Among his strictly original hymns are, —
"Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein" (1523).
(Rejoice, rejoice, dear flock of Christ.)
Bunsen calls this, the first (?) voice of German church-song, which flashed with the power
of lightning through all German lands, in praise of the eternal decree of redemption of the human
race and of the gospel of freedom."
"Erhalt uns Herr bei deinem Wort,
Und steur des Papsts und Türken Mord" (1541).
This is directed against the Pope and the Turk, as the chief enemies of Christ and his church
in Luther’s days.^654
The stirring song of the two evangelical proto-martyrs at Brussels in 1523, —
"Ein neues Lied wir heben an." —
is chronologically his first, and not a hymn in the proper sense of the term, but had an irresistible effect, especially the tenth stanza, —
"Die Asche will nicht lassen ab,
Sie stäubt in alten Landen,
Hie hilft kein Bach, Loch, Grub noch Grab,
Sie macht den Feind zu Schanden.
Die er im Leben durch den Mord,
Zu schweigen hat gedrungen
Die muss er todt an altem Ort
Mit aller Stimm und Zungen
Gar frölich lassen singen."^655
(Their ashes will not rest and lie,
But scattered far and near,
Stream, dungeon, bolt, and grave defy,
Their foeman’s shame and fear.
Those whom alive the tyrant’s wrongs
To silence could subdue,
He must, when dead, let sing the songs
And in all languages and tongues
Resound the wide world through.)
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 Nürnberg saluted him as the nightingale.’Tis even as the Scripture saith,
Christ through death hath conquered Death.)(^654) The second line, which was very offensive to the Papists, is changed in most modern hymnbooks into,—
"Und steure alter Feinde Mord."
(^655) See the whole in Wackernagel, III. 3, 4. Thomas Fuller says of the ashes of Wiclif, that the brook Swift, into which they were cast
(1428), "conveyed them into the Avon, the Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean; and thus the ashes
of Wiclif are the emblems of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over."