“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.
