er" and the
"poet of Christmas" were succeeded by the "poet of Whitsuntide."

The appellation given to Grundtvig was not without reason, for it was he,
above all others, who strove mightily in Denmark against the deadening
spirit of rationalism which had dried up the streams of spirituality in
the Church. No one as he labored with such amazing courage and zeal to
bring about the dawn of a new day.

Nor did Grundtvig strive in vain. Before his life-work was ended, fresh
Pentecostal breezes began to blow, the dry bones began to stir, and the
Church, moved by the Spirit of God, experienced a new spiritual birth.

The spirit of rationalism had worked havoc with the most sacred truths of
the Christian religion. As some one has said, "It converted the banner of
the Lamb into a blue-striped handkerchief, the Christian religion into a
philosophy of happiness, and the temple dome into a parasol."

Under the influence of the "new theology," ministers of the gospel had
prostituted the church worship into lectures on science and domestic
economy. It is said that one minister in preaching on the theme of the
Christ-child and the manger developed it into a lecture on the proper
care of stables, and another, moved by the story of the coming of the
holy women to the sepulcher on the first Easter morning, delivered a
peroration on the advantages of getting up early! God was referred to as
"Providence" or "the Deity," Christ as "the founder of Christianity," sin
as "error," salvation as "happiness," and the essence of the Christian
life as "morality."

Grundtvig's father was one of the few Lutheran pastors in Denmark who had
remained faithful to evangelical truth. The future poet, who was born in
Udby, September 8, 1783, had the advantage, therefore, of being brought
up in a household where the spirit of true Christian piety reigned. It
was not long, however, before young Grundtvig, as a student, came under
the influence of the "new theology." Although he planned to become a
minister, he lost all interest in religion during his final year at
school, and finished his academic career "without spirit and without
faith."

A number of circumstances, however, began to open his eyes to the
spiritual poverty of the people. Morality was at a low ebb, and a spirit
of indifference and frivolity banished all serious thoughts from their
minds. It was a rude shock to his sensitive and patriotic nature to
observe, in 1807, how the population of C