hated death under whatever form he saw it. "Life is from heaven, death is
from hell," he says in a characteristic poem. The one is representative
of all the good the Creator intended for his creatures, the other of all
the evil, frustration and destruction the great destroyer brought into
the world. There can be no reconciliation or peace between the two, the
one must inevitably destroy or be destroyed by the other. He could see
nothing but deception in the attempts of certain philosophical or
theological phrasemakers to minimize or explain away the eternal
malignity of death, man's most relentless foe. A human being could fall
no lower than to accept death as a friend. Thus in a poem:
Yea, hear it, ye heavens, with loathing and grief;
The sons of the Highest now look for relief
In the ways of damnation
And find consolation
In hopes of eternal death.
But death is not present only at the hour of our demise. It is present
everywhere; it is active in all things. It destroys nations, corrupts
society, robs the child of its innocence, wipes the bloom from the cheeks
of youth, frustrates the possibilities of manhood and makes pitiful the
white hair of the aged. For death, as all must see, is only the wage of
sin, the ripe fruit of evil.
I recognize now clearly;
Death is the wage of sin,
It is the fruitage merely
Of evil's growth within.
And its danger is so actual because it is active in every individual in
himself as well as in others:
When I view the true condition
Of my troubled, restless heart,
Naught but sin can I envision
Even to its inmost part.
Such then is his fundamental view of the condition of man, a being in the
destructive grip of a relentless foe, a creature whose greatest need is
"a hero who can break the bonds of death". And there is but one who can
do that, the Son of God.
Grundtvig's hymns abound in terms of adoration for the Savior of Man. He
names Him the "Joy of Heaven", "The Fortune of Earth", "The Fount of
Light", "The Sovereign of Life", "The Fear of Darkness", "The Terror of
Death", and speaks of the day when all the "nations of the earth shall
offer praise in the offer bowl of His name." But he sees the Christ less
as the suffering Lamb of God than as the invincible conqueror of death
and the heroic deliverer of man.
Like his other hymns most of his hymns to the Savior are objective rather
than subjective. They present the Christ of the Gospels, covering his
life so fully that it would be possible to compile from them an almost
complete sequence on His life, work and resurrection. The following
stately hymn may serve as an appropriate introduction to a necessarily
brief survey of the group:
Jesus, the name without compare;
Honored on earth and in heaven,
Wherein the Father's love and care
Are to His children now given.
Saviour of all that saved would be,
Fount of salvation full and free
Is the Lord Jesus forever.
Jesus, the name alone on earth
For our salvation afforded.
So on His cross of precious worth
Is in His blood it recorded.
Only in that our prayers are heard,
Only in that when hearts are stirred
Doth now the Spirit us comfort.
Jesus, the name above the sky
Wherein, when seasons are ended,
Peoples shall come to God on high,
And every knee shall be bended,
While all the saved in sweet accord
Chorus the praise of Christ, the Lord,
Savior beloved by the Father.
Grundtvig sang of Christmas morning "as his heaven on earth", and he
wrote some of the finest Christmas hymns in the Danish language. A number
of these have already been given. The following simple hymn from an old
Latin-Danish text is still very popular.
A babe is born in Bethlehem,
Bethlehem,
Rejoice, rejoice Jerusalem;
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
A lowly virgin gave Him birth,
Gave Him birth,
Who rules the heavens and the earth;
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
He in a simple manger lay,
Manger lay,
Whom angels praise with joy for aye;
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
And wise men from the East did bring,
East did bring,
Gold, myrrh and incense to the King;
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Now all our fears have passed away,
Passed away,
The Savior blest was born today;
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
God's blessed children we became,
We became,
And shall in heaven praise His name;
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
There like the angels we shall be,
We shall be,
And shall the Lord in glory see;
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
With gladsome praises we adore,
We adore,
Our Lord and Savior evermore;
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
His hymns on the life and work of our Lord are too numerous to be more
than indicated here. The following hymn on the text, "Blessed are the
eyes that see what ye see, and the ears that hear what ye hear", is
typical of his expository hymns.
Blessed were the eyes that truly
Here on earth beheld the Lord;
Happy were the ears that duly
Listened to His living word.
Which proclaimed the wondrous story
Of God's mercy, love and glory.
Kings and prophets long with yearning
Prayed to see His day appear;
Angels with desire were burning
To behold the golden year
When God's light and grace should quicken
All that sin and death had stricken.
He who, light and life revealing,
By His Spirit stills our want;
He, who broken hearts is healing
By His cup and at the font,
Jesus, Fount of joy incessant,
Is with light and grace now present.
Eyes by sin and darkness blinded
May now see His glory bright;
Hearts perverse and carnal minded
May obtain His Spirit's light.
When, contrite and sorely yearning,
They in faith to Him are turning.
Blessed are the eyes that truly
Now on earth behold the Lord;
Happy are the ears that duly
Listen to His living word!
When His words our spirits nourish
Shall the kingdom in us flourish.
