506 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1530.
Luther’s hymns are characterized, like those of St. Ambrose, by simplicity and strength, and a popular churchly tone. But, unlike those of St. Ambrose and the Middle Ages, they breathe the bold, confident, joyful spirit of justifying faith, which was the beating heart of his theology and piety.
Luther’s hymns passed at once into common use in church and school, and sung the Reformation into the hearts of the people. Hans Sachs of Nurnberg saluted him as the nightingale of Wittenberg.t How highly his contemporaries thought of them, may be inferred from Cyriacus Spangenberg, likewise a hymnist, who said in his preface to the “ Cithara Lutheri” (1569): “Of all master-singers since the days of the apostles, Luther is the best. In his hymns you find not an idle or useless word. The rhymes are easy and good, the | words choice and proper, the meaning clear and intelligible, the melodies lovely and hearty, and, im swmma, all is so rare and majestic, so full of pith and power, so cheering and comforting, that you will not find his equal, much less his master.”
Before Luther’s death (1546), there appeared no less than forty-seven Lutheran hymn- and tune-books. The first German evangelical hymn-book, the so-called “ Wittenberg Enchiridion,” was printed in the year 1524, and contained eight hymns, four of them by Luther, three by Speratus, one by an unknown author. The “Erfurt Enchiridion” of the same year numbered twenty-five hymns, of which eighteen were from Luther. The hymn-book of Walther, also of 1524, contained thirty-two German and five Latin hymns, with a preface of Luther. Klug’s Gesangbuch by Luther, Wittenberg, 1529, had fifty (twenty-eight of Luther); Babst’s of 1545 (printed at Leipzig), eighty-nine; and the fifth edition of 1558, a hundred and thirty-one hymns.”
1“ Die wittenbergisch Nachtigall, Die man jetzt horet tiberall.”’
2 See Koch, I. 246 sqq., and Wackernagel’s Bibliographie, p. 66 sqq.
§ 82. BEGINNINGS OF EVANGELICAL HYMNODY. 507
This rapid increase of hymns and hymn-books continued after Luther’s death. We can only mention the names of the principal hymnists who were inspired by his example.
Justus Jonas (1493-1555), Luther’s friend and colleague,
wrote, — ‘“‘ Wo Gott, der Herr, nicht bei uns halt”’ (Ps. 124). (If God were not upon our side. )
Paul Ebert (1511-1569), the faithful assistant of Melanchthon, and professor of Hebrew in Wittenberg, is the author of “Wenn wir in hochsten Nothen sein,’’
(When in the hour of utmost need,)
and “ Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’r Mensch und Gott.’’
(Lord Jesus Christ, true man and God.)
Burkhard Waldis of Hesse (1486-1551) versified the Psalter.
Erasmus Alber (d. in Mecklenburg, 1553) wrote twenty hymns which Herder and Gervinus thought almost equal to Luther’s.
Lazarus Spengler of Nurnberg (1449-1534) wrote about 1522 a hymn on sin and redemption, which soon became very popular, although it is didactic rather than poetic :—
“ Durch Adam’s Fall ist ganz verderbt.’’
Hans Sachs (1494-1576), the shoemaker-poet of Niirnberg, was the most fruitful ‘“ Meistersanger” of that period, and wrote some spiritual hymns as well; but only one of them is still in use: —
“Warum betriibst du dich, mein Herz ?”’ (Why doest thou vex thyself, my heart ?)
Veit Dietrich, pastor of St. Sebaldus in Niirnberg (d. 1549),
wrote :— ** Bedenk, o Mensch, die grosse Gnad.’’
(Remember, man, the wondrous grace.)
508 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1580.
Markgraf Albrecht of Brandenburg (d. 1557), is the author of :—
“Was mein Gott will, gescheh allzeit.’’ (Thy will, my God, be always done.)
Paul Speratus, his court-chaplain at Konigsberg (d. 1551), contributed three hymns to the first German hymn-book (1524), of which —
‘* Es ist das Heil uns kommen her’? (To us salvation now has come)
is the best, though more didactic than lyric, and gives rhymed expression to the doctrine of justification by faith. Schneesing’s
‘¢ Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ’ (To Thee alone, Lord Jesus Christ)
appeared first in 1545, and is used to this day.
Mathesius, the pupil and biographer of Luther, and pastor at Joachimsthal in Bohemia (1504-65), wrote a few hymns. Nicolaus Hermann, his cantor and friend (d. 1561), is the author of a hundred and seventy-six hymns, especially for children, and composed popular tunes. Nicolaus Decius, first a monk, then an evangelical pastor at Stettin (ἃ. 1541), reproduced the Gloria in Excelsis in his well-known
‘* Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr’”’ (1526),
and the eucharistic Agnus Dei in his
“0 Lamm Gottes unschuldig’’ (1581).
He also composed the tunes. .
The German hymnody of the Reformation period was enriched by hymns of the Bohemian Brethren. Two of them, Michael Weisse (d. 1542) and Johann Horn, prepared free translations. Weisse was a native German, but joined the Brethren, and was sent by them as a delegate to Luther