Among his friends was the well known choirmaster of the Nicolaikirche, Johann Crüger, who first introduced Gerhardt's hymns into common worship by publishing eighteen⁷⁷Among these 18 were: "Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld" Goed. 68. "O du allersüszte Freude" Goed. 76. "O Welt sieh hier dein Leben" Goed. 71. "Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe" Goed. 59. of them with other poems in his Praxis pietatis melica.