Most wonderful of all things is

Representative Text

Most wonderful of all things is
The kingdom Jesus founded.
Its glory, treasure, peace and bliss
No tongue has fully sounded.

Invisible as mind and soul,
And yet of light the fountain,
It sheds its light from pole to pole
Like beacons from a mountain.

Its secret is the word of God,
Which works what it proposes,
Which lowers mountains high and broad
And clothes the wastes with roses.

Though foes against the kingdom rage
With hatred and derision,
God spreads its reign from age to age,
And brings it to fruition.

Its glory rises like a morn
When waves at sunrise glitter,
Or as in June the golden corn
While birds above it twitter.

It is the glory of the King
Who bore affliction solely
That he the crown of life might bring
To sinners poor and lowly.

And when His advent comes to pass,
The Christian’s strife is ended,
What now we see as in a glass
Shall then be comprehended.

Then shall the kingdom bright appear
In glory true and vernal,
And usher in the golden year
Of peace and joy eternal.



Source: Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark #83

Author: Nikolai F. S. Grundtvig

Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig was the son of a pastor, and was born at Udby, in Seeland, in 1783. He studied in the University of Copenhagen from 1800-1805; and, like some other eminent men, did not greatly distinguish himself; his mind was too active and his imagination too versatile to bear the restraint of the academic course. After leaving the university he took to teaching; first in Langeland, then (1808) in Copenhagen. Here he devoted his attention to poetry, literature, and Northern antiquities. In 1810 he became assistant to his father in a parish in Jutland. The sermon he preached at his ordination, on the subject "Why has the Lord's word disappeared from His house," attracted much attention, which is rarely the case with "pro… Go to person page >

Translator: J. C. Aaberg

Jens Christian Aaberg (b. Moberg, Denmark, 1877; d. Minneapolis, MN, 1970) immigrated to the United States in 1901. Educated at Grand View College and Seminary in Des Moines, Iowa, he entered the ministry of the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and served congregations in Marinette, Wisconsin; Dwight, Illinois; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Aaberg wrote Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark (1945), translated at least eighty hymns from Danish into English, and served on four hymnal committees. In 1947 King Frederick of Denmark awarded him the Knight Cross of Denmark. --Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1987  Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Most wonderful of all things is
Author: Nikolai F. S. Grundtvig
Translator: J. C. Aaberg (1945)
Meter: 8.7.8.7
Publication Date: 1945
Copyright: Public Domain

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Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark #83

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