5. _German Hymnody._--Luther was a proficient in and a lover of music. He desired (as he says in the preface to his hymn-book of 1545) that this "beautiful ornament" might "in a right manner serve the great Creator and His Christian people." The persecuted Bohemian or Hussite Church, then settled on the borders of Moravia under the name of "United Brethren," had sent to him, on a mission in 1522, Michael Weiss, who not long afterwards published a number of German translations from old Bohemian hymns (known as those of the "Bohemian Brethren"), with some of his own. These Luther highly approved and recommended. He himself, in 1522, published a small volume of eight hymns, which was enlarged to 63 in 1527, and to 125 in 1545. He had formed what he called a "house choir" of musical friends, to select such old and popular tunes (whether secular or ecclesiastical) as might be found suitable, and to compose new melodies, for church use. His fellow labourers in this field (besides Weiss) were Justus Jonas, his own especial colleague; Paul Eber, the disciple and friend of Melanchthon; John Walther, choirmaster successively to several German princes, and professor of arts, &c., at Wittenberg; Nicholas Decius, who from a monk became a Protestant teacher in Brunswick, and translated the "Gloria in Excelsis," &c.; and Paul Speratus, chaplain to Duke Albert of Prussia in 1525. Some of their works are still popular in Germany. Weiss's "Funeral Hymn," "Nun lasst uns den Leib begraben" ("Now lay we calmly in the grave"); Eber's "Herr Jesu Christ, wahr Mensch und Gott" ("Lord Jesus Christ, true Man and God"), and "Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein" ("When in the hour of utmost need"); Walther's "New Heavens and new Earth" ("Now fain my joyous heart would sing"); Decius's "To God on high be thanks and praise"; and Speratus's "Salvation now has come for all," are among those which at the time produced the greatest effect, and are still best remembered.