Scripture Verse

God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14

Introduction

portrait
Carl Rosenius (1816–1868)

Words: Carl O. Ro­se­ni­us, 1851 (Med Gud och hans väns­kap), in the pa­per Pie­tist­en. Trans­lat­ed from Swed­ish to Eng­lish by Ernst W. Ol­son.

Music: Ack, Saliga Stun­der Os­kar Ahn­felt, 1851 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Olson’s trans­la­tion takes some li­ber­ties with Ro­se­ni­us’ text. The orig­in­al first stan­za has no re­fer­ence to Korsets tecken (sign of the cross). A li­ter­al trans­la­tion would have been With God and His Friend­ship, His Spir­it and Word. Ro­se­ni­us’ se­cond stan­za lacks the words segerns baner (the ban­ner of vic­to­ry), but the ov­er­all theme is of fel­low­ship and the Lord’s pas­tor­al care. On­ly the third stan­za of the trans­la­tion has a close fi­de­li­ty to the Ro­se­ni­us orig­in­al. Ov­er­all, Ol­sen’s ren­der­ing is more mi­li­tant than Ro­se­ni­us’, but a sol­id mes­sage none­the­less.

portrait
Oskar Ahnfelt (1813–1882)

Lyrics

The sign of the cross I tri­um­phant­ly bear,
Though none of my kind­red that em­blem may wear.
I joy­ful­ly fol­low the cham­pi­ons of right,
Who march on to glo­ry, who march on to glo­ry,
Who march on to glo­ry with wea­pons of might.

The Pil­lar that guides us through per­il and strife,
The Rock that is cleft, giv­ing waters of life,
Is Christ and His cross. By His Spir­it and Word
The heart He re­fresh­es, the heart He re­fresh­es,
The heart He re­fresh­es, our Sav­ior and Lord.

O Shep­herd, abide with us, care for us still,
And feed us and lead us, and teach us Thy will,
And when in Thy heav­en­ly fold we shall be,
Our thanks and our prais­es, our thanks and our prais­es,
Our thanks and our prais­es we’ll ren­der to Thee.