Captains of the saintly band

Representative Text

1 Captains of the saintly band,
lights who lighten every land,
princes who with Jesus dwell,
judges of his Israel;

2 on the nations sunk in night
ye have shed the gospel light;
sin and error flee away,
truth reveals the promised day.

3 Not by warrior’s spear and sword,
not by art of human word,
preaching but the cross of shame,
rebel hearts for Christ ye tame.

4 Earth, that long in sin and pain
groaned in Satan’s deadly chain,
now to serve its God is free
in the law of liberty.

5 Distant lands with one acclaim
tell the honour of your name,
who, wherever man has trod,
teach the mysteries of God.

6 Glory to the Three in One
while eternal ages run,
who from deepest shades of night
called us to his glorious light.

Source: CPWI Hymnal #830

Author: Jean-Baptiste de Santeul

Santeüil, Jean-Baptiste de, was born in Paris of a good family on May 12, 1630. He was one of the regular Canons of St. Victor, at Paris, and, under the name of Santolius Victorinus, was distinguished as a writer of Latin poetry. Many of his hymns appeared in the Cluniac Breviary 1686, and the Paris Breviaries 1680 and 1736, and several have been translated into English, and are in common use in Great Britain and America. He was very jocose in disposition and singular in his habits. When on a journey he died at Dijon, Aug. 5, 1697. His Hymni Sacri et Novi were published at Paris in 1689, and again, enlarged, in 1698. [George Arthur Crawford, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)  Go to person page >

Translator: H. W. Baker

Baker, Sir Henry Williams, Bart., eldest son of Admiral Sir Henry Loraine Baker, born in London, May 27, 1821, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated, B.A. 1844, M.A. 1847. Taking Holy Orders in 1844, he became, in 1851, Vicar of Monkland, Herefordshire. This benefice he held to his death, on Monday, Feb. 12, 1877. He succeeded to the Baronetcy in 1851. Sir Henry's name is intimately associated with hymnody. One of his earliest compositions was the very beautiful hymn, "Oh! what if we are Christ's," which he contributed to Murray's Hymnal for the Use of the English Church, 1852. His hymns, including metrical litanies and translations, number in the revised edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern, 33 in all. These were cont… Go to person page >

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The Cyber Hymnal #748
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Instances

Instances (1 - 6 of 6)
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Common Praise #212

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Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New #91

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CPWI Hymnal #830

Hymns Ancient and Modern, New Standard Edition #299

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The Cyber Hymnal #748

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The New English Hymnal #215

Include 19 pre-1979 instances
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