1618-1648 – as the Thirty Years’ War progressed, a steady stream of refugees passed through the gates of Eilenburg, a small city in Saxony. The Swedish army besieged the city, and hundreds of homes were destroyed. The plague, then famine, were rampant. The pastors in the city were kept busy conducting funerals, until they, too, succumbed. Only one was then available… to perform over 50 burial services per day.
Martin Rinkart was the Lutheran minister who remained. He was a prolific writer, had extensive musical talents, and was a man devoted to his calling. His faith and courage ministered to thousands of people during his lifetime, and produced a legacy for believers in centuries beyond. During those war-torn days, he was inspired to pen what is perhaps his best-known composition:
“Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!
All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, Whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.”
Copyright 2010 by Tammi Mossman.
