Chapter VI: Part 6

But the kingdom of God here on earth is represented by the Christian church, wherein Christ works by the Spirit through His word and sacraments. Of Grundtvig's many splendid hymns of the church, the following, in the translation of Pastor Carl Doving, has become widely known in all branches of the Lutheran church in America. Pastor Doving's translation is not wholly satisfactory, however, to those who know the forceful and yet so appealing language of the original, a fate which, we are fully aware, may also befall the following new version.

Built on a rock the church of God
Stands though its towers be falling;
Many have crumbled beneath the sod,
Bells still are chiming and calling,
Calling the young and old to come,
But above all the souls that roam,
Weary for rest everlasting.

God, the most high, abides not in
Temples that hands have erected.
High above earthly strife and sin,
He hath his mansions perfected.
Yet He, whom heavens cannot contain,
Chose to abide on earth with man
Making their body His temple.

We are God's house of living stones,
Built for the Spirit's indwelling.
He at His font and table owns
Us for His glory excelling.
Should only two confess His name,
He would yet come and dwell with them,
Granting His mercy abounding.

Even the temples built on earth
Unto the praise of the Father,
Are like the homes of hallowed worth
Whence we as children did gather.
Glorious things in them are said,
God there with us His covenant made,
Making us heirs of His kingdom.

There we behold the font at which
God as His children received us;
There stands the altar where His rich
Mercy from hunger relieved us.
There His blest word to us proclaim:
Jesus is now and e'er the same,
So is His way of salvation.

Grant then, O Lord, where'er we roam,
That, when the church bells are ringing,
People in Jesus' name may come,
Praising His glory with singing.
"Ye, not the world, my face shall see;
I will abide with you," said He.
"My peace I leave with you ever."

As a believer in objective Christianity, Grundtvig naturally exalts the God-given means of grace, the word and sacraments, through which the Spirit works. In one of the epigrammatic expressions often found in his writings, he says:

We are and remain,
We live and attain
In Jesus, God's living word
When His word we embrace
And live by its grace,
Then dwells He within us, our Lord.

This firm belief in the actual presence of Christ in His word and sacraments lends an exceptional realism to many of his hymns on the means of grace. Through the translation by Pastor Doving the following brief hymn has gained wide renown in America.

God's word is our great heritage,
And shall be ours forever.
To spread its light from age to age,
Shall be our chief endeavor.
Through life it guards our way,
In death it is our stay.
Lord, grant, while worlds endure,
We keep its teachings pure
Throughout all generations.

Of his numerous hymns on baptism, the following, which an American authority on hymnody calls the finest baptismal hymn ever written, is perhaps the most representative.

O let Thy spirit with us tarry,
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
So that the babes we to Thee carry
May be unto Thy death baptized.

Lord, after Thee we humbly name them,
O let them in Thy name arise!
If they should stumble, Lord, reclaim them,
That they may reach Thy paradise.

If long their course, let them not falter.
Give to Thine aged servants rest.
If short their race, let by Thine altar
Them like the swallows find a rest.

Upon their heart, Thy name be written,
And theirs within Thine own right hand,
That even when by trials smitten,
They in Thy covenant firm may stand.

Thine angels sing for children sleeping,
May they still sing when death draws nigh.
Both cross and crown are in Thy keeping.
Lord, lead us all to Thee on high.

His communion hymns are gathered from many sources. Of his originals the following tender hymn is perhaps the most typical.

Savior, whither should we go
From the truest friend we know,
From the Son of God above,
From the Fount of saving love,
Who in all this world of strife
Hath alone the word of life.

No, I dare not turn from Thee,
Though Thy word oft chasten me,
For throughout this world, O Lord,
Death is still the cruel word.
Whoso saves the soul from death
Brings redemption, life and breath.

"Eat my flesh and drink my blood."
Saith our Lord, so kind and good.
"Whoso takes the bread and wine,
Shall receive my life divine,
Be redeemed from all his foes
And arise as I arose."

Hear Him then, my heart distressed,
Beating anxious in my breast.
Take Thy Savior at His word,
Meet Him at His altar-board,
Eat His body, drink His blood,
And obtain eternal good.

Grundtvig also produced a great number of hymns for the enrichment of other parts of the church service. Few hymns thus strike a more appropriate and festive note for the opening service than the short hymn given below.

Come, Zion, and sing to the Father above;
Angels join with you
And thank Him for Jesus, the gifts of His love.
We sing before God in the highest.

Strike firmly, O Psalmist, the jubilant chord;
Golden be your harp
In praise of Christ Jesus, our Savior and Lord.
We sing before God in the highest.

Then hear we with rapture the tongues as of fire,
The Spirit draws nigh,
Whose counsels with comforts our spirits inspire,
We sing before God in the highest.

Equally fine is his free rendering of the 84th psalm.

Fair beyond telling,
Lord, is Thy dwelling,
Filled with Thy peace.
Oh how I languish
And, in my anguish,
Wait for release
That I may enter Thy temple, O Lord,
With Thee communing in deepest accord.

With Thy compassion,
Lord of Salvation,
Naught can compare.
Even the sparrow
Safe from the arrow
Rests in Thy care.
And as Thou shieldest the bird in its nest,
So let my heart in Thy temple find rest.

Years full of splendors,
Which to offenders
Earth may afford,
Never can measure
One day of pleasure
Found with Thee, Lord,
When on the wings of Thy quickening word
Souls are uplifted and Thou art adored.

