BWV 168 Tue Rechnung! Donnerwort
Ninth Sunday after Trinity. Salomo Franck, Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer ... in geistlichen Cantaten (Weimar, 1715); Facs: Neumann T, p. 281. 6. Bartholomäus Ringwaldt, verse 8 of "Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut," 1588 (Wackernagel, IV, #1523). 29 July 1725, Leipzig? BG 33; NBA I/19. 1. Aria (B) Make a reck'ning!(1) Thund'rous word,
2. Recit. (T) It is but borrowed wealth Principal and interest also, These my debts, both large and small, Must one day be reckoned up. All for which I’m yet indebted Is in God’s own ledger written As in steel and adamant. 4. Recit. (B) But yet, O frightened heart, live and despair thou not! Step gladly ’fore the court! And if thy conscience should convict thee, Thou must be here constrained to silence; Behold thy guarantor, He hath all debts for thee erased! It is repaid and fully wiped away What thou, O man, thy reck’ning art still owing; The lamb’s own blood, O love most mighty!, Hath all thy debt now canceled And thee with God hath settled. It is repaid, thy balance cleared! And meanwhile, Since thou know’st That thou a steward art, Thus be concerned and ever mindful That thou make prudent use of Mammon To benefit the poor; Thus shalt thou, when both time and life have ended, In heaven’s shelter rest secure. 5. Aria (S, A) Heart, break free of Mammon’s fetters, Hands now, scatter good abroad! Make ye soft my dying pallet, Build for me a solid house, Which in heaven ever bideth When earth’s wealth to dust is scattered. 6. Chorale (S,A,T,B) So strengthen me thy Spirit’s joy, Heal me with this thy wounding, Wash me with this thy dying sweat In my life's final hours; And take me then, whene’re thou wilt, In true believing from the world To thine own chosen people. 1. Cf. Lk. 16:2. It is characteristic of Salomo Franck that the imagery of the cantata is drawn from the language of finance. © Copyright Z. Philip Ambrose |