Heinrich Theobald Schenk

SCHENK (or SCHENCK), Heinrich Theobald. b. Heidelbach, Hesse, April 1656; d. Giessen, April 1727 (buried 15 April). He was educated at the University of Giessen. He taught at his old school, the Pädagogium at Giessen (1677-89) and was appointed town preacher at the Stadtkirche (town church) in 1689. Heinrich Schenk is known as the author of ‘Wer sind die vor Gottes Throne?’, a hymn based on Revelation 7: 13-17. It is Schenk’s only known hymn. It had twenty stanzas, and was first published in a Neu-vermehrtes Gesangbuchlein (‘newly-increased hymn book’, Frankfurt am Main, 1719). It is found in very many British and American books in the superb translation by Frances Elizabeth Cox*, ‘Who are...