Quicken in spirit,
Grow in Thy merit
Shall now Thy friends.
Blessings in showers
Filled with Thy powers
On them descends
Until at home in the city of gold
All shall in wonder Thy presence behold.

Grundtvig's hymns are for the most part church hymns, presenting the objective rather than the subjective phase of Christian faith. He wrote for the congregation and held that a hymn for congregational singing should express the common faith and hope of the worshippers, rather than the personal feelings and experiences of the individual. Because of this his hymns are frequently criticized for their lack of personal sentiment. The personal note is not wholly lacking in his work, however, as witnessed by the following hymn.

Suffer and languish,
Tremble in anguish
Must every soul that awakes to its guilt.
Sternly from yonder,
Sinai doth thunder:
Die or achieve what no sinner fulfilled.

Tremble with gladness,
Smile through their sadness
Shall all that rest in the arms of the Lord.
Grace beyond measure,
Comfort and treasure
Gathers the heart from His merciful word.

Bravely to suffer,
Gladly to offer
Praises to God 'neath the weight of our cross,
This will the Spirit
Help us to merit
Granting a breath from God's heaven to us.

Even stronger is the personal sentiment of this appealing hymn.

With her cruse of alabaster,
Filled with ointment rare and sweet,
Came the woman to the Master,
Knelt contritely at His feet,
Feeling with unfeigned contrition
How unfit was her condition
To approach the Holy One.

Like this woman, I contritely
Often must approach the Lord,
Knowing that I cannot rightly
Ask a place beside His board.
Sinful and devoid of merit,
I can only cry in spirit:
Lord, be merciful to me.

Lord of Grace and Mercy, harken
To my plea for grace and light.
Threatening clouds and tempests darken
Now my soul with gloomy night.
Let, despite my guilt and error,
My repenting tears still mirror
Thy forgiving smile, O Lord.

The following hymn likewise voices the need for personal perseverance.

Hast to the plow thou put thy hand
Let not thy spirit waver,
Heed not the world's allurements grand,
Nor pause for Sodom's favor.
But plow thy furrow, sow the seed,
Though tares and thorns thy work impede;
For they, who sow with weeping,
With joy shall soon be reaping.

But should at times thy courage fail--
For all may fail and falter--
Let not the tempting world prevail
On thee thy course to alter.
Each moment lost in faint retreat
May bring disaster and defeat.
If foes bid thee defiance,
On God be thy reliance.

If steadfast in the race we keep,
Our course is soon completed.
And death itself is but a sleep,
Its dreaded might defeated.
But those who conquer in the strife
Obtain the victor's crown of life
And shall in constant gladness
Forget these days of sadness.

It is, perhaps, in his numerous hymns on Christian trust, comfort and hope that Grundtvig reaches his highest. His contributions to this type of hymns are too numerous to be more than indicated here. But the hymn given below presents a fair example of the simplicity and poetic beauty that characterize many of them.

God's little child, what troubles you!
Think of your Heavenly Father true.
He will uphold you by His hand,
None can His might and grace withstand.
The Lord be praised!

Shelter and food and counsel tried
God for His children will provide.
They shall not starve, nor homeless roam,
Children may claim their Father's home.
The Lord be praised!

Birds with a song toward heaven soar,
Neither they reap nor lay in store,
But where the hoarder dies from need,
Gathers the little bird a seed.
The Lord be praised!

Clad are the flowers in raiment fair,
Wondrous to see on deserts bare.
Neither they spin nor weave nor sew
Yet no king could such beauty show.
The Lord be praised!

Flowers that bloom at break of dawn
Only to die when day is gone,
How can they with the child compare
That shall the Father's glory share?
The Lord be praised!

God's little child, do then fore'er
Cast on the Lord your every care.
Trust in His love, His grace and might
Then shall His peace your soul delight.
The Lord be praised!

God will your every need allay
Even tomorrow as yesterday,
And when the sun for you goes down
He will your soul with glory crown.
The Lord be praised!

Grundtvig's friends were sometimes called the "Merry Christians." There was nothing superficial or lighthearted, however, about the Christianity of their leader. It had been gained through intense struggles and maintained at the cost of worldly position and honor. But he did believe that God is love, and that love is the root and fount of life, as he says in the following splendid hymn. The translation is by the Reverend Doving.

Love, the fount of light from heaven,
Is the root and source of life;
Therefore God's decrees are given
With His lovingkindness rife.
As our Savior blest declareth
And the Spirit witness beareth,
As we in God's service prove;
God is light and God is love.

Love, the crown of life eternal,
Love the brightness is of light;
Therefore on His throne supernal
Jesus sits in glory bright.
He the Light and Life of heaven,
Who Himself for us hath given,
Still abides and reigns above
In His Father's boundless love.

Love, alone the law fulfilling,
Is the bond of perfectness;
Love, who came, a victim willing,
Wrought our peace and righteousness.
Therefore love and peace in union
Ever work in sweet communion
That through love we may abide
One with Him who for us died.

But the fruit of God's love is peace. As Grundtvig, in the hymn above, sings of God's love, so in the sweet hymn given below he sings of God's peace. The translation is by Pastor Doving.

Peace to soothe our bitter woes
God in Christ on us bestows;
Jesus wrought our peace with God
Through His holy, precious blood;
Peace in Him for sinners found
Is the Gospel's joyful sound.

Peace to us the church doth tell.
'Tis her welcome and farewell.
Peace was our baptismal dower;
Peace shall bless our dying hour.
Peace be with you full and free
Now and in eternity.

In this peace Christians find refuge and rest.

