.
So happily there with friends of light
We joy in the peace eternal.

In this imperishable song, Pre-Reformation hymnody reached its highest
excellence, an excellence that later hymnody seldom has surpassed. "The
Old Christian Day Song" shows, besides, that Northern hymnwriters even
"during the time of popery" had caught the true spirit of Evangelical
hymnody. Their songs were few, and they were often bandied about like
homeless waifs, but they embodied the purest Christian ideals of that day
and served in a measure to link the old church with the new.

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[1]Other translations:
"O day full of grace, which we behold" by C. Doving in "Hymnal for
Church and Home."
"The dawn from on high is on our shore" by S. D. Rodholm in "World of
Song".

Chapter Two
Reformation Hymnody

The Danish Reformation began quietly about 1520, and culminated
peacefully in the establishment of the Lutheran church as the church of
the realm in 1536. The movement was not, as in some other countries, the
work of a single outstanding reformer. It came rather as an almost
spontaneous uprising of the people under several independent leaders,
among whom men like Hans Tausen, Jorgen Sadolin, Claus Mortensen, Hans
Spandemager and others merely stand out as the most prominent. And it was
probably this very spontaneity which invested the movement with such an
irresistible force that within in a few years it was able to overthrow an
establishment that had exerted a powerful influence over the country for
more than seven centuries.

In this accomplishment Evangelical hymnody played a prominent part.
Though the Reformation gained little momentum before 1526, the Papists
began as early as 1527, to preach against "the sacrilegious custom of
roaring Danish ballads at the church service". As no collection of hymns
had then been published, the hymns thus used must have been circulated
privately, showing the eagerness of the people to adopt the new custom.
The leaders of the Reformation were quick to recognize the new interest
and make use of it in the furtherance of their cause. The first Danish
hymnal was published at Malmoe in 1528 by Hans Mortensen. It contained ten
hymns and a splendid liturgy for the morning service. This small
collection proved so popular that it was soon enlarged by the addition of
thirty new hymns a