The two great works of Martin Luther were those by which
he gave to the common people a vernacular Bible and vernacular
worship, that through the one, God might speak directly to the
people; and in the other, the people might speak directly to
God. Luther's Bible and Luther's Hymns gave life not only to
the churches of the Reformation, but to German nationality and
the German language.Concerning the hymns of Luther the words of several
notable writers are on record, and are worthy to be prefixed
to the volume of them.
Says Spangenberg, yet in Luther's life-time, in his
Preface to the _Cithara Lutheri_, 1545:
"One must certainly let this be true, and remain true,
that among all Mastersingers from the days of the Apostles
until now, Luther is and always will be the best and most
accomplished; in whose hymns and songs one does not find a
vain or needless word. All flows and falls in the sweetest and
neatest manner, full of spirit and doctrine, so that his every
word gives outright a sermon of his own, or at least a
singular reminiscence. There is nothing forced, nothing
foisted in or patched up, nothing fragmentary.
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