The peace of God protects our hearts
Against the tempter's fiery darts.
It is as sure when evening falls
As when the golden morning calls.

This peace our Savior wrought for us
In agony upon the cross,
And when He up to heaven soared,
His peace He left us in His word.

His word of peace new strength imparts
Each day to faint and troubled hearts,
And in His cup and at the font
It stills our deepest need and want.

This blessed peace our Lord will give
To all who in His Spirit live.
And even at their dying breath
Its comfort breaks the sting of death.

When Christ for us His peace hath won
He asked for faith and faith alone.
By faith and not by merits vain,
Our hearts God's blessed peace obtain.

Peace be with you, our Savior saith
In answer to the word of faith.
Whoso hath faith, shall find release
And dwell in God's eternal peace.

Grundtvig's hymns of comfort for the sick and dying rank with the finest ever written. He hates and fears death, hoping even that Christ may return before his own hour comes; but if He does not, he prays that the Savior will be right with him.

Lord, when my final hours impend,
Come in the person of a friend
And take Thy place beside me,
And talk to me as man to man
Of where we soon shall meet again
And all Thy joy betide me.

For though he knows he cannot master the enemy alone, if the Savior is there--

Death is but the last pretender
We with Christ as our defender
Shall engage and put to flight.

And His word will dispel all fear of the struggle:

Like dew upon the meadow
So falls the word of life
On Christians in the shadow
Of mortal's final strife.
The first fruit of its blessing
Is balm for fears distressing,
So gone is like a breath
The bitterness of death.

Like sun, when night is falling,
Sets stilly in the west
While birds are softly calling
Each other from their nest,
So when its brief day closes
That soul in peace reposes
Which knows that Christ the Lord
Is with it in His word.

And as we shiver slightly
An early summer morn
When blushing heavens brightly
Announce a day new-born,
So moves the soul immortal
With calmness through death's portal
That through its final strife
Beholds the Light of Life.

He could therefore exclaim:

Christian! what a morn of splendor
Full reward for every fear,
When the ransomed host shall render
Praises to its Savior dear,
Shall in heaven's hall of glory
Tell salvation's wondrous story,
And with the angelic throng
Sing the Lamb's eternal song.

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[10]Another translation: "Take away the signs of mourning" by P. C.
Paulsen in "Hymnal for Church and Home".

Chapter Sixteen
Grundtvig's Later Years

Grundtvig's later years present a striking contrast to the years of his earlier manhood. The lonely Defender of the Bible became a respected sage and the acknowledged leader of a fast growing religious and folk movement, both in Denmark and the other Scandinavian countries. His long years of continuous struggles were followed by years of fruitful work and an extensive growth of his religious and educational ideals until he was generally recognized as one of the most vital spiritual leaders of Scandinavia.

The first break in the wall of isolation that surrounded him came with an invitation from a group of students to "the excellent historian, N. F. S. Grundtvig, who has never asked for a reward but only for a chance to do good," to deliver a series of historical lectures at Borch's Collegium in Copenhagen. These lectures--seventy-one in all--were delivered before packed audiences during the summer and fall of 1838, and were so enthusiastically received that the students, on the evening of the concluding lecture, arranged a splendid banquet for the speaker, at which one of them sang:

Yes, through years of lonely struggle
Did you bravely fight,
Bearing scorn without complaining
Till your hair turned white.

During his most lonely years Grundtvig once comforted himself with the words of a Greek sage: "Speak to the people of yesterday, and you will be heard by the people of tomorrow." Thus it was, no doubt, a great satisfaction to him that the first public honor bestowed upon him should be accorded him by his nation's youth.

From that day his reputation and influence grew steadily. He became an honored member of several influential societies, such as the Society for Northern Studies, and the Scandinavian Society, an association of academicians from all the Scandinavian countries for the purpose of effecting a closer spiritual and cultural union between them. He also received frequent invitations to lecture both on outstanding occasions and before special groups. His work as a lecturer probably reached its culmination at a public meeting on the Skamlingsbanke, a wooded hill on the borders of Slesvig, where he spoke to thousands of profoundly stirred listeners, and at a great meeting of Scandinavian students at Oslo, Norway, in 1851, to which he was invited as the guest of honor and acclaimed both by the students and the Norwegian people. When Denmark became a constitutional kingdom in 1848, he was a member of the constitutional assembly and was elected several times to the Riksdag.

Meanwhile he worked ceaselessly for the development of his folk and educational ideals. After his conversion, he felt for a time that his new outlook was incompatible with his previous enthusiasm for the heroic life and ideals of the old North, and that he must now devote himself solely to the preaching of the Gospel. But the formerly mentioned decline of all phases of Danish life during the early part of the nineteenth century and the failure of his preaching to evoke any response from an indifferent people caused him to suspect a closer relationship between a people's religious and national or folk-life than he had hitherto recognized. Was not the folk life of a people, after all, the soil in which the Word of God must be sown, and could the Word bear fruit in a soil completely hardened and unprepared to receive it? If it could not, was not a folk awakening a necessary preparation for a Christian?

