The students at Mount Hope recently learned TLH 611, “The Day Is Surely Drawing Near,” a hymn about Christ’s return on the Last Day to judge all mankind, fitting as we recently observed the Last Sunday of the Church Year. The author of the text, Bartholomӓus Ringwaldt (ca. 1531-1599), was a Lutheran pastor who wrote about 150 hymns during his life. Ringwaldt lived through the Crypto-Calvinist controversy about the nature of the Lord’s Supper and helped keep his parish faithful to the Bible’s teaching and the Lutheran Confessions.
This particular hymn of his, knows in German as “Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit,” was published in 1586 and was inspired by an earlier hymn with the same name published in 1565. Both of these German hymns about the Last Day were originally derived from a medieval Latin chant called “Dies irae,” one of the most well-known Latin chants ever sung, which is commonly used for requiems. The nineteen-verse text of “Dies irae” from as early as the year 600 sets a scene of fiery wrath and terrifying judgment which is carried over into Ringwaldt’s German versification. Here are a few verses from TLH 611 juxtaposed with sections translated from the original Latin text in italics:
1. The day is surely drawing near
When God’s Son, the Anointed,
Shall with great majesty appear
As Judge of all appointed.
All mirth and laughter then shall cease
When flames on flames will still increase,
As Scripture truly teacheth.
Day of wrath and doom impending!
David’s word with Sibyl’s blending,
Heaven and earth in ashes ending!
Oh, what fear man’s bosom rendeth,
When from heaven the Judge descendeth,
On whose sentence all dependeth.
2. A trumpet loud shall then resound
And all the earth be shaken.
Then all who in their graves are found
Shall from their sleep awaken;
But all that live shall in that hour
By the Almighty’s boundless pow’r
Be changed at His commanding.
Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth;
Through earth’s sepulchres it ringeth;
All before the throne it bringeth.
3. A book is opened then to all,
A record truly telling
What each hath done, both great and small,
When he on earth was dwelling;
And ev’ry heart be clearly seen,
And all be known as they have been
In tho’ts and words and actions.
Lo, the book, exactly worded,
Wherein all hath been recorded,
Thence shall judgement be awarded.
6. Therefore my Intercessor be
And for Thy blood and merit
Declare my name from judgment free
With all who life inherit,
That I may see Thee face to face
With all Thy saints in that blest place
Which Thou for us hast purchased.
Faint and weary, Thou hast sought me,
On the cross of suffering bought me.
Shall such grace be vainly brought me?
When the wicked are confounded,
Doomed to flames of woe unbounded,
Call me with Thy saints surrounded.
While keeping themes from the Latin chant, Ringwaldt added more elements of Lutheran theology and salvation found in Christ, “who my debt didst pay” and who “for Thy blood and merit” makes Christians free of judgment. Lutheran hymns are beautiful for their clear theology grounded in Scripture, and Ringwaldt’s hymn certainly supplies an excellent picture of great terror at God’s judgment and even greater comfort found in Christ.
In Christ,
Miss Engwall