Grundtvig reaches his greatest height in his hymns of praise to Christ,
the Redeemer. Many of his passion hymns have not been translated into
English. In the original, the following hymn undoubtedly ranks with the
greatest songs of praise to the suffering Lord.
Hail Thee, Savior and Atoner!
Though the world Thy name dishonor,
Moved by love my heart proposes
To adorn Thy cross with roses
And to offer praise to Thee.
O what moved Thee so to love us,
When enthroned with God above us,
That for us Thou all wouldst offer
And in deep compassion suffer
Even death that we might live.
Love alone Thy heart was filling
When to suffer Thou wert willing.
Rather givest Thou than takest,
Hence, O Savior, Thou forsakest
All to die in sinner's place.
Ah, my heart in deep contrition
Now perceives its true condition,
Cold and barren like a mountain,
How could I deserve the fountain
Of Thy love, my Savior dear.
Yet I know that from thy passion
Flows a river of salvation
Which can bid the mountain vanish,
Which can sin and coldness banish,
And restore my heart in Thee.
Lord, with tears I pray Thee ever:
Lead into my heart that river,
Which with grace redeeming cleanses
Heart and soul of all offences,
Blotting out my guilt and shame.
Lord, Thy life for sinners giving,
Let in Thee me find my living
So for Thee my heart is beating,
All my thoughts in Thee are meeting,
Finding there their light and joy.
Though all earthly things I cherish
Like the flowers may fade and perish,
Thou, I know, wilt stand beside me;
And from death and judgment hide me;
Thou hast paid the wage of sin.
Yes, my heart believes the wonder
Of Thy cross, which ages ponder!
Shield me, Lord, when foes assail me,
Be my staff when life shall fail me;
Take me to Thy Paradise.
Grundtvig's Easter hymns strike the triumphant note, especially such
hymns as "Christ Arose in Glory", "Easter Morrow Stills Our Sorrow", and
the very popular,
Move the signs of gloom and mourning[10]
From the garden of the dead.
For the wreaths of grief and yearning,
Plant bright lilies in their stead.
Carve instead of sighs of grief
Angels' wings in bold relief,
And for columns, cold and broken,
Words of hope by Jesus spoken.
His Easter hymns fail as a whole to reach the height of his songs for
other church festivals. In this respect, they resemble the hymnody of the
whole church, which contains remarkably few really great hymns on the
greatest events in its history. It is as though the theme were too great
to be expressed in the language of man.
Grundtvig wrote a number of magnificent hymns on the themes of our Lord's
ascension and His return to judge the quick and the dead. Of the latter,
the hymn given below is perhaps the most favored of those now available
in English.
Lift up thy head, O Christendom!
Behold above the blessed home
For which thy heart is yearning.
There dwells the Lord, thy soul's delight,
Who soon with power and glory bright
Is for His bride returning.
And when in every land and clime,
All shall behold His signs sublime,
The guilty world appalling,
Then shalt with joy thou lift thine eyes
And see Him coming in the skies,
While suns and stars are falling.
While for His coming thou dost yearn,
Forget not why His last return
The Savior is delaying,
And ask Him not before His hour
To shake the heavens with His power,
Nor judge the lost and straying.
O saints of God, for Sodom pray
Until your prayers no more can stay
The judgment day impending.
Then cries the Lord: "Behold, I come!"
And ye shall answer: "To Thy home
We are with joy ascending!"
Then loud and clear the trumpet calls,
The dead awake, death's kingdom falls,
And God's elect assemble.
The Lord ascends the judgment throne,
And calls His ransomed for His own,
While hearts in gladness tremble.
Grundtvig is often called the Singer of Pentecost. And his hymns on the
nature and work of the Spirit do rank with his very best. He believed in
the reality of the Spirit as the living, active agent of Christ in His
church. As the church came into being by the outpouring of the Holy Ghost
on the day of Pentecost, so our Lord still builds and sanctifies it by
the Spirit, working through His words and sacraments. His numerous hymns
on the Spirit are drawn from many sources, both ancient and modern. His
treatment of the originals is so free, however, that it is difficult in
most cases to know whether his versions should be accepted as adaptations
or originals. Of mere translations there are none. The following version
of the widely known hymn, "Veni Sancte Spiritus," may serve to illustrate
his work as a transplanter of hymns.
Holy Spirit, come with light,
Break the dark and gloomy night
With Thy day unending.
Help us with a joyful lay
Greet the Lord's triumphant day
Now with might ascending.
Comforter so wondrous kind,
Noble guest of heart and mind
Fix in us Thy dwelling.
Give us peace in storm and strife,
Fill each troubled heart and life
With Thy joy excelling.
Make salvation clear to us,
Who despite our sin and dross
Would exalt the Spirit.
For without Thine aid and love
All our life and work must prove
Vain and without merit.
Raise or bow us with Thine arm,
Break temptation's evil charm,
Clear our clouded vision.
Fill our hearts with longing new,
Cleanse us with Thy morning dew,
Tears of deep contrition.
