of the life he had been living, and in his hour of
need he turned again to his childhood faith. When he had recovered, he
gave up his position and removed to Wandsbeck, where he edited the
"Wandsbecker Bote" in a true Christian spirit.

In the life-story of Claudius we may discern something of the reaction
that was already taking place in many quarters against the deadening
influence of Rationalism. Men were hungering for the old evangel of
salvation, and there were evidences everywhere of the dawn of a happier
day. Although Claudius' poems were not essentially Church hymns, they
were lyrics that seemed to strike anew some of the strings of Gerhardt's
harp. This is seen especially in his surpassingly beautiful ode to
evening, "The silent moon is risen," written in the same spirit and meter
as Gerhardt's famous evening hymn. The first stanza has been translated:

The silent moon is risen,
The golden star-fires glisten
In heaven serene