Paul Gerhardt, a German poet and theologian, born at Grafenhainichen, near Wittenberg, March 12, 1607, died at Lubben, June 7, 1070. Little is known of his life till in 1651 he became pastor at Mittenwalde, a position which he exchanged in 1057 for that of deacon in the church of St. Nicholas in Berlin. He was there at the head of the strict Lutherans against the syncretism of Calixtus and his followers, and was deprived of his diaconate because he refused to obey the edict of 1664 forbidding either party to defame theother in the pulpit or tax it with heresy. In January, 1007, ho was reinstated in his office, but resigned the following month, and in 1668 became archdeacon in Lubben. He is esteemed the author of the best German hymns after those of Luther; several of them were translated by John Wesley, and are found, in part at least, in the Methodist hymn book. In Germany they were first collected under the title of Geistliche Andachten in 120 Liedem (Berlin, 1666), and many of them are contained in most of the Protestant hymn books in Germany. Of their numerous editions, the best is that of Philipp Wackernagel (Stuttgart, 1843).