Justus Jonas
Justus Jonas -- P. 115
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Among the friends enlisted by
Luther
as writers for the new hymn-books, the principal were
Justus Jonas,
who was for many years his colleague in the professorship
of theology at Wittenberg; and
Paul Eber,
who stood in a similar relation to Melancthon.
Melancthon himself wrote no hymns, for the one or
two often attributed to him are really passages from his
writings versified by friends. His work lay in the
scholarship which produced what was long the standard
edition in Germany of the Greek Testament, and in
the theology that gave shape to the Confession of
Augsburg. Justus Jonas was the son of the burgomaster
of Nordhausen, a clever young lawyer, who
very early became professor of jurisprudence at Erfurt
116
and a friend of Erasmus and Luther. So close was
his intimacy with the latter, that he accompanied him
to Worms, an act for which he was deprived of his
salary as professor. Luther then induced him to study
divinity and take orders, and for many years the
two men lived in constant association at Wittenberg;
Justus Jonas accompanied his friend on his last journey,
stood by his death-bed, and with many tears preached
his funeral sermon. Luther's death was followed, as
he had himself foretold, by troubles and strife. For
six years (from 1546 to 1552) Germany was distracted
by a civil war, of which the object was to obtain
toleration for the reformed doctrine, an end achieved
at last by Maurice of Saxony, in the treaty of
Passau. Nor was this the only struggle that was
going on. Differences of opinion on intricate theological
questions had already begun to divide the
Reformers themselves. Various sects arose, but the
chief division was that between the followers of
Luther who adhered to the Confession of Augsburg,
and those of Zwinglius who adopted the more
Calvinistic views of the Swiss reformers, with a lower
sacramental theory. These called themselves distinctively
the Reformed Church, while the Lutherans
adopted the name of the Evangelical Church; but
the latter were by far the most numerous body,
and occupied in most States the position of the
National Protestant Church of Germany, while the
Reformed Church took up that of an important
and tolerated sect. Justus Jonas, who was not merely
a good theologian, but a skilful jurist, naturally had
to take part in all the many discussions and conferences
in which the evangelical doctrine gradually
117
assumed definite form and consistency, and the legal
and political rights of its adherents were ascertained
and asserted; and of course he had to bear his share
of the difficulties in which he was thus involved. On
one occasion a Spanish officer quartered in his house
received a large bribe to assassinate him, but was
so much impressed by the piety, integrity, and
kindness of his intended victim, that he confessed his
purpose to him, and entreated forgiveness. Yet on
his deathbed this well-proved servant of Christ suffered
much from mental doubts and conflicts, until at
last peace returned, and he fell asleep "as a tired
soldier." What he did for hymnology was to help
Luther in preparing
metrical German versions of the Psalms,
choosing by preference, as one can well
understand, those which speak of David's sufferings
from his enemies, and his trust in God's deliverance.
Some of these are very celebrated, especially the one here given:--
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