Hiller, Philip Frederick

Hiller, Philip Frederick one of the best and most prolific hymn writers of the Evangelical Church of Southern Germany, was born at Muhlhausen in 1699; educated under J. A. Bengel; became pastor at two or three little villages, and finally at Steinheim in 1732; lost his voice in 1751, and died in 1769. After his retirement from the pulpit he devoted himself especially to sacred poetry, and produced over 1000 hymns, many of which have great excellencies. It is said that, next to the Bible, his spiritual songs are perhaps the most widely circulated book in Würtemberg (Hurst's Hagenbach). A complete edition appeared at Reutlingen in 1844 and 1851. — Herzog. Real- Encyklop. vol. 6; Hagenbach, Hist. of the 18th and 19th Centuries

(translated by Hurst), 2, 393; Winkworth, Christian Singers of Germany, p. 278.