By Thy life for sinners given.
Thou hast broke the bands at last
Which my yearning soul held fast.
In Thine arms I find relief,
Soon Thy home I shall inherit,
Sin and sorrow, death and grief
Nevermore shall vex my spirit.
For Thy word confirms the pledge
Of my lasting heritage.
Lord, my praise ascends to Thee
For these days of joy and sorrow;
They shall end in jubilee
On that blest eternal morrow
When the Sun of Paradise
Shall for me in splendor rise.
Rise in joyful faith, my soul!
Banish all thy grief and sadness.
Strong the stream of life shall roll
Through my heart with constant gladness.
Jesus, Who mine anguish bore,
Be now praised for evermore.
Most beautiful is also his hymn to the Lamb of God, translated by Pastor D. G.
M. Bach.
I see Thee stand, O Lamb of God,
On Zion’s mountain peak.
But Oh the way that Thou hast trod,
So long, so hard, so bleak!
What Thou didst suffer for our woe,
No man can ever know.
Though Brorson made a number of excellent translations of hymns to the Spirit
such as the beautiful, “Come, Rains from the Heavens, to Strengthen and Nourish the Languishing Field,” he wrote no outstanding Pentecost hymns of his
own composition. It remained for Grundtvig to supply the Danish church with a
wealth of unexcelled hymns on the Holy Ghost.
Aside from his Christmas hymns, Brorson’s greatest contribution to hymnody is
perhaps his revival hymns, a type in which the Lutheran church is rather poor.
The special message of the Pietist movement was an earnest call to awake, and
Brorson repeated that call with an appealing insistence and earnestness. The word of God has been sown, but where are its fruits?
O Father, may Thy word prevail
Against the power of Hell!
Behold the vineyard Thou hast tilled
