Luther, vol. 5 of 6

by Hartmann Grisar

When the introduction of hymns in the new form of public worship came up for discussion, Luther, owing to the exigencies of the case, showed himself by no means intolerant of the numerous hymns dating from Catholic times then still in use.

We can the more readily understand this seeing the praise he himself lavished on these hymns, the inspiring strains of which still rang in his ears from the days of his youth. It is true that not many of them appeared to him to have the “true spirit.” In his service of the Mass where this remark occurs he wished only three of these to be retained for the time being, viz. the Communion hymn, “Praised be God and blest, Who Himself becomes our Guest,” the Whitsun hymn, “Now we crave of the Holy Ghost” and the Christmas hymn, “A tender Child is born To us this very morn.” The Whitsun hymn and the Communion hymn were enlarged later, i.e. revised. He also took from an older model the first verse of another Whitsun hymn which he composed. His Easter hymn, “Christ lay in His Winding-sheet,” was a revision of the older Catholic hymn, “Jesus Christ to-day is risen,” into which he has introduced part of the Latin Easter sequence. His hymns, “In the midst of life cruel death surrounds us” and “God our Father bide with us” are also adaptations of older Catholic hymns for use in processions. In his rendering of the Ten Commandments into German verse he seems to have taken as his model a similar composition dating from earlier days and also used in processions. “Heirlooms of Catholicism” are also three old chants which he translated from the Latin, “Come, Holy Ghost, Creator, come,” “Saviour of the heathen known” and “Now praise we Christ the Holy One.”[2150]

The Middle Ages had always been noted for their renderings of the Psalms and hymns of the Church, and their productions compare favourably with Luther’s compositions, the more so since he is seldom at his best when he is not free to develop his own thoughts.[2151] Speaking of translations and alluding to those made by his colleagues Luther declared in 1529: “Some have now given proof of their ability and have increased the number of hymns; they far outstrip me and must be regarded as experts in this field.”[2152] Many had been the poets who had turned the old Latin hymns into German; particularly worthy of mention were the monk of Salzburg in the 14th and Heinrich of Laufenberg in the 15th century. Many of these hymns can take their place beside Luther’s rendering of Psalm xlvi. (xlv.), “Ein’ feste Burg,” though the trust in God they express and the unshaken faith of their childlike language is far removed from any presumptuous reliance on private judgment in religious matters or subjective revelations. Of the use of German hymns Provost Gerhoch of Reichersberg wrote as early as the 12th century: “The whole people breaks out into praise of the Saviour in the hymns of their mother tongue; especially is this the case with the Germans whose language lends itself so well to melody.”[2153] At the close of the Middle Ages it might be said with truth: “The German nation possessed a hoard of hymns, such as no other nation in the world could show.”[2154]

It is not only Luther who frequently admits that he had “included in his hymnbook some of the songs of our forefathers” as “bearing witness to the good Christians who lived before our day,”[2155] but even the Apologia for the Confession of Augsburg had to admit in its defence of the Protestant ritual: “The use [of German hymns] has always been regarded as praiseworthy in the churches; though more German hymns are sung in some places than in others, nevertheless, in all the churches the people have always sung something in German, hence the practice is not at all novel.”[2156]

That something was always sung in German is perfectly correct; in the liturgy properly so-called, viz. the Mass, the rule was to sing in Latin the Proper, Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, etc. Hence the standing of vernacular hymns was different in the case of Catholics from what it was with Protestants. With the latter the edification of the congregation was the principal thing, whereas, for the Catholic, public worship had in the eucharistic sacrifice something quite independent of private devotion; it was in keeping with the character of this universal sacrifice offered by all nations and tongues that its rites should be conducted in Latin, the universal language. The only strictly liturgical Psalmody in the Middle Ages was the Latin Gregorian chant. The German hymn held only a subordinate place in the liturgy, being inserted sometimes in connection with the sequence after the Gradual, or, more usually, before and after the sermon. On the other hand, recourse to German hymns was usual in extra-liturgical devotions, in processions, pilgrimages and in pious gatherings of the people whether at home or in the church.

The hymn tunes made use of in the Middle Ages were also in every case either Gregorian or quasi-Gregorian. Thus the musical language of popular piety was able to maintain its dignity, was preserved faithful to the traditions of the great ages of the Church and secure from the inroads of private fancy.

The melodies to which Luther set his own compositions and those of his friends had also been handed down from earlier times. Some of them were purely Gregorian, others were those of older Catholic hymns or of popular ditties. The melody of “A Safe Stronghold,” as already observed, is derived from the Latin chant, and so is that of “Jesaia dem Propheten” and others. Even the setting of the versified creed “We all believe in one true God” is borrowed from a 15th-century composition.

Protestant admiration for Luther has indeed led “to his being represented as a notable composer,[2157] and thus many of these tunes bear his name. Careful research has, however, shattered this delusion.... Many other melodies, which so far it has been impossible to trace to the Middle Ages, probably form part of the pre-reformation treasury of hymns.... Whether, as modern research is inclined to think, the simple new melody to ‘Saviour of the heathen known,’ ... is Luther’s own, it is not possible to determine.”[2158]

The traditional fondness of Germans for song was used to spread erroneous doctrines not by Luther alone, but also by others of the New Believers; this was particularly the case with the followers of Schwenckfeld, who exploited it in the interests of their sect. Luther’s hymnbook even stood in danger of being “spoilt” by outside additions, hence the precaution he took of appending the authors’ names to the various hymns; he also prefixed a special “Warnung” to the Preface of an edition brought out towards the end of his life (1542).[2159]

Among the songs falsely attributed to Luther is one on the “Out-driving of Antichrist.” In old editions this “Song for the Children, wherewith to drive out the Pope in Mid-Lent”[2160] is indeed ascribed to Luther, but we learn from Mathesius’s “Historien” that it was he who brought the text of it to Luther in the spring of 1545 on the occasion of his last visit. The song is a modification of an older one still sung in places even to-day, on Laetare Sunday, for the chasing away of winter. The unknown versifier, who was perhaps Mathesius himself, has transferred to the Pope-Antichrist what was intended for the winter. Luther was pleased with the verses and himself undertook their publication.[2161] There is a great difference between the cheerful, innocent verses still sung by children to-day: “Now let us drive the Winter out,” etc.,[2162] and the malicious version which Luther popularised and which was even included in many of the Lutheran hymn-books, for instance in the collection dating from 1547, “Etliche tröstliche Gebet, Psalmen und geistliche Lieder,” etc. There it is entitled “A Christian song for Children.” It occurs in the Königsberg Enchiridion of 1560, together with another Old German children’s song, to be sung on the way home.[2163]