Under the spur of this question he undertook the translation of the sagas and developed his now widely recognized ideas of folk life and folk education, which later were embodied in the Grundtvigian folk schools. The first of these schools was opened at Rødding, Slesvig in 1844. The war between Denmark and Germany from 1848 to 1850 delayed the establishment of other similar schools. But in 1851, Christian Kold, the man who more than any other realized Grundtvig's idea of a school for life--as the folk schools were frequently called--opened his first school at Ryslinge, Fyn. From there the movement spread rapidly not only to all parts of Denmark but also to Norway, Finland and Sweden. The latter country now has more schools of the Grundtvigian type than Denmark, and Norway and Finland have about have as many.[11]

To extend the influence of the movement lecture societies, reading circles, gymnastic societies, choral groups and the like were organized in almost every parish of Denmark. Thus before Grundtvig died, he had the satisfaction of seeing his work bear fruit in one of the most vital folk and educational movements of Scandinavia, a movement which has made a tremendous imprint upon all phases of life in the Northern countries and which today is spreading to many other parts of the world.

Grundtvig held that the life of a nation, Christian as well as national, never rose above the real culture of its common people. To be real, a culture had to be national, had to be based on a people's natural characteristics and developed in accordance with native history and traditions. The aim of all true folk-education was the awakening and enrichment of life and not a mere mental or practical training. The natural means for the attainment of this aim was a living presentation of a people's own cultural heritage, their native tradition, history, literature and folk life. But in all cases the medium of this presentation was the living, that is the spoken word by men and women who were themselves spiritually alive. Christianity, in his opinion, had not come to destroy but to cleanse and vivify the folk life of a people, and, since the latter was the soil in which the former had to grow, the fruitfulness of both demanded a living inter-action so that national life might become Christian and Christianity national.

In the practical application of these educational theories, Grundtvig took no active part. Aside from his conception of the idea and the development of much of the material used in the folk-school, his greatest contributions to their work are probably, his innumerable Biblical, historical and folk songs that were and are used in the schools.

Meanwhile he by no means neglected his religious work. Rationalism had been defeated, a sound Evangelical movement was fast revitalizing the church, and he could therefore concentrate his energy on a further development of the view that had come to him during his years of struggle. Among innumerable other works, he produced during his later years the splendid _Enlightenment of the Church_, published 1840-1844; _Teachings of Our Christian Childhood_, published 1855-1862; _The Seven Stars of the Churches_, published 1854-1855; and _The Church Mirror_, a series of lectures on the main currents of church history, published 1861-1863.

Although Grundtvig's views, and especially his distinction between the "living" and the "written" word, were strongly opposed by many, his profoundly spiritual conception of the church, as the body of Christ, and of the sacraments, as its true means of life, has greatly influenced all branches of the Danish church. In emphasizing the true indwelling of Christ in the creed and sacraments, he visualized the real presence of Him in the church and underscored the vital center of congregational worship with a realism that no theological dissertation can ever convey. Nor did he feel that in so doing he was in any sense diverging from true Lutheranism. The fact that Luther himself chose the creed and the words of institution of the sacrament as a basis for his catechism, showed, he contended, that the great Reformer also had recognized their distinction.

Despite frequent charges to the contrary, Grundtvig had no desire to engender a separatist movement in the church. He constantly warned his followers against any such tendency. In a closing speech to the Meeting of Friends in 1863, he said, "You can no more forbid the world to call you Grundtvigians than those whom Luther called to the Lord could forbid anyone to call them Lutherans, but do not yourself adopt that name. For history shows that some have let themselves be called Lutherans until they have almost lost the name of Christians. If anyone wishes to name us after any other than Christ, we ought to tell them that we accept nothing unto salvation except what the Christian church has taught and confessed from generation to generation. To or from that we neither add nor detract. We acknowledge without reservation that word of faith which Paul says is believed to righteousness and confessed unto salvation. The manner of teaching and believing that faith so that the Old Adam may be put off and the new put on, we hold to be a matter of enlightenment in which we shall be guided by Grundtvig, as we are guided by Luther, only in so far as we are convinced that he has been guided by Scripture and the Spirit. We also disclaim any intention of making our conception of Scripture an article of faith which must be accepted by the church." Grundtvig's followers would, no doubt, have profited greatly by remembering this truly liberal view of their leader.

Thus his years passed quietly onward, filled with fruitful labor even unto the end. In contrast to his often stormy public career, Grundtvig's private life was quite peaceful and commonplace, subject only to the usual trials and sorrows of human existence. During the greater part of his life he was extremely poor, subsisting on a small government pension, the meager returns from his writings and occasional gifts from friends. For his own part this did not trouble him; his wants were few and easily satisfied. But he "liked to see shining faces around him," as he once wrote, and he had discovered that the face of a child could often be brightened by a small gift, which he was frequently too poor to give. "But if we would follow the Lord in these days," he wrote to a friend, "we must evidently be prepared to renounce all things for His sake and cast out all these heathen worries for dross and chaff with which we as Christians often distress ourselves."

Grundtvig was thrice married. His first wife, Lise Grundtvig, died January 4, 1851, after a long illness. Her husband said at her grave, "I stand here as an old man who is taking a decided step toward my own grave by burying the bride of my youth and the mother of my children who for more than forty years with unfailing loyalty shared all my joys and sorrows--and mostly latter."

But Grundtvig did not appear to be growing old. During the following summer he attended the great meeting of Scandinavian students at Oslo, where he was hailed as the youngest of them all. And on October 4 of the same year, he rejoiced his enemies and grieved many of his friends by marrying Marie Toft, of Rennebeck's Manor, a wealthy widow and his junior by thirty years. And despite dire predictions to the contrary, the marriage was very happy. Marie Toft was a highly intelligent and spiritual-minded woman who wholeheartedly shared her husband's spiritual views and ideals; and her death in 1854 came, therefore, as an almost overwhelming blow. In a letter to a friend a few weeks after her death, Grundtvig writes, "It was wonderful to be loved as unselfishly as Marie loved me. But she belonged wholly to God. He gave and He took; and despite all objections by the world and our own selfish flesh, the believing heart must exclaim, His name be praised. When I consider the greatness of the treasure that the Lord gave to me by opening this loving heart to me in my old age, I confess that it probably would have proved beyond my strength continuously to bear such good days; for had I not already become critical of all that were not like her, and indifferent to all things that were not concerned with her?"

