1 Mute are the pleading lips of Him
Who hath our cause defended;
Love drained the cup filled to the brim,
As Holiness demanded.
The gentle Shepherd here behold,
Slain for the sheep lost to His fold:
From labor, pain, and weeping
Now rests He with the sleeping.
2 But not for aye, O Friend of men,
Thou in the grave descendest;
A little while, and then again
Thy grieving flock Thou tendest.
The corn that falls into the earth
From darkness springs in fullness forth,
In season amply giving
The life-bread to the living.
3 O Prince of Life, now to the gloom
Of earth consigned in sorrow,
My life so guide, that in my tomb
I wait the blessèd morrow.
When, freed from worldly strife and care,
This mortal frame reposes there,
Grant that my deathless spirit
The bliss of heaven inherit.
Amen.
Source: The Hymnal and Order of Service #120
Ernst W. Olson (b. Skane, Sweden, 1870; d. Chicago, IL, 1958) prepared the English translation for the 1925 Hymnal of the Lutheran Augustana Synod. As editor, writer, poet, and translator, Olson made a valuable contribution to Swedish-American culture and to church music. His family immigrated to Nebraska when he was five years old, but he spent much of his life in the Chicago area. Educated at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, he was editor of several Swedish-American newspapers and spent most of his professional career as an editor for the Augustana Book Concern (1911-1949). Olson wrote History of the Swedes in Illinois (1908). He also contributed four original hymns and twenty-eight translations to The Hymnal (1925) of the Evang… Go to person page >
Johan Olaf Wallin was born at Stora Tuna, in 1779, and early displayed his poetical powers. In 1805, and again in 1809, he gained the chief prize for poetry at Upsala. In the latter year he became pastor at Solna; here his ability as a preacher was so striking that he was transferred to Stockholm, in 1815, as "pastor primarius," a title for which we have no exact equivalent. In 1818 he was made Dean of Westeras, and set about the task of editing a revised hymn-book for the whole of Sweden. This task he completed in 1819, and published it as, Den Swenska Psalmboken, af Konungen gillad och stadfästad (The Swedish hymn-book, approved and confirmed by the King). To it he contributed some 150 hymns of his own, besides translations and recasting… Go to person page >
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