Johann Heermann
Johann Heermann [1]
a Silesian Protestant pastor and hymn writer, was born at Rauten, Silesia, Oct. 11, 1585. At school he displayed early talent. In 1611 he became pastor at Koben. During the Thirty Years' War Silesia was the seat of war and plunder, and Heermann was often obliged to conceal himself to save his life. He gave up his pastoral charge at Koben in 1638, and died Feb. 17, 1647. In the height of his troubles in 1630, he published a volume of hymns under the title Devoti llusica Cordis, and his productions afterwards were very numerous. Heermann's hymns are "distinguished by great depth and tenderness of feeling, by an intense love of the Savior, and by humility, while in form they are sweet and musical." Many of them are still in use in Germany, and some have been translated into English. Two of them-"A Song of Tears" and "A Song of Comfort" — together with several hymns written during his last illness, are given in Winkworth, Christian Singers of Germany, p. 197 sq, with a sketch of the life of Heermann. Others are given in Miss Winkworth, Lyra Germanica, and in Schaff, Christ in Song (N. York, 1869). A selection from his hymns, in German, may be found in Wackermagel, Heermann's eistliche Liedei (Stuttgart, 1856). Of his other works we mention Heptalogus Christi (on the seven words on the cross), Breslau, 1619; new edit. Berlin, 1856.
