Unto the praise of the Father,
Are like the homes of hallowed worth
Whence we as children did gather.
Glorious things in them are said,
God there with us His covenant made,
Making us heirs of His kingdom.
There we behold the font at which
God as His children received us;
There stands the altar where His rich
Mercy from hunger relieved us.
There His blest word to us proclaim:
Jesus is now and e’er the same,
So is His way of salvation.
Grant then, O Lord, where’er we roam,
That, when the church bells are ringing,
People in Jesus’ name may come,
Praising His glory with singing.
“Ye, not the world, my face shall see;
I will abide with you,” said He.
“My peace I leave with you ever.”
As a believer in objective Christianity, Grundtvig naturally exalts the God-given means of grace, the word and sacraments, through which the Spirit works. In one
of the epigrammatic expressions often found in his writings, he says:
We are and remain,
We live and attain
In Jesus, God’s living word
When His word we embrace
And live by its grace,
Then dwells He within us, our Lord.
This firm belief in the actual presence of Christ in His word and sacraments lends an exceptional realism to many of his hymns on the means of grace.
Through the translation by Pastor Doving the following brief hymn has gained wide renown in America.
God’s word is our great heritage,
And shall be ours forever.
To spread its light from age to age,
Shall be our chief endeavor.
Through life it guards our way,
In death it is our stay.
Lord, grant, while worlds endure,
We keep its teachings pure
Throughout all generations.
Of his numerous hymns on baptism, the following, which an American authority
