Julius Pabst

Pabst, Julius, son of Karl Leopold Pabst, sometime Inspector of the Royal Normal School at Erfurt, was born at Wilhelmsrulie, near Eitorf on the Sieg (Rhenish Prussia), Oct. 18, 1817. From 1838 to 1842 he studied theology and philosophy at the Universities of Breslau and Halle; from 1842 to 1852 he acted as private tutor in Berlin, in the Neumark, and in Dresden; and from 1852 to the end of 1855, was engaged in literary pursuits at Berlin. After New Year's Day, 1856, he resided at Dresden as secretary and teacher of the dramatic art on the staff of the general direction of the Court Theatre and the Royal Orchestra, receiving, in 1860, the honorary title of Hofrath. He died Oct. 22, 1881 (F. Brümmer's Deutsche Dichter-lexicon, 1877, pt. ii. p. 123; MS. from his family, &c).

His hymns appeared principally in his (1) Die Furcht des Herrn ist der Weisheit Anfang, Berlin, 1846, and his (2) Christliches Schatzkästlein, Hamburg, 1848. The only one in English common use is:—
O Geist des Liohtes, komm hernieder. Whitsuntide. Schatzkästlein, p. 227, in 1 st. of 5 l., entitled "Festival Hymn." Translated as:—
Spirit of light, come down, we pray. In full, by Dr. R. Maguire, in his Melodies of the Fatherland, 1883, p. 73, repeated in R. Gault's Hymn Book, 1886, No. 252, omitting st. v., vi.

[Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)