Carlyle Statue, Ecclefechan

AMONG Luther’s Spiritual Songs, of which various collections have appeared of late years,[2] the one entitled Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott is universally regarded as the best ; and indeed still retains its place and devotional use in the Psalmodies of Protestant Germany. Of the Tune, which also is by Luther, we have no copy, and only a secondhand knowledge : to the original Words, probably never before printed in England, we subjoin the following Translation ; which, if it possess the only merit it can pretend to, that of literal adherence to the sense, will not prove unacceptable to our readers. Luther’s music is heard daily in our churches, several of our finest Psalm-tunes being of his composition. Luther’s sentiments also are, or should be, present in many an English heart ; the more interesting to us is any the smallest articulate expression of these.

The great Reformer’s love of music, of poetry, it has often been remarked, is one of the most significant features in his character. But indeed, if every great man, Napoleon himself, is intrinsically a poet, an idealist, with more or less completeness of utterance, which all our great men, in these modern ages, had such an endowment in that kind as Luther ? He it was, emphatically, who stood based on the Spiritual World of man, and only by the footing and miraculous power he had obtained there, could work such changes in the Material World. As a participant and dispenser of divine influences, he shows himself among human affairs ; a true connecting medium and visible Messenger between Heaven and Earth ; a man, therefore, not only permitted to enter the sphere of Poetry, but to dwell in the purest centre thereof : perhaps the most inspired of all Teachers since the first Apostles of his faith ; and thus not a Poet only, but a Prophet and god-ordained Priest, which is the highest form of that dignity, and of all dignity.

Unhappily, or happily, Luther’s poetic feeling did not so much learn to express itself in fit Words that take captive every ear, as in fit Actions, wherein truly, under still more impressive manifestation, the spirit of spheral melody resides, and still audibly addresses us. In his written Poems we find little, save that strength of one ‘whose words,’ it has been said, ‘were half battles ;’ little of that still harmony and blending softness of union, which is the last perfection of strength ; less of it than even his conduct often manifested. With Words he had not learned to make pure music ; it was by Deeds of love or heroic valour that he spoke freely ; in tones, only through his Flute, amid tears, could the sigh of that strong soul find utterance.

Nevertheless, though in imperfect articulation, the same voice, if we will listen well, is to be heard also in his writings, in his Poems. The following, for example, jars upon our ears : yet there is something in it like the sound of Alpine avalanches, or the first murmur of earthquakes ; in the very vastness of which dissonance a higher unison is revealed to us. Luther wrote this Song in a time of blackest threatenings, which however could in nowise become a time of despair. In those tones, rugged, broken as they are, do we not recognise the accent of that summoned man (summoned not by Charles the Fifth, but by God Almighty also), who answered his friends’ warning not to enter Worms, in this wise : "Were there as many devils in Worms as there are roof-tiles, I would on ;"—of him who, alone in that assemblage, before all emperors and principalities and powers, spoke forth these final and forever memorable words : "It is neither safe nor prudent to do aught against conscience. Here stand I, I cannot otherwise. God assist me. Amen !"[3] It is evident enough that to this man all Pope’s Conclaves, and Imperial Diets, and hosts, and nations, were but weak ; weak as the forest, with all its strong trees, may be to the smallest spark of electric fire.

[1] FRASER’S MAGAZINE, No. 12.

[2] For example : Luthers Geistliche Lieder, nebst dessen Gedanken über die Musica (Berlin, 1817) ; Die Lieder Luthers gesammelt von Kosegarten und Rambach &c.

[3] ‘Till such time as, either by proofs from Holy Scripture, or by fair reason or argument, I have been confuted and convicted, I cannot and will not recant, weil weder sicher noch gerathen ist, etwas wider Gewissen zu thun. Hier stehe ich, ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen !’

	This edition © Ogmios Press 2000 (all rights reserved) Original copy published in Vol.2 of Thomas Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (London : Chapman & Hall, 1887).
	return to top ->