Lo! He cometh, countless trumpets

Lo! He cometh, countless trumpets. John Cennick* (1718-55). First published in A Collection of Sacred Hymns, Fifth Edition (1752), a collection that is thought to have been put together by Cennick from his own hymns and from Moravian ones. This one is probably by Cennick himself: the opening bears a strong resemblance to another hymn by him (see Graeme Watson, Celestial Anthems, 2001, p. 109). JJ attributes it to Cennick without hesitation, and says that ‘there is evidence to show that it was sung by the congregation of the Moravian Chapel in Dublin on April 20 1750’ (p. 681). The hymn is chiefly remembered because it seems to have been the original text upon which Charles Wesley* wrote...