ship, borrowed from the work done by the Lutheran leaders or influenced by it, the first evangelical hymnal of England also drew from Lutheran sources. In 1539 or earlier Miles Coverdale published his "Ghostly Psalms and Spiritual Songs, drawn out of the Holy Scripture." This includes not only a number of the psalms which were versified by Luther, but also some of Luther's hymns in a liberal version, such as "Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmein," "Komm heilger Geist," "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott," etc. The latter reads,
Our God is a defense and towre
A good armoure and good weapon,
He had been ever oure helpe and sucoure
In all the troubles that we have ben in
Therefore wyl we never drede
For any wondrous dede
By water or by lande
In hilles or the see side:
Our God hath them al in his hande.
Indeed, during 1548 and the years following England had almost become a Lutheran country.82
22. Luther and the Articles of Smalkald, 1537
The Council was announced in 1536. In view of this Luther, at the behest of the Elector, wrote his so-called Smalkald Articles, in a way his last will and testament. Zangemeister has made the original manuscript accessible, whereas Kolde especially shows how it came to pass that Luther's articles were in the end not accepted by the assembled representatives of evangelical lands and cities in Smalkald, and that it was decided to refer once more to the Augustana, Apology and Wittenberg-Concord, and
