And so it was settled. His resignation was handed to the authorities a few days
before the festival, and it was accepted so quickly that he was released from office before the following Sunday. When the festive Sunday came which he had
looked forward to with so much pleasure, he sat idly in his study across from the church and watched people come for the service, but another pastor preached the
sermon, he had earnestly wished to deliver, and other hymns than his own beloved songs served as vehicles for the people’s praise.
Public sentiment regarding Grundtvig’s resignation varied. His friends deplored the action, holding that he should have remained in his pastorate both for the sake of his congregation and the cause which he had so ably championed. But his opponents rejoiced, seeing in his resignation just another proof of an erratic mentality. For who had ever heard of a normal person withdrawing from a secure
and respectable position without even asking for the pension to which he was entitled?
The six years during which Grundtvig remained without a pulpit were among the
busiest and most fruitful of his life. He published his Sunday-Book, a collection of sermons which many still rate among the finest devotional books in Danish;
made extended visits to England in 1829-1831, for the purpose of studying the
old Anglo Saxon manuscripts kept there, an undertaking that awakened the interest of the English themselves in these great treasures; wrote his splendid Northern Mythology or Picture Language, and The World’s History after the Best Sources, works in which he presents the fundamental aspects of his historical, folk and educational views that have made his name known not only
in Scandinavia but in almost every country in the world.
Meanwhile he again had entered the pulpit. As a compensation for the loss of his ministry, a group of his friends shortly after his resignation began to hold private assemblies. When Grundtvig still firmly refused to take part in these, they decided to organize an independent congregation, petition the government for permission to use an abandoned German Lutheran church and call Grundtvig as
their pastor. The petition was promptly refused, though Grundtvig himself pleaded with the authorities to permit the organization of an independent congregation as the best means of relieving the dissatisfied members of the church and declared that he would himself join the assemblies unless some such
measure of relief was granted. When the authorities ignored his plea, Grundtvig
made good his threat and appeared at the assemblies, drawing such a crowd that
no private home could possibly hold it, whereupon it was decided to secure a public hall for future meetings. But when the authorities heard this, they suddenly experienced a change of heart and offered the troublesome preacher and his friends the use of Frederik’s church for a vesper service each Sunday.
The eight years Grundtvig served as an independent preacher at the Frederik’s church were among the happiest in his life. He rejoiced to know that the large,
diversified audience crowding the sanctuary each Sunday came wholly of its own free will. It also pleased the now gray-haired pastor to see an increasing
number of students become constant attendants at his services. Even so, his position had its drawbacks. He was permitted neither to administer the sacraments nor to instruct the young people, and the authorities even denied him the right to confirm his own sons. Grundtvig felt especially this refusal so keenly that he again was thinking of resigning his pulpit when the king offered him an
appointment as pastor of Vartov, a large institution for the aged.
Thus from 1839 until Grundtvig’s death the chapel at Vartov became his home and that of his friends and the center of the fast growing Grundtvigian movement. People from all walks of life, from the Queen to the common laborer,
became regular attendants at the unpretentious sanctuary, and the eyes of some old people still shine when they recall the moving spirit of the services there, the venerable appearance and warm monotone voice of the pastor, and, especially, the hearty, soul-stirring singing. Many of Grundtvig’s own great hymns were introduced at Vartov. From there they spread throughout the church. And it was
to a large extent the hearty, inspiring congregational singing at Vartov which made the Danish church a singing church.
Chapter Fourteen
The Hymnwriter
Splendid are the heavens high,
Beautiful the radiant sky,
Where the golden stars are shining,
And their rays, to earth inclining,
-: Beckon us to heaven above :-
It was on a Christmas night,
Darkness veiled the starry height;
But at once the heavens hoary
Beamed with radiant light and glory,
-: Coming from a wondrous star :-
When this star so bright and clear
Should illume the midnight drear,
Then, according to tradition,
Should a king of matchless vision
-: Unto earth from heaven descend :-
