Awake, sons of the kingdom, The King is drawing night

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Awake, sons of the kingdom, The King is drawing night

Author: Johann von Rist
Tune: AUS MEINES HERZENS GRUNDE
Published in 6 hymnals

Piano/Organ
	Six Advent Chorales for Manuals

Representative Text

1 Awake! sons of the kingdom,
The King is drawing nigh;
Arise, and hail with gladness
The Ruler from on high.
Ye Christians, sound the peal!
Your praise and homage bring Him,
And loud hosannas sing Him
With holy festive zeal.

2 Look up! ye drooping mourners,
The King is very near;
Away with grief and sorrow,
For lo! our Help is here.
Behold, in holy place--
O blessed consolation!--
We find Him, our Salvation,
In His pure means of grace.

3 Arise! ye much afflicted,
Your King is not afar;
Rejoice, ye long dejected,
Here comes the Morning Star.
The Lord is with us now;
Though troubles here distress you,
With comfort He will bless you:
E'en death to Him shall bow.

4 Up, up! ye faint and fearful,
The King hath long since loved us,
And makes our darkness light.
Now are our sorrow o'er;
No wrath shall e'er befall us,
Since God in grace doth call us
His children evermore.

5 Haste then, with eager footsteps,
To see your Sovereign; there
He rides as King of Zion,
Strong, glorious, meek, and fair,
Draw near the Lord, and give
Him your heart's salutation,
Who bringeth great salvation,
And bids the sinner live.

6 Our Sovereign still remembers
His loved ones here below
With gifts of royal treasures,
Yea, doth Himself bestow
Through His blest Word and grace;
O King, arrayed in splendor,
To Thee all praise we render,
Here, and there face to face.

7 Lord, how Thou dost enrich us!
Thyself made poor and weak;
O Love beyond expression,
That can thus sinners seek!
What can we do for Thee?
We will love's tribute bring Thee,
And glad hosannas sing Thee,
And ever grateful be.

Source: Evangelical Lutheran hymnal: with music #16

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Author: Johann von Rist

Rist, Johann, son of Kaspar Rist, pastor at Ottensen, near Hamburg, was born at Ottensen, March 8, 1607, and from his birth was dedicated to the ministry. After passing through the Johanneum at Hamburg and the Gymnasium Illustre at Bremen, he matriculated, in his 21st year, at the University of Rinteln, and there, under Josua Stegmann (q. v.), he received an impulse to hymn-writing. On leaving Rinteln he acted as tutor to the sons of a Hamburg merchant, accompanying them to the University of Rostock, where he himself studied Hebrew, Mathematics and also Medicine. During his residence at Rostock the terrors, of the Thirty Years War almost emptied the University, and Rist himself also lay there for weeks ill of the pestilence. After his r… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Awake, sons of the kingdom, The King is drawing night
Original Language:	German
Author:	Johann von Rist
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Auf, auf, ihr Reichsgenossen. Johann Rist. [Advent.] First published in his Sabbatische Seelenlust, Lüneburg, 1651, p. 4, in 12 stanzas of 8 lines, entitled, “On the Gospel of the First Sunday in Advent, which is written by the Holy Evangelist Matthew in his Gospel at the 21st Chapter." Included as No. 16 in the Leipzig Vorrath, 1673, and recently as No. 1 in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851.
Translations in common use:—

3. Awake! sons of the Kingdom, the King, &c. A translation of stanzas i.-iii., ix.-xii. based on Miss Winkworth's translation of the same, as No. 16 in the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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