illed
by the message.

The popularity of the Lutheran hymns was astonishing. Other hymn-writers
sprang up in large numbers, printing presses were kept busy, and before
Luther's death no less than sixty collections of hymns had been
published. Wandering evangelists were often surrounded by excited crowds
in the market places, hymns printed on leaflets were distributed, and the
whole populace would join in singing the songs of the Reformers.

Paul Speratus, Paul Eber, and Justus Jonas were the most gifted
co-laborers of Luther. It was Speratus who contributed three hymns to the
"Achtliederbuch," the first hymn-book published by Luther. His most
famous hymn, "To us salvation now is come," has been called "the poetic
counterpart of Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans." It was the
great confessional hymn of the Reformation. Luther is said to have wept
tears of joy when he heard it sung by a street singer outside his window
in Wittenberg.

Speratus wrote the hymn in a Moravian prison into which he had been cast
because of his bold espousal of the Lutheran teachings. Immediately upon
his release he proceeded to Wittenberg, where he joined himself to the
Reformers. He later became the leader of the Reformation movement in
Prussia and before his death in 1551 was chosen bishop of Pomerania. His
poetic genius may be seen reflected in the beautiful paraphrase of the
Lord's Prayer which forms the concluding two stanzas of his celebrated
hymn:

All blessing, honor, thanks, and praise
To Father, Son, and Spirit,
The God who saved us by His grace,
All glory to His merit:
O Father in the heavens above,
Thy glorious works show forth Thy love,
Thy worthy Name be hallowed.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done
In earth, as 'tis in heaven:
Keep us in life, by grace led on,
Forgiving and forgiven;
Save Thou us in temptation's hour,
And from all ills; Thine is the power,
And all the glory, Amen!

Eber was the sweetest singer among the Reformers. As professor of Hebrew
at Wittenberg University and assistant to Melanchthon, he had an active
part in the stirring events of the Reformation. He possessed more of
Melanchthon's gentleness than Luther's ruggedness, and his hymns are
tender and appealing in their childlike simplicity. There is wondrous
consolation in his hymns for the dying, as witness his pious swan-song:

In Thy dear wounds I fall asleep,