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It is not difficult to come approximately at the order of
composition of Luther's hymns. The earliest hymn-book of the
Reformation - if not the earliest of all printed hymn-books - was
published at Wittenberg in 1524, and contained _eight_ hymns,
four of them from the pen of Luther himself; of the other four
not less than three were by Paul Speratus, and one of these
three, the hymn _Es ist das Heil_, which caused Luther such
delight when sung beneath his window by a wanderer from
Prussia.4 Three of Luther's contributions to this little book
were versions of Psalms - the xii, xiv, and cxxx - and the fourth
was that touching utterance of personal religious experience,
_Nun fruet euch, lieben Christen g'mein_. But the critics can
hardly be mistaken in assigning as early a date to the ballad
of the Martyrs of Brussels. Their martyrdom took place July 1,
1523, and the "_New Song_" must have been inspired by the
story as it was first brought to Wittenberg, although it is
not found in print until the _Enchiridion_, which followed the
_Eight Hymns_, later in the same year, from the press of
Erfurt, and contained fourteen of Luther's hymns beside the
four already published.
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