Munu ósánír Then unsown akrar vaxa, the swath shall flourish böls mun alls batna, all bale mend, and Baldr mun koma; back come Baldr: búa þeir Höðr ok Baldr with him Höðr dwell Hropts sigtóptir in Hropter’s palace, vel valtivar[774]. shrines of gods the great and holy. Sal sér hon standa There sees she stand sólu fegra, than sunlight fairer, gulli þakðan Gimli’s hall á Gimli: with gold all covered: þar skolu dyggvar there the just shall dróttir byggja, joy for ever, ok um aldrdaga and in pleasure ynðis njóta[775]. pass the ages. ----- Footnote 771: Vaulu Spá, st. 56. Footnote 772: Ibid. st. 57. Footnote 773: Wafþrudnis Mál, st. 47. Álfröðul is a name of the Sun, and is said to denote _divine splendour_. Edd. Lex. Myth. in voc. Footnote 774: Vaulu Spá, st. 57, 58, 59, 60. ----- The conviction that the virtuous would rejoice with God in a world of happiness was of course not derived by our forefathers merely from their heathendom; but to this we may unhesitatingly refer their belief, that after doomsday the sun and moon would be restored with greater splendour. The Saxon Menology[776] says very distinctly: “At doomsday, when our Lord shall renew all creatures, and all the race of men shall rise again, and never more commit sin, then will the sun shine seven times brighter than she now doth, and she will never set; and the moon will shine as the sun now doth, and never will wane or wax, but stand for ever on his course[777].” That this belief was not unknown in Germany may be argued from an expression of Freidank, Got himel und erde lát zergán, unt wil dernách ein schoenerz hán[778]. Dim and fragmentary as these rays of light may be which straggle to us through the veils of bygone ages, it is impossible not to recognize in them traces of that primæval faith which teaches the responsibility of man, the rule of just and holy beings superior to himself, and a future existence of joy and sorrow, the ultimate consequence of human actions. With what amount of distinctness this great truth may have been placed before their eyes, we cannot tell, but it is enough that we see it admitted in one of the most thoroughly heathen poems of the Edda, and confirmed by an Anglosaxon tradition totally independent of Christianity. Weak as it is while unsupported by the doctrine of a gracious Redeemer, it is not wholly inoperative upon the moral being of men; and its reception among the nations of the North must have tended to prepare them for the doctrine which in the fulness of time was to supersede their vague and powerless desires by the revelation of the crucified Saviour.