Hymn #6: Sing Praise to God, Our Highest Good

Johann Jacob Schütz (1640-1690) wrote this hymn, “Sei Lob und Ehr dem höchsten Gut,” in his native German. It was published in his 1675 hymnbook, Christliches Gedenckbüchlein, in Frankfurt, Germany, where Schütz lived and worked as a lawyer, taking cases in both civil and canon law.

Johann J. Schütz was an early leader in the German pietistic movement. He suggested that Philipp J. Spener begin prayer meetings, which became the backbone of the movement. Schütz eventually became a separatist and turned away from the Lutheran Church.

The composer of this tune, MIT FREUDEN ZART, is unknown, but the hymn can be traced to a hymnbook of the Bohemian Brethren of 1566, where it was used with an Easter text. This melody is similar to one in the 1562 Genevan Psalter and a French secular song circa 1529.

The hymnal of the Bohemian Brethren (Kirchengesäng), in which this tune appeared, was one of the earliest Protestant hymnals. It was published in1 566 by Georg Vetter (1536-1599), a priest of the United Brethren (Moravian) Church who is also credited with a Czech version of the Calvinist psalms and the Kralice Bible translation.