The last remark, perhaps, refers to a complaint by his friends that he had become so absorbed in his wife that he neglected other things. If this had been the case, he now made amends by throwing himself into a whirl of activity that would have taxed the strength of a much younger man. During the following years, he wrote part of his formerly mentioned books on the church and Christian education, delivered a large number of lectures, resumed his seat in the Riksdag and, of course, attended to his growing work as a pastor. As he was also very neglectful of his own comfort in other ways, it was evident to all that such a strenuous life must soon exhaust his strength unless someone could be constantly about him and minister to his need. For this reason a high-minded young widow, the Baroness Asta Tugendreich Reetz, entered into marriage with him that she might help to conserve the strength of the man whom she considered one of the greatest assets her country possessed.

Grundtvig once said of his marriages that the first was an idyl, the second a romance and the third a fairy-tale. Others said harsher things. But Asta Grundtvig paid no attention to the scandal mongers. A very earnest Christian woman herself, she devoted all her energy to create a real Christian home for her husband and family. As Grundtvig had always lived much by himself, she wished especially to make their home a ready gathering place for all his friends and co-workers. In this she succeeded so well that their modest dwelling was frequently crowded with visitors from far and near, many of whom later counted their visit with Grundtvig among the richest experiences of their life.

Grundtvig's fiftieth anniversary as a pastor was celebrated with impressive festivities on May 29, 1861. The celebration was attended by representatives from all departments of government and the church as well as by a host of people from all parts of Scandinavia; and the celebrant was showered with gifts and honors. The king conferred upon him the title of bishop; the former queen, Carolina Amalia, presented him with a seven armed candlestick of gold from women in Norway, Sweden and Denmark; his friend, Pastor P. A. Fenger, handed him a gift of three thousand dollars from friends in Denmark and Norway to finance a popular edition of his _Hymns and Songs for the Danish Church_; and another friend, Gunni Busck, presented him with a plaque of gold engraved with his likeness and a line from his hymns, a gift from the congregation of Vartov.

Many of those who participated in this splendid jubilee felt that it would be of great benefit to them to meet again for mutual fellowship and discussion of pressing religious and national questions. And with the willing cooperation of Asta Grundtvig, it was decided to invite all who might be interested to a meeting in Copenhagen on Grundtvig's eightieth birthday, September 8, the following year. This Meeting of Friends--as it was named--proved so successful that it henceforth became an annual event, attended by people from all parts of Scandinavia. Although Grundtvig earnestly desired that these meetings should actually be what they were designed to be, meetings of friends for mutual help and enlightenment, his own part in them was naturally important. His powers were still unimpaired, and his contributions were rich in wisdom and spiritual insight. Knowing himself surrounded by friends, he often spoke with an appealing heartiness and power that made the Meetings of Friends unforgettable experiences to many.

Thus the once loneliest man in Denmark found himself in his old age honored by his nation, surrounded by friends, and besieged by visitors and co-workers, seeking his help and advice. He was always very approachable. In his younger days he had frequently been harsh and self-assertive in his judgment of others; but in his latter years he learned that kindness is always more fruitful than wrath. Sitting in his easy chair and smoking his long pipe, he talked frankly and often wittily with the many who came to visit him. Thus Bishop H. Martensen, the theologian, tells us that his conversation was admirably eloquent and interspersed with wit and humor. And a prominent Swedish author, P. Wisselgren, writes: "Some years ago I spent one of the most delightful evenings of my life with Bishop Grundtvig. I doubt that I have ever met a greater poet of conversation. Each thought was an inspiration and his heart was in every word he said."

Grundtvig's outward appearance, especially during his later years, was extremely charming. His strong countenance framed by long white locks and a full beard bore the imprint of a profound spiritual intellect and a benevolent calmness. The queen, Caroline Amalia, after her first meeting with him wrote, "Grundtvig has a most beautiful countenance, and he attracted me at once by his indescribably kind and benevolent appearance. What an interesting man he is, and what a pleasure it is to listen to his open and forthright conversation."

And so, still active and surrounded by friends, he saw his long, fruitful life drawing quietly toward its close. In 1871, he opened the annual Meeting of Friends by speaking from the text: "See, I die, but the Lord shall be with you," and said in all likelihood this meeting would be the last at which he would be present. He lived, however, to prepare for the next meeting, which was to be held on September 11, 1872. On September 1, he conducted his service at Vartov as usual, preaching an exceptionally warm and inspiring sermon. But the following morning he passed away quietly while sitting in his easy chair and listening to his son read for him.

He was buried September 11, three days after his 89th birthday, in the presence of representatives from all departments of the government, one fourth of the Danish clergy and a vast assembly of people from all parts of Scandinavia.

