Excerpts

 
 

A PREFACE FOR ALL GOOD HYMNALS

Lady Music

 
OF ALL THE joys upon the earth
       None has for us a greater worth
Than what I give with my singing
       And with others sweetly ringing.
Here cannot be an evil mood
       Where there are singing fellows good,
Here is no grudge, hate, rage, or row;
       Softened is all grief and sorrow;
Greed, grief, and animosity
       Depart with all melancholy.
Thus is ev’ryone well and free,
       Since in such joy no sin can be.
But it gives God more joy and mirth
        Than all the pleasures of the earth.
The devil’s works are confounded;
       Evil murders are avoided.
Witness King David’s actions good,
       Who often quelled Saul’s evil mood
By sweetly playing on the lyre
       And thus escaped his murd’rous ire.
By truth divine and God’s own Word
       The heart is stilled and is prepared;
Such did Elisha once propound
       When harping he the Spirit found.
The best time of the year is mine
       When all the birds are singing fine.
The heav’ns and the earth are filled
       With much good singing, clear and skilled.
Above all, the precious nightingale
       Makes all now joyful overall
With her delightful songs and lays
       For which she must be thanked always,
But more so to God, our Maker,
       Who carefully created her
To be His own beloved songstress
       And of musica a mistress.
Thus day and night she always sings,
       Untiring praise to God she brings.
I too will sing my laud and praise,
       Eternal thanks will I thus raise.
 

Dr. Martin Luther
tr. Robin A. Leaver

Available Spring 2026

Published by
The Protes’tant Conference
❦
Hardcover | leatherette
Smythe-sewn binding
765 pages
Color illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-934328-06-4

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