As comes the breath of spring

As comes the breath of spring. David Lakie Ritchie* (1865-1951). This hymn for Pentecost is from the Congregational tradition in Canada. Alexander MacMillan (1864-1961) noted that Ritchie wrote this hymn for youth, featuring ‘aspects of the manifold work of the Divine Spirit in the transforming of human life.’ It was first published in The Hymnary (1930). The author, a Scottish Congregationalist, was Dean of United Theological College in Montreal. His use of vivid imagery makes the hymn memorable. It begins: ‘As comes the breath of spring with light and mirth and song.’ The Holy Spirit ‘comes like songs at morn that fill the earth with joy . . . through high hopes to impart life with an...

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