Blessed Fount of life and breath,
Let our hope in view of death
Blossom bright and vernal;
And above the silent tomb
Let the Easter lilies bloom,
Signs of life eternal.
Many of Grundtvig's original hymns evince a strong Danish coloring, a
fact which is especially evident in a number of his Pentecost hymns.
Pentecost comes in Denmark at the first breath of summer when nature,
prompted by balmy breezes, begins to unfold her latent life and beauty.
This similarity between the life of nature and the work of the Spirit is
strikingly expressed in a number of his Pentecost hymns.
The following hymn, together with its beautiful tune, is rated as one of
the most beautiful and, lyrically, most perfect hymns in Danish. Because
of its strong Danish flavor, however, it may not make an equal appeal to
American readers. The main thought of the hymn is that, as in nature, so
also in the realm of the Spirit, summer is now at hand. The coming of the
Spirit completes God's plan of salvation and opens the door for the
unfolding of a new life. The translation is by Prof. S. D. Rodholm.
The sun now shines in all its splendor,
The fount of life and mercy tender;
Now bright Whitsunday lilies grow
And summer sparkles high and low;
Sweet songsters sing of harvest gold
In Jesus' name a thousand fold.
The peaceful nightingales are filling
The quiet night with music thrilling.
Thus all that to the Lord belong
May rest in peace and wake with song,
May dream of life beyond the skies,
And with God's praise at daylight rise.
It breathes from heaven on the flowers,
It whispers home-like in the bowers,
A balmy breeze comes to our coast
From Paradise, no longer closed,
And gently purls a brooklet sweet
Of life's clear water at our feet.
This works the Spirit, still descending,
And tongues of fire to mortals lending,
That broken hearts may now be healed,
And life with grace and love revealed
In Him, who came from yonder land
And has returned to God's right hand.
Awaken then all tongues to honor
Lord Jesus Christ, our blest Atoner;
Let every voice in anthems rise
To praise the Savior's sacrifice.
And thou, His Church, with one accord
Arise and glorify the Lord.
Of his other numerous hymns on the Spirit, the one given below is,
perhaps, one of the most characteristic.
Holy Ghost, our Interceder,
Blessed Comforter and Pleader
With the Lord for all we need,
Deign to hold with us communion
That with Thee in blessed union
We may in our life succeed.
Heavenly Counsellor and Teacher,
Make us through Thy guidance richer
In the grace our Lord hath won.
Blest Partaker of God's fullness,
Make us all, despite our dullness,
Wiser e'en than Solomon.
Helper of the helpless, harken
To our pleas when shadows darken;
Shield us from the beasts of prey.
Rouse the careless, help the weary,
Bow the prideful, cheer the dreary,
Be our guest each passing day.
Comforter, whose comfort lightens
Every cross that scars and frightens,
Succor us from guilt and shame.
Warm our heart, inspire our vision,
Add Thy voice to our petition
As we pray in Jesus' name.
Believing in the Spirit, Grundtvig also believed in the kingdom of God,
not only as a promise of the future but as a reality of the present.
Right among us is God's kingdom
With His Spirit and His word,
With His grace and love abundant
At His font and altar-board.
Among his numerous hymns on the nature and work of God's kingdom, the
following is one of the most favored.
Founded our Lord has upon earth a realm of the Spirit
Wherein He fosters a people restored by His merit.
It shall remain
People its glory attain,
They shall the kingdom inherit.
Forward like light of the morning its message is speeding,
Millions receive and proclaim it with gladness exceeding
For with His word
God doth His Spirit accord,
Raising all barriers impeding.
Jesus, our Savior, with God in the highest residing,
And by the Spirit the wants of Thy people providing,
Be Thou our life,
Shield and defender in strife,
Always among us abiding.
Then shall Thy people as Lord of the nations restore Thee,
Even by us shall a pathway be straightened before Thee
Till everywhere,
Bending in worship and prayer,
All shall as Savior adore Thee.
The kingdom of God is the most wonderful thing on earth.
Most wonderful of all things is
The kingdom Jesus founded.
Its glory, treasure, peace and bliss
No tongue has fully sounded.
Invisible as mind and soul,
And yet of light the fountain,
It sheds its light from pole to pole
Like beacons from a mountain.
Its secret is the word of God,
Which works what it proposes,
Which lowers mountains high and broad
And clothes the wastes with roses.
Though foes against the kingdom rage
With hatred and derision,
God spreads its reign from age to age,
And brings it to fruition.
Its glory rises like a morn
When waves at sunrise glitter,
Or as in June the golden corn
While birds above it twitter.
It is the glory of the King
Who bore affliction solely
That he the crown of life might bring
To sinners poor and lowly.
And when His advent comes to pass,
The Christian's strife is ended,
What now we see as in a glass
Shall then be comprehended.
Then shall the kingdom bright appear
In glory true and vernal,
And usher in the golden year
Of peace and joy eternal.
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.
----------
[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 Roedding, 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.
----------
[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".