John Brownlie, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, published this text in 1907 in a collection called Hymns from the East, its title suggesting a translation from ancient Greek or Syriac liturgy. Brownlie himself admitted in his preface that the pieces were less translations than “centos and suggestions,” meaning the hymn is substantially his own composition, only inspired by Eastern liturgical imagery rather than rendered from it. In its span of stanzas the hymn compresses the whole of salvation history: the apocalyptic imagery of Daniel and Matthew, the contrast between the humble Child of the manger and the King who returns in uncreated glory, and Christ’s own victory over the grave, closing on the ancient cry of 1 Corinthians 16:22 and Revelation 22:20, maranatha, “Come quickly, King of kings.” Lutheran Service Book keeps four of Brownlie’s original seven stanzas, paired with CONSOLATION, an early American shape-note tune by Lucius Chapin, giving a Scottish meditation on Eastern liturgy an American voice. Closing Populus Zion, it sends the congregation out still watching for the King these readings describe.
Sung at Our Saviour
2025