Trust in the Lord Always.
PAUL Gerhardt, a German poet and divine, was born in Saxony, 1806. He entered the ministry, and for ten years performed the duties of his sacred office in the Nicolai Church at Berlin. ‑"But his religious sentiments,‑" writes his biographer, ‑"did not wholly coincide with those of the king, and Gerhardt, too conscientious and too decided to affect opinions which he did not entertain, was deprived of his appointment, and ordered to quit the country. Utterly destitute, not knowing where to lay his head, or provide for his helpless family, he left the home where he had spent so many happy years. But no affliction, however terrible, could shake his confidence in Divine wisdom and mercy. After some consideration he determined on directing his steps to his native land, Saxony, where he yet hoped to find friends. The journey, performed on foot, was long and weary. Gerhardt bore up manfully; his heart failed him only when he gazed on his wife and little ones. When night arrived the travelers sought repose in a little village inn by the roadside, where Gerhardt’s wife unable to restrain her anguish, gave way to a burst of natural emotion. Her husband concealing his anxious cares, reminded her of that beautiful verse of Scripture, ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding; in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.’ The words uttered to comfort his afflicted partner impressed his own mind so deeply that, seating himself in a little arbor in the garden, he composed a hymn, of which Madame de Pontes gives us the following translation: Not many hours after Gerhardt had thus expressed his unshaken faith in the Most High, he found by experience that God indeed had not forgotten him. Evening had now deepened, and the pastor and his wife were about to retire to rest, when two gentlemen entered the little parlor in which they were seated. They began to converse with the poet, and told him that they were on their way to seek the deposed clergyman Paul Gerhardt, by order of their lord, Duke Christian of Mersebury. At these words Madame Gerhardt turned pale, dreading some further calamity; but her husband calm in his trust in an overruling Providence, at once declared that he was the individual they were in search of, and inquired their errand. Great were the astonishment and delight of both wife and husband when one of the strangers presented Gerhardt with an autograph letter from the duke himself, informing him that he had settled a considerable pension upon him to atone for the injustice of which he had been the victim. Then the pious and gifted preacher turned toward his wife and gave her the hymn which he had composed during his brief absence, with the words, ‘See how God provides! Did I not bid you confide in him, and all would be well?’