Rambach, August Jakob

Rambach, August Jakob was norn May 28, 1777, at Quedlinburg. having completed his studies at Halle, he was appointed on May 2, 1802, deacon of St. Peter's at Hamburg. On Dec. 20, 1818, he succeeded his father as pastor of St. Michael's. In the year 1827 the Marburg University honored himn with the degree of doctor of divinity, and in 1834 he was made senior of the ministry at Hamburg. In 1846 bodily infirmities obliged him to resign the pastorate, and he retired to his country-seat in Ottensen, where he died Sept. 7, 1851. His main study was that of hymnology, and his library contained 2200 volumes on that subject. He wrote, Suppllenzete zu Richter's biogr. Lexicon geistl. Liederndichter (Hamburg, 1804): — Luther's Verdienst um den Kirchengesang (ibid. 1813). But his greatest work is Anthologie christlicher Gesange aus cder alten und mittleren Zeit (Altona, 1816-33. 6 vols.); a very valuable collection of Greek, Latin, and German hymns. Comp. Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenliedes, 7:36, 70; Zuchold, Bibliotheca Theologica, ii, 1026; Petersen, In Memoriam A. J. Rambachii, etc. (Hamburg, 1856). (B. P.)