"Jesus sinners doth receive!" Word of surest consolation; Word all sorrow to relieve, Word of pardon, peace, salvation! Naught like this can comfort give: "Jesus sinners doth receive!" Neumeister became pastor of St. James church in Hamburg in 1715, where he remained for forty-one years until his death in 1756. His fame does not rest merely upon his hymns, although he wrote 650 in all, but Neumeister will also be remembered as the originator of the Church Cantata. In this new field of musical art he was fortunate in having the cooperation of such a genius as Bach. Bach belonged to the fifth generation of a remarkable family of musicians. As many as thirty-seven of the family are known to have held important musical positions. John Sebastian, who is by far the greatest musician the Protestant Church has produced, was born in Eisenach, on March 21, 1685. The greater part of his life was spent in Leipzig, where he labored from 1723 until his death in 1750 as cantor of the Thomas school and director of music at the Thomas and Nicolai churches. Bach's devotion to the Lutheran Church has been likened to that of Palestrina to the Catholic Church. There is no loftier example of musical genius dedicated to the service of the Christian religion than we find in the life of Bach. He felt that his life was consecrated to God, to the honor of his Church, and to the blessing of mankind. Although it was the age when the opera was flourishing in Europe, Bach gave no attention to it, but devoted all his remarkable talent to church music. As master of the organ, Bach has never been equaled. His chorales and passion music also belong in a class by themselves. A famous critic has written: "Mozart and Beethoven failed in oratorio, Schubert in opera; the Italian operas of Gluck and Handel have perished. Even in the successful work of these men there is a strange inequality. But upon all that Bach attempted--and the amount of his work is no less a marvel than its quality--he affixed the stamp of final and inimitable perfection." With the passing of years, Bach's genius is being recognized more and more throughout the Christian Church. The performance of his cantatas by the Catholic Schola Cantorum of Paris "is one of the many testimonies to the universality of the art of this son of Lutheranism." There is something in his mighty productions that touches the deepest chords of religious emotion, regardless of creed or communion. A Hymn on the Mystical Union Thou hidden love of God, whose height, Whose depth unfathomed no man knows, I see from far Thy beauteous light, Inly I sigh for Thy repose: My heart is pained, nor can it be At rest; till it find rest in Thee.