My Starred Hymns
My FlexScores
My Hymnals
My Purchased Files
Planning worship?
Check out our sister site, ZeteoSearch.org,
for 20+ additional resources related to your search.
- |
User Links
Person Results
Christian Jakob Koitsch
1671 - 1734 Author of "Now unite to render praises to Jehovah" in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Protestant Church of the United Brethren. Rev. ed. Koitsch, Christian Jacob, was born Sept. 13, 1671, at Meissen, where his father was a leathercutter. He entered the University of Leipzig in 1692, and then went as a student of theology to Halle, where, under the influence of Francke and Breithaupt, he became one of the first "awakened" students. After he had finished his course, Francke appointed him, in 1696, as one of the Masters, and in 1700 as Inspector, of the Paedagogium at Halle. In 1705 he became Professor and Kector of the Gymnasium at Elbing, and died at Elbing, Aug. 21, 1734. (Bode, p. 99; Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, xvi. 455, &c.) To Freylinghausen's Geistreiches Gesang-Buch 1704, and its 2nd edition, 1705, he contributed 8 (or 9) hymns, and two others to his Neues Geistreiches Gesang-Buch, 1714. Of these the following have passed into English, viz.:—
i. Du bist ja, Jesu, meine Freude, Christian Warfare. 1704, as above, No. 308, in 6 stanzas. Translated as "Tnott, Jesu, art my Consolation," by Miss Burlingham, in the British Herald , March, 1866, p. 232, repeated in Reid's Praise Book, 1872.
ii. Lasset uns den Herren preisen Thanksgiving. Founded on Ps. lxxii. 18, 19. 1704, as above, No. 488, in 7 stanzas. Translated as "Now unite to render praises," by W. Okely, as No. 800 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1789 (1886, No. 648).
iii. Mein Herze, wie wankest und fladderst du noch. Self-Renunciation. 1705, as above, No. 718, in 8 stanzas. Translated as "O Saviour, the truest, the best of all friends" (st. vi.), as No. 429 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1886.
iv. O Ursprung des Lebens, o ewiges Licht. Love to Christ. A fine hymn on Christ as the Fountain of Life. 1704, as above, No. 356, in 7 stanzas of 6 lines; and in the Berlin Geistlicher Lieder Schatz, ed. 1863, No. 825. The translation in common use is "O Fountain eternal of life and of light." A good translation, omitting st. iii., as No. 1100 in the Supplement of 1808 to the Moravian Hymn Book, 1801. In the 1826 and later eds. (1886, No. 631), a translation by J. Swertner of stanza iii. was incorporated—this stanza having appeared as No. 267 in the Moravian Hymn Book., 1801. Included, altered and abridged, in Mercer's Church Praise and Hymn Book, 1855 and 1864, and the Irish Church Hymnal, 1873. Another tr. is "O everlasting source of life and light," by Miss Borthwick, in Hymns from the Land of Luther, 1862, p. 79 (1884, p. 241). [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Christian Jakob Koitsch
Francis Okely
1719 - 1794 Translator of "Now unite to render praises" Francis Okely was born in Bedford, England March 27, 1719. He studied at St. John's Cambridge. He joined the Moravian Church in 1745. He was a translator and also the author of works on John Engelbrecht and Jacob Bohme.
Dianne Shapiro, from email by Dave Blum, Moravian Music Foundation
Francis Okely
William Okely
1762 - 1830 Person Name: William Okeley Author of "Now unite to render praises to Jehovah" in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Protestant Church of the United Brethren. Rev. ed. William Okely was born in Bedford, England on January 25, 1762. He was the son of Francis Okely. He attended school in Niesky, German and seminary in Barby, Germany. He taught in Christiansfeld, Denmark and Fulneck, England. He then went on to study medicine and philosophy in Edinburgh and he was a doctor in Northampton. He requested to rejoin the Moravian Church and became a deacon in 1802. In 1812 he was ordained as a Presbyter and he served congregations in both Ireland and England. He died July 9, 1830.
Dianne Shapiro, from email sent by Dave Blum, Moravian Music Foundation
William Okely
