Hail to the Lord who comes

Hail to the Lord who comes. John Ellerton* (1826-1893). Written 6 October 1880 at the request of Godfrey Thring* for inclusion in Frances Carey Brock*’s Children's Hymn Book, which appeared in the following year. It follows the characteristic Victorian pattern set by Cecil Frances Alexander* of using specially written hymns to teach children the meaning of the various Christian Festivals or articles of the Creed. The hymn is one of very few on the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. The first stanza contains a series of negatives: this is not the eschatogical Christ in glory, nor the one entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. But in the second stanza the secret is disclosed: the Lord is an...

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