An American writer recently named Grundtvig "The Builder of Modern Denmark." And there are few phases of modern Danish life which he has not influenced. His genius was so unique and his work so many-sided that with equal justice one might call him a historian, a poet, an educator, a religious philosopher, a hymnologist and a folk-leader. Yet there is an underlying unity of thought and purpose in all his work which makes each part of it merely a branch of the whole. This underlying unity is his clear conception of the spiritual and of man as a spiritual being who can attain his fullest development only through the widest possible realization of the spiritual in all his divine and human relationships. In every part of his work Grundtvig, therefore, invariably seeks to discover the spiritual realities. The mere form of a thing, the form of religion, of knowledge, of education, of government, of all human institutions and endeavors have no intrinsic value, are only skeletons and dead bones until they become imbued and vivified by the spirit. Thus Professor Martensen, who by no means belonged to the Grundtvigian party, writes, "But among the many things I owe to Grundtvig, I cherish above all his conception of the spiritual as the reality besides which all other things are nothing but shadows, and of the spirit inspired word as the mightiest power in human life. And he gave that to me not as a theory but as a living truth, a spiritual reality about which there could be not even a shadow of doubt."

Grundtvig found the spiritual in many things, in the myth of the North, in history, literature and, in fact, in all things through which man has to express his god-given nature. He had no patience with the Pietists who looked upon all things not directly religious as evils with which a Christian could have nothing to do. Yet he believed above all in the Holy Spirit as the "Spirit of spirits," the true agent of God in the world. The work of the Spirit was indispensable to man's salvation, and the fruit of that work, the regenerated Christian life, the highest expression of the spiritual. Since he believed furthermore, that the Holy Spirit works especially in the church through the word and sacraments, the church was to him the workshop of the Spirit.

In his famous hymn to the church bell, his symbol for the church, he writes "that among all noble voices none could compare with that of the ringing bell." Despite the many fields in which he traced the imprint of the spiritual, the church remained throughout his long life his real spiritual home, a fact which he beautifully expresses in the hymn below.

Hallowed Church Bell, not for worldly centers
Wast thou made, but for the village small
Where thy voice, as home and hearth it enters,
Blends with lullabies at evenfall.

When a child and in the country dwelling,
Christmas morning was my heaven on earth,
And thy chimes, like angel voices swelling,
Told with joy of my Redeemer's birth.

Louder still thy joyful chimes resounded,
When on wings of early morning borne,
They proclaimed: Awake with joy unbounded,
Christ arose this blessed Easter morn.

Sweeter even were thy tolls when blending
With the calm of summer eventide
And, as though from heaven above descending,
Bid me cast all grief and care aside.

Hence when now the day is softly ending,
Shadows fall and birds ascend their nest,
Like the flowers my head in silence bending,
I am chanting with my soul at rest:

When at last, O Church Bell, thou art tolling
O'er my grave while loved grieve and sigh,
Say to them, their troubled heart consoling,
He is resting with his Lord on high.

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[11]The printed text is corrupt, but the correction is not obvious.
Norway and Finland might have "about as many" or "about half as many".

Other Danish Hymnwriters

Chapter Seventeen

The Danish church has produced a large number of hymnwriters, who, except for the greatness of Kingo, Brorson and Grundtvig, would have commanded general recognition. The present hymnal of the church contains contributions by about sixty Danish writers. Though the majority of these are represented by only one or two hymns, others have made large contributions.

Kingo, Brorson and Grundtvig, peculiarly enough, had few imitators. A small number of writers did attempt to imitate the great leaders, but they formed no school and their work for the most part was so insignificant that it soon disappeared. Thus even Kingo's great work inspired no hymnwriter of any consequence, and the fifty years between Kingo and Brorson added almost nothing to the hymnody of the church. Contemporary with Brorson, however, a few writers appeared whose songs have survived to the present day. Foremost among these is Ambrosius Stub, a unique and sympathetic writer whose work constitutes a distinct contribution to Danish poetry.

Ambrosius Stub was born on the island of Fyn in 1705, the son of a village tailor. Although extremely poor, he managed somehow to enter the University of Copenhagen, but his poverty compelled him to leave the school without completing his course. For a number of years, he drifted aimlessly, earning a precarious living by teaching or bookkeeping at the estates of various nobles, always dogged by poverty and a sense of frustration. Although he was gifted and ambitious, his lack of a degree and his continuous poverty prevented him from attaining the position in life to which his ability apparently entitled him. During his later years, he conducted a small school for boys at Ribe, a small city on the west coast of Jutland, where he died in abject poverty in 1758, only 53 years old.

Stub's work remained almost unknown during his lifetime, but a small collection of his poems, published after his death, gained him a posthumous recognition as the greatest Danish poet of the 18th century. Stub's style is extremely noble and expressive, devoid of the excessive bombast and sentimentality that many writers then mistook for poetry. He was of a cheerful disposition with a hopeful outlook upon life that only occasionally is darkened by the hardships and disappointments of his own existence. Even the poems of his darker moods are colored by his inborn love of beauty and his belief in the fundamental goodness of life. Many of his best poems are of a religious nature, and expressive of his warm and trustful Christian faith. In view of the discouraging hardships and disappointments of his own life, the following much favored hymn throws a revealing light upon the spirit of its author.

Undismayed by any fortune
Life may have in store for me,
This, whatever be my portion,
I will always try to be.
If I but in grace abide,
Undismayed whate'er betide.

Undismayed when others harry
Mind and soul with anxious care;
If the Lord with me will tarry,
All my troubles disappear.
If I but in grace abide,
Undismayed whate'er betide.

Undismayed when others sighing,
Quail before the evil day,
On God's grace I am relying;
Nothing can me then dismay.
If I but in grace abide,
Undismayed whate'er betide.

Undismayed when others fearing,
See the hour of death draw nigh.
With the victor's crown appearing,
Why should I repine and sigh.
If I but in grace abide,
Undismayed whate'er betide.

