which was a large, common dish wherein each child dipped with his spoon, and of the homely meal begun and closed with prayer, may be distinctly drawn.
In No. 41 of the Magazien there is a continuation, or second part, containing “Hundert christliche Lebens-Regeln fuer Kinder.” There is nothing said in either of these papers concerning the author, but if the internal evidence were not in itself sufficient, the descendants of Saur have preserved the knowledge that they were written by Dock.
In No. 15, Vol. II of the Magazien, are “Zwey erbauliche Lieder, welche der Gottselige Christoph Dock, Schulmeister an der Schipbach, seinen lieben Schuelern, und allen andern die sie lesen, zur Betrachtung hinterlassen hat.”
He wrote a number of hymns, some of which are still used among the Mennonites in their church services. These hymns, so far as they are known to me, are as follows, the first line of each only being given:
- Kommt, liebe Kinder, kommt herbey.
- Ach kommet her ihr Menschen Kinder.
- Mein Lebensfaden lauft zu Ende.
- Ach Kinder wollt ihr lieben.
- Fromm seyn ist ein Schatz der Jugend.
- An Gottes gnad und milden Seegen.
- Allein auf Gott setz dein Vertrauen.
During the later years of his life Dock made his home with Heinrich Kassel, a Mennonite farmer on the Skippack. One evening in the fall of 1771 he did not return from his labors at the usual time. A search was made and he was found in the school-house on his knees — dead. After the dismissal of the scholars for the day he had remained to pray and the messenger of death had overtaken him at his devotions — a fitting end to a life which
