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