An Early Anabaptist Hymn

[Phil D.]

Not sure what interest or curiosity there may be here in this sort of thing, but I thought I would post anyway. If nothing else it offers a little changeup from the normal PB fare…

Over the years I have greatly enjoyed and profited from studying various epics and personalities in church history, from the patristics, to the medieval schoolmen, to the various Protestant reformers, to the Puritans, and many in-betweens. Lately my history readings have been focused on the Anabaptists, and while I must certainly part ways with much of their worldview and theology, their story is quite fascinating and, if one pays close attention, can even be instructive.

I recently came across this rendition of a hymn written by Felix Manz, an early Swiss Anabaptist leader, who having sorely tried the patience of the Reformed in Zurich, was drowned at their hands in the Limmat. Manz’s characteristically Anabaptist theology, simple worldview, and lament of martyrdom (even if sometimes partly self-inflicted) all come through in just the three verses sung here.


I will delight in singing,
In God o’erjoys my heart;
For grace He is me bringing,
That I from death depart
Which lasting ever, hath no end;
I praise Thee Christ from heaven,
Who dost my grief attend.

Christ no one is coercing
His glory-world to share;
They heaven are traversing
Who willingly prepare,
Through faith and baptism rightly wrought,
Repentance, with hearts holy;
For them is heaven bought.

Those hate and envy harb’ring,
Cannot true Christians be;
And those who evil, inj’ring,
Fists strike in enmity;
Before our Lord to kill and thieve,
Blood innocent they’re shedding
In base hypocrisy.

The fourth stanza is a repeat of the first one, sung in the original Swiss-German dialect.

 

[Phil D.]

Here is another Anabaptist hymn that piqued my interest, partly because it was written by a Hutterite. Virtually the entire Hutterite community emigrated from Europe to the United States during the 1870’s, with the majority settling in small communal towns they established here in South Dakota. My wife and I sometimes purchase the staples they produce and bring to market in places like Rapid City. Their organic, free-range chickens and homemade pot pies (both being rather delicious and remarkably large…) are particular favorites of ours…

The life history of the Anabaptist, Leonhard Sommer, is not well known. From what I have been able to piece together, Sommer was a Hutterite who had settled in the hamlet of Necklinsberg, in the Duchy of Württemberg, a corner of southwestern Germany bordering France and Switzerland. That region had become Lutheran in the 1520’s, although it tolerated vestiges of Roman Catholicism, and was more prone to spar with the Reformed in the neighboring Electoral Palatinate.

Hutterites did not have appointed leaders, but in 1573 Sommer was discovered to be a "reader" among them, a term that implied making expository comments beyond just the reading of scripture, and occasionally offering words of exhortation. On this basis he was arrested and imprisoned in the imposing Hohenwittlingen castle, a notorious prison where an earlier proprietor, Duke Ulster, had notably published an ominous treatise entitled, An magistratus iure possit occidere Anabaptistas aut alios haereticos [Whether a magistrate has the legal right to execute Anabaptists or other heretics] (c.1548).

Though Sommer was suffering from ill health at the time of his arrest, no bail or clemency was granted pending his trial and sentencing, and soon after he died in prison. It was towards the end of his imprisonment that he wrote this hymn. Therein the obvious implications behind the line, “…soul, body, child, companion, herewith commit I Thee,” written in the face of imminent death, give it significant poignancy.

O Gott, thun mich erhalte

O Gott, thun mich erhalten, In miner trawerikeit;
Den hochmut thu zerspalten, Tröst mich in minem leid.
Ach, Herr, las mich gnad finden, In band und gefängnus schwer;
Sie wollen mich verschlinden, Mit yhren list und finden;
Bewahre mich vor Gefahrenangst!

O God, Do Thou Sustain Me

O God, do Thou sustain me, In grief and sore duress;
Pride counter which disdains Thee, And comfort my distress.
O Lord let me find mercy, In bonds and prison bed;
Men would seek to devour me, With guile and controversy.
Save me from danger dread!

Thou wilt never forsake me, This firmly I believe;
Thy blood Thou hast shed freely, And with it washed me.
Therein my trust is resting In Christ, God's only Son;
On him I am now building, In tribulation trusting,
God will me not disown!

To die and to be living, Until my end I see;
To Thee my trust I'm giving, Thou wilt my helper be.
Soul, body, child, companion, Herewith commit I Thee;
Come soon, Lord, come and take me, From ruthless men do save me.
Be honor e'er to Thee!

 

[B.L.]

What books have you been reading?

I live in Mennonite country and enjoy reading widely.

 

[Phil D.]

To the probable horror of some here, most of my reading these days is digital, including much that is online.

Most church history volumes will of course have sections on Anabaptism, or the Radical Reformation.

For online reading, I might start here and here, and one can further browse the many titles listed here. Of course, as always, one must keep in mind the possible prejudices of each author, but many are pretty fair and well-documented.

There is a lot of American Mennonite history in The Mennonite Quarterly Review, especially the older volumes, but I haven't seen it available online. I have some Mennonite heritage in my family tree, and when I lived in Kansas I had access to it at a Mennonite college library, and a bit further out at a couple of Mennonite historical centers.

My own history reading tends to be fairly convoluted, usually resulting in extensive rabbit-trailing and peripheral research. One thing leads to the next, and the next, and the next... The other day I was a bit startled when I realized I had 30-some tabs open on my computer...