"We all fear God. He turns the earth, he set it swinging firmly in space, Gave life to the world and light to the sky. Death leaps at the fools who forget their God. He who lives humbly has angels from Heaven To carry him courage and strength and belief."
The Seafarer believes that those individuals who forget their God will die quickly and without help. Those who live according to God's wishes, humbly, as Jesus did, will have the help of the angels who will carry them courage and strength and belief.
Courage and strength are two of the pagan ideals of the Anglo-Saxon period...their belief that they will only live after death by the stories told of their heroism. The Christian beliefs include the afterlife in Heaven with God.
The pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons relied heavily on fate and the deeds they did which resulted in songs to secure a place in the afterlife. Think of Beowulf and all his heroic deeds (the sea monsters, Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the Dragon).
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