Christian Heinrich Zeller › Texts

Zeller, Christian Heinrich, son of Christian David Zeller, Hofrath at Hohenentringen, near Tubingen, was born at Hohenentringen, March 29, 1779. He matriculated at the University of Tübingen in 1797, as a student of law. After completing his studies he chose, however, the profession of teaching. He became director of the Latin School at Zoffingen, Switzerland, in 1809, and finally removed in April, 1820; to Beuggen on the Rhine (Baden), near Basel, as director of the newly founded Institution there, meant for the education of poor children and for the training of teachers for poor children. He died at Beuggen, May 18, 1860 (Koch, vii. 188, &c).

Zeller was best known as an educationist, and in con¬nection with the working of the Institution at Beuggen. His hymns, which are simple, Scriptural and earnest, were written primarily for use at Beuggen, and mostly appeared in the Monatsblatt (begun in 1828), and other publications of the Institution. They came into notice through their reception into Knapp's Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz, 1837. They were collected by Zeller's son, and published in 1871, as Lieder der Armenschullehrer-Anstalt Beuggen, 58 being original.

Two of these hymns have passed into English, viz.:—
i. Gott bei mir an jedem Orte. Omnipresence. On the joy of God's Presence with us. This appeared in the Monatsblatt in 1828, and was included in the 1871 as above, p. 88. In Knapp's Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz , 1837, No. 32 (1865, No. 32), in 6 stanzas of 6 lines; in the Berlin Geistliche Lieder, ed. 1863, No. 1554, &c. The translation in common use is:—
My God with me in every place. This is a good translation, omitting st. v., by Mrs. Findlater in Hymns from the Land of Luther, 1st Ser., 1854, p. 30 (1884, p. 33); repeated, omitting st. iv., in Holy Song, 1869, No. 588. In Miss Warner's Hymns of the Church Militant, 1858, it begins, "My God is with me every place."
Another translation is: "God in every place is near me." By R. Massie, in the British Herald, May, 1865, p. 70, and in Reid's Praise Book, 1872, No. 438.
ii. Treuer Heiland, wir sind hier. Public Worship. This is in the 1871 as above, p. 64. Included in Knapp's Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz 1837, No. 857 (1865, No. 1256), in 5 stanzas of 7 lines; and repeated in the Württemberg Gesang-Buch, 1842, No. 235. For this hymn Conrad Kocher wrote the well-known melody which in Hymns Ancient & Modern is called Dix, and which first appeared, set to Zeller's hymn, in Kocher's Stimmen aus dem Meiche Gottes, Stuttgart, 1838, No. 201. Translates as:—
Saviour, here to Thee we come. This is a free translation of stanzas i., ii., v., marked as by "F. C. C.” as No. 155 in Dr. Pagenstecher's Collection, 1864. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)