Now I have found the ground wherein

Now I have found the ground wherein. Johann Andreas Rothe* (1688-1758), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791). Rothe’s hymn, ‘Ich habe nun den Grund gefunden’*, was first published in Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf’s Christ-Catholisches Singe- und Bet-Büchlein (1727), and then in the Moravian book that John Wesley would have encountered on his voyage to Georgia, Das Gesang-buch der Gemeine in Herrnhut (1735). It had ten stanzas, of which Wesley translated six. Rothe’s magnificent hymn is notable for its rhetorical use of the word ‘Barmhertzigkeit’ (‘mercy’; literally, softening of the heart). Stanza 3 ends Weil Christi Blut beständig schreit: Barmherzigkeit! Barmherzigkeit! for Christ’s...

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