Let Our Choir New Anthems Raise

Representative Text

1 Let our choir new anthems raise,
wake the morn with gladness;
God himself to joy and praise
turns the martyrs' sadness:
bright the day that won their crown,
opened heav'n's bright portal,
as they laid the mortal down
and put on th'immortal.

2 Never flinched they from the flame,
from the torture never;
vain the foeman's sharpest aim,
Satan's best endeavor:
for by faith they saw the land
decked in all its glory,
where triumphant now they stand
with the victor's story.

3 Faith they had that knew not shame,
love that could not languish;
and eternal hope o'ercame
momentary anguish.
Up and follow, Christian men!
Press through toil and sorrow;
spurn the night of fear and then,
O the glorious morrow!

Source: Trinity Psalter Hymnal #407

Author: St. Joseph the Hymnographer

Joseph, St., the Hymnographer. A native of Sicily, and of the Sicilian school of poets is called by Dr. Neale (in his Hymns of the Eastern Church), Joseph of the Studium, in error. He left Sicily in 830 for a monastic life at Thessalonica. Thence he went to Constantinople; but left it, during the Iconoclastic persecution, for Rome. He was for many years a slave in Crete, having been captured by pirates. After regaining his liberty, he returned to Constantinople. He established there a monastery, in connection with the Church of St. John Chrysostom, which was filled with inmates by his eloquence. He was banished to the Chersonese for defence of the Icons, but was recalled by the empress Theodora, and made Sceuophylax (keeper of the sacred… Go to person page >

Translator: J. M. Neale

John M. Neale's life is a study in contrasts: born into an evangelical home, he had sympathies toward Rome; in perpetual ill health, he was incredibly productive; of scholarly tem­perament, he devoted much time to improving social conditions in his area; often ignored or despised by his contemporaries, he is lauded today for his contributions to the church and hymnody. Neale's gifts came to expression early–he won the Seatonian prize for religious poetry eleven times while a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1842, but ill health and his strong support of the Oxford Movement kept him from ordinary parish ministry. So Neale spent the years between 1846 and 1866 as a warden of Sackvi… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Let our Choir new anthems raise
Title: Let Our Choir New Anthems Raise
Original Language: Latin
Translator: J. M. Neale (1862)
Author: St. Joseph the Hymnographer
Meter: 7.6.7.6
Source: Editors of The New English Hymnal verse 1 based on J. M. Neale ("Christians, come, new anthems raise")
Language: English
Copyright: © The Canterbury Press Norwich; Public Domain

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The New English Hymnal #219

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The Cyber Hymnal #4672

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The Hymnal 1982 #237

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Trinity Hymnal (Rev. ed.) #357

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Trinity Psalter Hymnal #407

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