According to tradition, Paul Speratus wrote Salvation Unto Us Has Come while he was in prison in Olomouc, condemned for his beliefs to death by fire. By the intercession of friends was he released with the condition that he leave Moravia. Paul Tschackert (1895) wrote in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Volume 35 (in German). Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 123–135. "...only through the intercession of respected aristocrats was he rescued from death by fire, to which he had been condemned ... in this prison he composed the Protestant hymn 'There is salvation come forth to us.'"
There's also a story of Luther being brought to tears when he first heard this hymn being sung by a beggar outside his window in Wittenburg. Jean Henri Merle (1846) wrote in History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century: "The Reformer, who had never till then heard that Christian hymn, listened with delight and astonishment; and what further augmented these feelings, was the foreign accent of the person who sang. 'Again! again!' he exclaimed when the beggar had finished. He then asked him where the hymn could have come from; the tears rushed from his eyes when the poor man told him that it was from the shores of the Baltic that a shout of deliverance was resounding as far as Wittenberg; and then, clasping his hands, he thanked God with a joyful heart." And Catherine Winkworth (1884) wrote in Christian Singers of Germany. pp. 123–4: "...sounds to us like a bit out of the Augsburg Confession done into rhyme. But in his own day it was as popular as Luther's hymns, and Luther himself is said to have given his last coin to a Prussian beggar from whom he heard it for the first time."
Thank you for this historical insight. I always wish I could share more information in these writings, but I feel that brevity is often prudent--especially when there is far too much information to share. This hymn is certainly a treasure of the Lutheran Church.
I'm interested in your comment that, "The Word was shielded from him, even after his ordination as a monk. The Church kept the comforting word of the Gospel from him to force him into submission. No monk could defend the lies of the papacy any longer had they received access to the sacred Scriptures."
In what way were monks like Luther denied access to the Scriptures? I thought monks were the ones entrusted with preserving, copying, and illustrating them during the medieval period.
In that way, yes. But the Scriptures were denied from them in a specific sense that they could not preach that Word to the laity. They were largely prohibited from sharing that Word with the Church. Even the monks to whom the Scriptures were opened were taught bluntly untrue teachings. Perhaps that is not fair to say as a generalization of the entire Church in every circumstance, to which I alluded in my writing. But the Scriptures were hidden even from the monks in the sense that the Church held to specifically unbiblical teachings that deprived the entire Church of the Gospel.
Thank you. I wasn’t familiar with the additional four verses (what treasure!) nor Mr. Heidenreich’s history of Speratus writing while awaiting death. Forgive me, but I couldn’t find another way to ask. What’s your name and Lutheran denomination? I’m Justin Kane, by the way, an LC-MS pastor in Waterloo, IA.
According to tradition, Paul Speratus wrote Salvation Unto Us Has Come while he was in prison in Olomouc, condemned for his beliefs to death by fire. By the intercession of friends was he released with the condition that he leave Moravia. Paul Tschackert (1895) wrote in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Volume 35 (in German). Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 123–135. "...only through the intercession of respected aristocrats was he rescued from death by fire, to which he had been condemned ... in this prison he composed the Protestant hymn 'There is salvation come forth to us.'"
There's also a story of Luther being brought to tears when he first heard this hymn being sung by a beggar outside his window in Wittenburg. Jean Henri Merle (1846) wrote in History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century: "The Reformer, who had never till then heard that Christian hymn, listened with delight and astonishment; and what further augmented these feelings, was the foreign accent of the person who sang. 'Again! again!' he exclaimed when the beggar had finished. He then asked him where the hymn could have come from; the tears rushed from his eyes when the poor man told him that it was from the shores of the Baltic that a shout of deliverance was resounding as far as Wittenberg; and then, clasping his hands, he thanked God with a joyful heart." And Catherine Winkworth (1884) wrote in Christian Singers of Germany. pp. 123–4: "...sounds to us like a bit out of the Augsburg Confession done into rhyme. But in his own day it was as popular as Luther's hymns, and Luther himself is said to have given his last coin to a Prussian beggar from whom he heard it for the first time."
Thank you for this historical insight. I always wish I could share more information in these writings, but I feel that brevity is often prudent--especially when there is far too much information to share. This hymn is certainly a treasure of the Lutheran Church.
I'm interested in your comment that, "The Word was shielded from him, even after his ordination as a monk. The Church kept the comforting word of the Gospel from him to force him into submission. No monk could defend the lies of the papacy any longer had they received access to the sacred Scriptures."
In what way were monks like Luther denied access to the Scriptures? I thought monks were the ones entrusted with preserving, copying, and illustrating them during the medieval period.
In that way, yes. But the Scriptures were denied from them in a specific sense that they could not preach that Word to the laity. They were largely prohibited from sharing that Word with the Church. Even the monks to whom the Scriptures were opened were taught bluntly untrue teachings. Perhaps that is not fair to say as a generalization of the entire Church in every circumstance, to which I alluded in my writing. But the Scriptures were hidden even from the monks in the sense that the Church held to specifically unbiblical teachings that deprived the entire Church of the Gospel.
Thank you. I wasn’t familiar with the additional four verses (what treasure!) nor Mr. Heidenreich’s history of Speratus writing while awaiting death. Forgive me, but I couldn’t find another way to ask. What’s your name and Lutheran denomination? I’m Justin Kane, by the way, an LC-MS pastor in Waterloo, IA.
God’s blessings and a blessed Reformation!
Here's a comparison of English translations of Salvation Unto Us Has Come that I put together before LSB came out, if you're interested: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CjeC-J7EL75M95LKS74sXUna7A2gGPXg/view?usp=sharing
Here is a great post by Pastor Brian Hamer with video links to beautiful settings of the music to Salvation Unto Us Has Come that have been composed by Buxtehude, Bach, and Brahms. https://www.whatdoesthismean.org/lifted-voice--brian-hamer/hymns-of-the-reformation-salvation-unto-us-has-come