Ye gates, lift up your heads on high

Ye gates, lift up your heads on high. Scottish Psalter* (1650). This is the metrical version of Psalm 24: 7-10, traditionally sung in the Church of Scotland at the ‘Great Entrance’ of the elements at the service of Holy Communion. Because this service was normally held on a few occasions in the year only, it became a moment of high significance. The minister and elders would bring in the bread and wine, and this part of Psalm 24 would be sung. It was to match the solemn grandeur of this moment that the tune ST GEORGE’S, EDINBURGH was written by Andrew Mitchell Thomson*, minister of St George’s, with the assistance of the precentor at Paisley Abbey, Robert Archibald Smith* (who later moved...