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 Sjaelland. 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 h