By AL SANDERS
day in the city of Eilenberg. Over the course of those 30 years' war, he conducted more than 4,480 funeral services, one of which was that of his own beloved wife. He indicated in his diary that either all the other pastors had died or else had previously fled from the walled city of Eilenberg. In the very midst of this experience, Martin Rinkart wrote the words, “Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices. Who won drous things hath done, in Whom this world rejoices." Should those discouraging and depressive expe riences have been ours, would we have been able to turn our sadness and tragedy into rejoicing and song? Martin Rinkart did because he was personally acquainted with Page 49
Frequently at Thanksgiving, church services feature the singing of such hymns as the beautiful, "NowThank We All OurGod." This anthem of praise to the Lord was written many years ago by Martin Rinkart who was a pastor in Eilen- berg, Saxony. He lived only three decades, from 1618 to 1648, dying at the age of 30. It was in his life time that the historic 30 years' war swept through that area of the world. Historians declare that it was one of the most devastating conflicts and plagues to hit man kind. Entire populations of com munities were decimated because of disease and pestilence. As an indication of their severity, this young preacher himself had to bury anywhere from 40 to 50 people a
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs