Wake, awake, for night is flying

Wake, awake, for night is flying.  Philipp Nicolai* (1556-1608), translated by Catherine Winkworth* (1827-1878).

From Winkworth’s Lyra Germanica: Second Series (1858), where it was entitled ‘The Final Joy’. It was the penultimate hymn in the book, celebrating Christ’s coming in glory. It had three stanzas, following Nicolai’s metre and rising to a wonderful climax at the beginning of stanza 3:

Wake, awake, for night is flying,
 The watchmen on the heights are crying;
   Awake, Jerusalem, at last!
 Midnight hears the welcome voices,
 And at the thrilling cry rejoices:
   Come forth, ye virgins, night is past!
         The Bridegroom comes, awake,
         Your lamps with gladness take;
                   Hallelujah!
 And for his marriage-feast prepare,
 For ye must go to meet Him there.

Zion hears the watchmen singing,
 And all her heart with joy is springing,
   She wakes, she rises from her gloom;
 For her Lord comes down all-glorious,
 The strong in grace, in truth victorious,
   Her Star is risen, her Light is come!
           Ah come, Thou blessed One,
           God’s own Beloved Son,
                  Hallelujah!
 We follow till the halls we see
 Where Thou hast bid us sup with Thee.

Now let all the heavens adore Thee,
 And men and angels sing before Thee
   With harp and cymbal’s clearest tone;
 Of one pearl each shining portal,
 Where we are with the choir immortal
   Of angels round Thy dazzling throne;
       Nor eye hath seen, nor ear
       Hath yet attain’d to hear
                 What there is ours,
 But we rejoice, and sing to Thee
 Our hymn of joy eternally.

This wonderful hymn is sometimes thought of as ‘the king of the chorales’ (Young, 1993, p. 673). It is partly based on Matthew 25: 1-13, the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. In Britain it was printed in the English Presbyterian Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1867), but in England it has become less popular than the later translation by Francis Crawford Burkitt* beginning ‘Wake, O wake! with tidings thrilling’*, made for EH. Scottish books, from the Church Hymnary (1898) onward, have always printed it, though in CH4 it is  in the ‘you’ form: ‘ye’ is also changed to ‘you’, and there is some re-writing of stanza 3 (cf. WOV below).

In the USA, Canada and Australia, the reverse is the case. Burkitt’s version is almost unknown, while Winkworth’s is found in very many hymnals. It began very quickly (according to JJ, p. 806, in Cantate Domino, Boston, 1859, with ‘Awake’ as the first word). Since that time it has remained popular: it was in Laudes Domini (1884), edited by Charles S. Robinson*, and remains in major books of many denominations, such as H40 and UMH (H82 preferred ‘Sleepers, wake! A voice astounds us’*, a fine new translation by Carl P. Daw, Jr.*). In Australia it was included in WOV and in Together in Song: the Australian Hymn Book II , with ‘you’ for ‘ye’, and some re-writing of the second half of the hymn (Milgate, 1982, p. 94).

JRW

Further Reading

1. Wesley Milgate, Songs of the People of God (London: Collins Liturgical Publications; Sydney: The Australian Hymn Book Pty. Ltd., 1982).
2. Carlton R. Young, Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1993).