Laurentius Laurenti wrote this in 1700 for a collection that supplied a hymn for every Sunday’s appointed readings, and he assigned it to the Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Trinity, the last Sunday of the year. It came into English through two Scottish sisters, Sarah Findlater and Jane Borthwick, whose 1854 Hymns from the Land of Luther headed it with Matthew 25:6: “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him.” One stanza our hymnal leaves out is worth reading before we sing: “Palms of victory are there, there, radiant garments are, there stands the peaceful harvest beyond the reach of war. There, after stormy winter, the flowers of earth arise, and from the grave’s long slumber shall meet again our eyes.” The tune is a Swedish folk melody brought over by immigrants and printed by the Augustana Synod in 1892, marked Risoluto. Its Swedish first line, Haf trones lampa färdig, means “Have your lamp of faith ready” — which is to say the tune was already singing this Gospel before anyone set these words to it.
Sung at Our Saviour
2025