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 gracious

Is the word of God above,

Gently calling

Sinners falling,

To the Savior’s arm of love.

Unto all the word is given:

Jesus is the way to heaven.

Blessed Savior,

Wondrous favor

Hast 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 Spirit

Draw all sinners, Lord, to Thee.

Sin and error,

Death and terror

By 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.

Inspired by Oehlenschlaeger and strongly encouraged by Grundtvig, Ingemann in 1824 began the issuance of his famous historical novels, based upon episodes

from the romantic period of Danish history during the 13th and 14th centuries.

To some extent the novels are modeled upon the similar works of Walter Scott

but are written in a livelier style and more idealistic spirit than their English prototype. In later years their historical veracity has been gravely questioned.

Enjoying an immense popularity both in Denmark and in Norway, these highly

idealized pictures of the past did much to arouse that national spirit which especially Grundtvig had labored long to awaken. After completing his historical novels, Ingemann again resumed his lyrical and fictional writings, producing a large number of poems, fairy-tales and novels that further increased his already immense popularity.

Bernhard Severin Ingemann

Bernhard Severin Ingemann

Despite the great popularity of Ingemann’s secular writings, it is, nevertheless, his hymns and spiritual songs which will preserve his name the longest. His first collection of hymns, a small volume of morning and evening songs, appeared in

1822. This collection was followed in 1825 by a volume of church hymns, which

was enlarged and reprinted in 1843. The favorable reception of these hymns caused Ingemann to be selected to prepare the new church hymnal, published in

1855, a task which he accomplished to the general satisfaction of all.

Ingemann’s hymns faithfully reflect his own serene and idealistic nature. Their outstanding merits are a limpid, lyrical style and an implicit trust in the essential goodness of life and its Author. Of Kingo’s realistic conception of evil or Grundtvig’s mighty vision of existence as a heroic battle between life and death, he has little understanding. The world of his songs is as peaceful and idyllic as the quiet countryside around his beloved Sorø. If at times he tries to take the deeper note, his voice falters and becomes artificial. But though his hymns on such themes as sin and redemption are largely a failure, he has written imperishable hymns of idealistic faith and childlike trust in the goodness and love of God.