I read a portion of Schaff’s History of the Christian Church this week. In the section on The Swiss Reformation, he notes this about the Anabaptist’s hymnody,
They dwell on the inner life of the Christian, the mysteries of regeneration, sanctification, and personal union with Christ. They breathe throughout a spirit of piety, devotion, cheerful resignation under suffering, and readiness for martyrdom. They are hymns of the cross, to comfort and encourage the scattered sheep of Christ ready for the slaughter, in imitation of their divine Shepherd (Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 8:80).
Their hymnody grew out of a crucible of suffering and persecution. It appears that a keen realization that we are living on the precipice of eternity would go a long way in restoring worship that pleases God.
