ON THIS DATE
Martin Rinkart died 12/8/1649 at Eilenburg, Germany. He was a Lutheran minister who at 31 began a pastorate in his native Eilenburg, Saxony. His community suffered terribly from the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648, primarily a struggle between the Roman Catholic system & those who wanted free from it) and the Plague of 1637 (plagues are often the direct results of war). Rinckart (a variant in spelling) buried 5,000 victims of the plague, including his wife – holding as many as 50 funerals a day. In spite of the privations and sufferings of this era, he penned sixty-six hymns, his best-known being (“Nun danket alle Gott”) “Now Thank We All Our God.” He was born 23/4/1586.
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.
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