oom.

Petri, like Luther, never ceased praising God for restoring His Word to
the Church through the Reformation. This may be seen in one of his more
polemic hymns, which is regarded as original. A translation by Ernst W.
Olson reads:

Thy sacred Word, O Lord, of old
Was veiled about and darkened,
And in its stead were legends told,
To which the people harkened;
Thy Word, for which the people yearned,
The worldlings kept in hiding,
And into human fables turned
Thy truth, the all-abiding.

Now thanks and praise be to our Lord,
Who boundless grace bestoweth,
And daily through the sacred Word
His precious gifts forthshoweth.
His Word is come to light again,
A trusty lamp to guide us;
No strange and divers teachings then
Bewilder and divide us.

The last hymn-book published by Olavus Petri appeared in 1536. It
contained some thirty new hymns, most of them translations from German
sources. In addition to his labors in the realm of hymnody, Petri must
also be credited with the authorship of the Swedish Church-Book, which
appeared in 1529. He was the creator of the liturgy of the Church of
Sweden.

His hymnological endeavors were continued by his brother Laurentius, who,
as archbishop, brought out in 1567, and later in 1572, the most important
of all the earlier hymn-books of the Swedish Church. Laurentius is
sometimes given the title, "Father of Swedish hymnody," but the honor
more rightly belongs to his older brother, Olavus.

The latter years of Olavus were darkened through an unfortunate
misunderstanding with the Swedish king. As a consequence of the
reformer's sturdy opposition to Gustavus Vasa's plan to make himself the
head of the Church, he fell into royal disfavor. When a plot against the
king's life was discovered in 1540, Olavus was convicted of having guilty
knowledge of it, and was condemned to die. Through the intervention of
the populace of Stockholm, he was pardoned, but the king never forgave
him. He was permitted to resume his work in 1543, and continued to preach
the gospel with great zeal until his death in 1552.

A Model Hymn of Invocation

O Lord, give heed unto our plea,
O Spirit, grant Thy graces,
That we who put our trust in Thee
May rightly sing Thy praises.
Thy Word, O Christ, unto us give,
That grace and power we may receive
To follow The