In the early 1700’s, many towns and villages in Germany experienced a spiritual awakening that brought the people closer to God. One of the visible results of the awakening was the part singing played in the lives of the people. "Professor Melchior tells us of Mulheim, ‘If songs were heard in the workshops or the fields they were not profane songs, but sacred—either the Psalms of David, or hymns from the hymnbooks… I always know, when I have been traveling about, that I am getting back to Mulheim…for I hear the singing everywhere.’

"It has been truly said, that from the time that the people of God came out of the house of bondage from the land of Egypt, every time of deliverance and of refreshing has been marked by songs of praise. When the light broke in upon the German convents of the Middle Ages, when Huss and Luther preached the glad tidings from Heaven, when the Huguenots were aroused in the Cevennes to make their glorious stand for the Gospel of Christ, when the Methodists were sent forth through the dead towns and villages of England, ‘then,’ as Goebel writes, ‘did the life and freshness of Christian life break forth in glorious songs and hymns, which told the wonders of that heavenly life in clear and lovely music.’ "