Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark

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 centersWast thou made, but for the village smallWhere 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 blendingWith the calm of summer eventideAnd, 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 tollingO’er my grave while loved grieve and sigh,Say to them, their troubled heart consoling,He is resting with his Lord on high.

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 fortuneLife 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 harryMind 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 treasureThy 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 ascendedUpon 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 rejoicesAnd with gladsome, mellow voicesThanks the Lord for light and grace.Sin and death with fear and sorrowAnd the burden of tomorrowShall not weigh my heart with care.Unto all in tribulationDoth the Lord of our salvationOn 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 weepingWhen the hungry heart is reapingGrace 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 closesTill 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 fountainWhence the stream of grace doth flow?Dry the streams from snowcapped mountain,Yet this stream shall fuller grow.From the very heart of GodFlows 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 impartsHealth and strength to sin-sick hearts.Why are ye then hesitatingWhile 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 raceFound in Him the fount of grace,And, with joy that never ceases,Said: The Fount of Life is Jesus.Hasten then! Let all assembleAt 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 graciousIs the word of God above,Gently callingSinners falling,To the Savior’s arm of love.Unto all the word is given:Jesus is the way to heaven.Blessed Savior,Wondrous favorHast 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 SpiritDraw all sinners, Lord, to Thee.Sin and error,Death and terrorBy 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.