Dearest Lord, if I may treasure
Thy abundant grace each day,
I shall cherish Thy good pleasure,
Be my portion what it may.
If I but in grace abide,
Undismayed whate'er betide.

The age of Rationalism discarded most of the old hymns but produced no worthwhile hymns of its own. The most highly praised hymnwriter of the period, Birgitte Boye, the wife of a forester, wrote a great number of hymns of which no less than 150 were included in a new hymnal published in 1870, by the renowned statesman, Ove Hoegh Guldberg. Although excessively praised by the highest authorities of the period, Birgitte Boye's hymns contain nothing of permanent value, and have now happily been forgotten.

The Evangelical revival about the middle of the 19th century restored the old hymns to their former favor, and produced besides, a number of new hymnwriters of real merit. Among these, Casper J. Boye is, perhaps, the most prominent. Born of Danish parents at Kongsberg, Norway, in 1791, Boye entered the University of Copenhagen in 1820 where he first took up the study of law and then, of theology. After graduating from this department, he became a teacher at a Latin school and some years later, a pastor of the large Garrison Church in Copenhagen, where he remained until his death in 1851. Boye was a gifted writer, both on secular and religious themes. His numerous hymns appeared in six small volumes entitled: _Spiritual Songs_. They are marked by a flowing but at times excessively literary style and a quiet spiritual fervor. The following still is a favorite opening hymn.

Day is breaking, night is ended,
And the day of rest ascended
Upon church and countryside.
Like the day in brightness growing,
Grace from God is richer flowing;
Heaven's portals open wide.

O what joy this day is bringing,
When the chiming bells are ringing,
Calling man to prayer and praise!
All the angel host rejoices
And with gladsome, mellow voices
Thanks the Lord for light and grace.

Sin and death with fear and sorrow
And the burden of tomorrow
Shall not weigh my heart with care.
Unto all in tribulation
Doth the Lord of our salvation
On this day His peace declare.

Be it hushed in solemn stillness,
Must I weep in grief or illness,
Or confess my guilt and shame,
It is blessed to be weeping
When the hungry heart is reaping
Grace and peace in Jesus' name.

O Thou Fount of grace unbounded,
Who our wisdom hath confounded,
Whom but faith can comprehend!
In Thy love my soul reposes;
Heaven's portal never closes
Till before Thy throne we stand.

Herman Andreas Timm, a younger contemporary of Boye, also wrote a large number of excellent hymns. He was born at Copenhagen in 1800, and was for many years pastor of the church on Amager, a suburb of the capital city. He died in 1866. His hymns appeared in a small volume of poems, published in 1834, under the title: _Spiritual Songs_. They are characterized by an easy literary style and an urgent spiritual appeal. The following very popular hymn is perhaps the best-known of those now available in English.

Dost thou know the living fountain
Whence the stream of grace doth flow?
Dry the streams from snowcapped mountain,
Yet this stream shall fuller grow.
From the very heart of God
Flows its currents deep and broad,
Unto every land and nation,
Bringing mercy and salvation.

Come unto the living waters!
Cried the prophets, do not shrink!
God invites His sons and daughters:
He that thirsteth come and drink.
With this water God imparts
Health and strength to sin-sick hearts.
Why are ye then hesitating
While the Lord with grace is waiting.

With us is the day appointed,
God has kept His gracious word.
He has come, the Lord's annointed;
Men have seen the promised Lord.
Saints of God from every race
Found in Him the fount of grace,
And, with joy that never ceases,
Said: The Fount of Life is Jesus.

Hasten then! Let all assemble
At this fountain pure and strong.
Come, ye souls that fear and tremble,
Come, ye old, and come ye young.
Now the hour of grace is here,
Draw then to its fountain near.
Soon, ah soon! the day is over.
Quickly night the world may cover.

Another contemporary of these writers, and perhaps the most prominent of the group, was Theodore Vilhelm Oldenburg. Oldenburg was born at Copenhagen in 1805, son of the Royal Chamberlain, Frederik Oldenburg. His mother died while he was still a boy, but his excellent father managed to give him a most careful training and a splendid education. He graduated "cum laude" from the University of Copenhagen in 1822, obtained the degree of Master of Arts during the following year, entered the department of theology and graduated from there three years later, also "cum laude." In 1830 he accepted a call to become pastor of the parish of Otterup and Sorterup on the island of Fyn. Here he won high praise for his conspicuously able and faithful work. Together with the gifted Bishop P. C. Kirkegaard, he was editor for a number of years of the influential periodical "Nordisk Tidsskrift for Kristelig Teologi," and also of the outstanding foreign mission paper, "Dansk Missionsblad." Through these papers he exerted a powerful and always beneficent influence upon the churches of both Denmark and Norway. His outstanding and richly blest service was cut short by death in 1842 when he was only 37 years old. He was carried to the grave to the strains of his own appealing hymn: "Thine, O Jesus, Thine Forever."

Oldenburg's quite numerous hymns were printed from time to time in various periodicals. They express in a noble and highly lyrical style the firm faith and warm religious fervor of his own consecrated life.

The hymn given below was written for a foreign mission convention shortly before his death.

Deep and precious,
Strong and gracious
Is the word of God above,
Gently calling
Sinners falling,
To the Savior's arm of love.
Unto all the word is given:
Jesus is the way to heaven.

Blessed Savior,
Wondrous favor
Hast Thou shown our fallen race!
Times may alter,
Worlds may falter,
Nothing moves Thy word of grace.
With Thy word Thy grace abideth,
And for all our needs provideth.

