A Hymn When Death Is at the Door: “Help Me, O Lord” by Ulrich Zwingli

Help Me, O Lord

In 1505, a professor named Thomas Wyttenbach came to the University of Basle in Switzerland to teach theology. As he attacked the Roman Catholic practices of indulgences, the mass, and priestly celibacy, a young Master of Arts student named Ulrich Zwingli listened with intent fascination. The seeds of reformation had been sown.

After Zwingli graduated, he took priestly orders and began serving in the Swiss city of Glarus. Zwingli was a new kind of priest, having been trained in the best of Renaissance humanism as well as classic Greek and Roman literature. While in Glarus, he also developed a friendship with the noted scholar Erasmus, whose ideas greatly influenced Zwingli. From Glarus, Zwingli went to Einsiedeln and also spent time as a military chaplain. 

Zwingli never had the sort of dramatic break with Rome that Martin Luther did. Instead, Zwingli’s change was more gradual. By 1518, when in Einsiedeln, Zwingli was speaking out against indulgences and the concept of popery. He encouraged his people to worship Jesus, not Mary. Despite this, the Roman Church still allowed Zwingli to move to the Grossmünster, the most prominent church in Zurich, in December 1518. 

As he worked within Catholicism, Zwingli saw the corruption of the church and the society around him, and began to speak out against the evils he saw. At first, Zwingli’s goals were primarily for cultural and political reform. However, as Philip Schaff says, “[A]fter he once had chosen the Scriptures for his guide, he easily shook off the traditions of Rome, which never had a very strong hold upon him. That process began at Glarus, and was completed at Zurich.”1Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. VII. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1958 (reproduction of Rev. 3rdEd., ©1910 Charles Scribner’s Sons), 27.

From Zurich, Zwingli would become one of Europe’s most prominent reformers, a man “who combined the humanistic culture of Erasmus with the ability of a popular preacher and the practical energy of an ecclesiastical reformer.”2Ibid., 7. He preached through most of the New Testament, and made it a point to assert only what he could prove from the Scriptures. In the twelve years he spent in Zurich, he became a champion of a more biblical approach to the Christian faith, in large part agreeing with Martin Luther.3The chief disagreement between Luther and Zwingli was over the nature of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist.

Shortly after beginning his ministry in Zurich, Zwingli visited the baths at Ragatz. While he was there, he received word that an outbreak of the bubonic plague had reached Zurich. Pastor Zwingli hurried back to care for his flock. After a few weeks of tending the sick, Zwingli himself contracted the disease. Some 2,500 residents of Zurich died, including Ulrich’s brother Andreas. It looked to Ulrich as if he would soon be among the dead.

But God spared his life. Zwingli recovered, but felt lingering effects of the illness for several months. During this time, Zwingli composed a series of three short poems reflecting on his sickness and recovery. Taken collectively, they are known as the Pestlied, or “Plague Hymn.” It seems that Zwingli modeled his hymn on some of the psalms of lament written out of times of physical affliction, such as Psalm 22, 69, and 143. 

In these poems, Zwingli cries out to God for help, yet accepts God’s sovereignty over his situation. At the height of his illness, he feels that Satan himself is reaching for him. And yet, the cross of Christ assures him (and us) that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39). Upon his recovery, Zwingli renews his commitment to praise the Lord and to serve Him. He recognizes that his escape from death is only for a time. When his hour finally comes, he can face it with greater confidence in the God who saves from eternal death.

Though Zwingli was an accomplished musician and apparently set this poem to music, he minimized the role of music in church worship services (particularly objecting to the use of instruments and to choirs singing in Latin). Perhaps as a consequence, this hymn has never been widely sung in Christian churches.4However, not surprisingly, it has gained new interest following the coronavirus pandemic, as a quick internet search will show. It appeared in several German hymnals of the 16th century, however. The translation below is in 8.8.8.8 meter, or Long Meter (L.M.), and seems best suited to a minor-key tune.5Two possibilities would be the 16th-century German tune ERHALT UNS, HERR and the 15th-century English tune DEO GRACIAS.

The people of God have long dealt with how to respond in the face of serious calamity, including deathly illness. Zwingli, through his Plague Hymn, gives a model of trust in the Lord and confidence in Him in the face of death.        

I. In the Beginning of His Sickness

Help me, O Lord, my strength and rock;
Lo, at the door I hear death’s knock.
Uplift Thine arm, once pierced for me,
That conquered death and set me free.
Yet, if Thy voice in life’s mid-day
Recalls my soul, then I obey.
In faith and hope Earth I resign,
Secure of heaven, for I am Thine.

II. In the Midst of His Sickness

My pains increase; haste to console;
For fear and woe seize body and soul.
Death is at hand, my senses fail,
My tongue is dumb; now, Christ, prevail.
Lo! Satan strains to snatch his prey;
I feel his grasp; must I give way?
He harms me not, I fear no loss,
For here I lie beneath Thy cross.

III. On Recovering from His Sickness

My God! My Lord! Healed by Thy hand,
Upon the earth once more I stand.
Let sin no more rule over me;
My mouth shall sing alone of Thee.
Though now delayed, my hour will come,
Involved, perchance, in deeper gloom.
But let it come; with joy I’ll rise,
And bear my yoke straight to the skies.

—Ulrich Zwingli, 15196This translation is found in Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 45-46. No translator is given, but it may be by Schaff himself (some hymnals also list Schaff as the translator of Christian … Continue reading


[1] Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. VII. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1958 (reproduction of Rev. 3rd Ed., ©1910 Charles Scribner’s Sons), 27.

[2] Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 7.

[3] The chief disagreement between Luther and Zwingli was over the nature of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist.

[4] However, not surprisingly, it has gained new interest following the coronavirus pandemic, as a quick internet search will show. It appeared in several German hymnals of the 16th century, however.

[5] Two possibilities would be the 16th-century German tune ERHALT UNS, HERR and the 15th-century English tune DEO GRACIAS.

[6] This translation is found in Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 45-46. No translator is given, but it may be by Schaff himself (some hymnals also list Schaff as the translator of Christian Gellert’s magnificent hymn “Jesus Lives, and So Shall I”).

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References

References
1 Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. VII. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1958 (reproduction of Rev. 3rdEd., ©1910 Charles Scribner’s Sons), 27.
2 Ibid., 7.
3 The chief disagreement between Luther and Zwingli was over the nature of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist.
4 However, not surprisingly, it has gained new interest following the coronavirus pandemic, as a quick internet search will show. It appeared in several German hymnals of the 16th century, however.
5 Two possibilities would be the 16th-century German tune ERHALT UNS, HERR and the 15th-century English tune DEO GRACIAS.
6 This translation is found in Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 45-46. No translator is given, but it may be by Schaff himself (some hymnals also list Schaff as the translator of Christian Gellert’s magnificent hymn “Jesus Lives, and So Shall I”).
Author

James Anderson

James Anderson has been involved in bivocational ministry for nearly 20 years, having served at various times as a children’s choir director, executive director of a non-profit, a church minister of music, and an assistant pastor of a church plant. He holds a BS in Church Music from Faith Baptist Bible College (Ankeny, IA), and master’s degrees in choral conducting (University of Minnesota) and theology (Central Baptist Theological Seminary, Plymouth, MN). He and his wife Marisa have two daughters and live near Minneapolis, Minnesota.