Wilhelm Erasmus Arends

ARENDS, Wilhelm Erasmus. b. Langenstein, near Halberstadt, 5 February 1677; d. Halberstadt, 16 May 1721. He was born at into a clerical family: his father died when he was two years old, and he was brought up by an uncle, also a pastor. He studied under August Hermann Francke* in Halle before becoming pastor at Krottorf (Halberstadt), and then pastor of St Peter and St Paul in Halberstadt, where he died in office. In the Deutsches Evangelisches Kirchen-Gesangbuch, and in earlier books, his hymn in four stanzas, ‘Rüstet euch, ihr Christenleute’ (from Freylinghausen*’s Neues Geist-reiches Gesang-Buch, Halle, 1714) was printed. In EG only stanza 4 remains as ‘Jesu, stärke deine Kinder’...