By Thy merit,
Through the Spirit
Draw all sinners, Lord, to Thee.
Sin and error,
Death and terror
By Thy word shall vanquished be.
Guide us all through life's straight portal,
Bear us into life immortal.

Besides Grundtvig the foremost hymnwriter of this period was his close friend, Bernhard Severin Ingemann, one of Denmark's most popular and beloved writers. He was born in 1789 in a parsonage on the island of Falster. His father died in 1800 when the son was only 11 years old, and his mother left the parsonage to settle in Slagelse, an old city on the island of Sjælland. Having graduated from the Latin school there in 1806, Ingemann entered the University of Copenhagen in the fall of the same year. During the English attack on Copenhagen in 1807, he enrolled in the student's volunteer corps and fought honorably in defense of the city. After graduating from the University, he was granted free board and room at Walkendorf's Collegium, an institution for the aid of indigent but promising young students. Here he devoted most of his time to literary pursuits and, during the following three years, he published a large number of works which won him a favorable name as a gifted lyrical poet of a highly idealistic type. As an encouragement to further efforts, the government granted him a two year stipend for travel and study in foreign parts. He visited Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy, and became acquainted with many famous literary leaders of that day, especially in Germany. On his return from abroad in 1822 he was appointed a lector at the famous school at Sorø on the island of Sjælland. In this charming old city with its splendid cathedral and idyllic surroundings he spent the remainder of his life in the peace and quiet that agreed so well with his own mild and seraphic nature. He died in 1862.

Inspired by Oehlenschlaeger and strongly encouraged by Grundtvig, Ingemann in 1824 began the issuance of his famous historical novels, based upon episodes from the romantic period of Danish history during the 13th and 14th centuries. To some extent the novels are modeled upon the similar works of Walter Scott but are written in a livelier style and more idealistic spirit than their English prototype. In later years their historical veracity has been gravely questioned. Enjoying an immense popularity both in Denmark and in Norway, these highly idealized pictures of the past did much to arouse that national spirit which especially Grundtvig had labored long to awaken. After completing his historical novels, Ingemann again resumed his lyrical and fictional writings, producing a large number of poems, fairy-tales and novels that further increased his already immense popularity.

Bernhard Severin Ingemann

Despite the great popularity of Ingemann's secular writings, it is, nevertheless, his hymns and spiritual songs which will preserve his name the longest. His first collection of hymns, a small volume of morning and evening songs, appeared in 1822. This collection was followed in 1825 by a volume of church hymns, which was enlarged and reprinted in 1843. The favorable reception of these hymns caused Ingemann to be selected to prepare the new church hymnal, published in 1855, a task which he accomplished to the general satisfaction of all.

Ingemann's hymns faithfully reflect his own serene and idealistic nature. Their outstanding merits are a limpid, lyrical style and an implicit trust in the essential goodness of life and its Author. Of Kingo's realistic conception of evil or Grundtvig's mighty vision of existence as a heroic battle between life and death, he has little understanding. The world of his songs is as peaceful and idyllic as the quiet countryside around his beloved Sorø. If at times he tries to take the deeper note, his voice falters and becomes artificial. But though his hymns on such themes as sin and redemption are largely a failure, he has written imperishable hymns of idealistic faith and childlike trust in the goodness and love of God.

The extreme lyrical quality and highly involved and irregular metre of many of Ingemann's hymns make them extremely difficult to translate, and their English translations fail on the whole to do justice. The translation given below is perhaps one of the best. It is the work of the Rev. P. C. Paulsen.

As wide as the skies is Thy mercy, O God;
Thy faithfulness shieldeth creation.
Thy bounteous hand from the mountains abroad
Is stretched over country and nation.

Like heaven's embrace is Thy mercy, O Lord;
In judgment profound Thou appearest.
Thou savest our souls through Thy life-giving word,
The cries of Thy children Thou hearest.

How precious Thy goodness, O Father above,
Where children of men are abiding.
Thou spreadest through darkness the wings of Thy love;
We under their pinions are hiding.

For languishing souls Thou preparest a rest;
The quivering dove Thou protectest;
Thou givest us being, eternal and blest,
In mercy our life Thou perfectest.

The following hymn is also quite popular.

The sun is rising in the east,
It gilds the heavens wide,
And scatters light on mountain crest,
On shore and countryside.

It rises from the valley bright,
Where Paradise once lay,
And bringeth life, and joy and light
To all upon its way.

It greets us from the land afar
Where man with grace was crowned,
And from that wondrous Morning Star,
Which Eastern sages found.

The starry host bow down before
The sun that passes them;
It seems so like that star of yore
Which shone on Bethlehem.

Thou Sun of Suns, from heaven come,
In Thee our praises rise
For every message from Thy home
And from Thy Paradise.

The most beloved of all Ingemann's hymns is his splendid "Pilgrim Song."

Dejlig er Jorden,
Prægtig er Guds Himmel,
Skøn er Sjælenes Pilgrimsgang.
Gennem de fagre
Riger paa Jorden
Gaa vi til Paradis med Sang.

This hymn is written to the tune of "Beautiful Savior" which Ingemann, in common with many others, accepted as a marching tune from the period of the crusades. Although this historic origin has now been disproved, the tune united with Ingemann's text undoubtedly will remain the most beloved pilgrim song among the Danish and Norwegian peoples. Though fully aware of the impossibility of translating this tenderly beautiful song so that it is acceptable to those who know the original, the author presents the following translation in the hope that it may interest those who cannot read the original.