1. O Christ, Thou hast ascended,
Triumphantly on high!
By cherub guards attended
And armies of the sky:
Let earth tell forth the story—
Our very flesh and bone,
Immanuel, in glory,
Ascends His Father’s throne.
2. Heaven’s gates unfold above Thee:
But canst Thou, Lord, forget
The little band who love Thee
And gaze from Olivet?
Nay, on Thy breast engraven
Thou bearest every name,
Our Priest in earth and Heaven
Eternally the same.
3. There, there Thou standest pleading
The virtue of Thy blood,
For sinners interceding,
Our advocate with God:
And every changeful fashion
Of our brief joys and cares,
Finds thought in Thy compassion
And echo in Thy prayers.
4. O for the priceless merit
Of Thy redeeming cross!
Vouchsafe Thy sevenfold spirit
And turn to gain our loss;
Till we by strong endeavor
In heart and mind ascend
And dwell with Thee forever
In raptures without end.
Bickersteth, Edward Henry, D.D., son of Edward Bickersteth, Sr. born at Islington, Jan. 1825, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A. with honours, 1847; M.A., 1850). On taking Holy Orders in 1848, he became curate of Banningham, Norfolk, and then of Christ Church, Tunbridge Wells. His preferment to the Rectory of Hinton-Martell, in 1852, was followed by that of the Vicarage of Christ Church, Hampstead, 1855. In 1885 he became Dean of Gloucester, and the same year Bishop of Exeter. Bishop Bickersteth's works, chiefly poetical, are:—
(l) Poems, 1849; (2) Water from the Well-spring, 1852; (3) The Rock of Ages, 1858 ; (4) Commentary on the New Testament, 1864; (5) Yesterday, To-day, and For Ever, 1867; (6) The Spirit of Life, 1868;… Go to person page >
0 Christ, Thou hast ascended. Bp. E. H. Bickersteth. [Ascension.] Written in 1872, and printed in the Record newspaper of the same year. Included in the Hymnal Companion in 1876.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
The original form of ST. EDITH (also known as ST. HILDA) was composed in 1793 by Justin Heinrich Knecht for the text “Der neidern Menschhiet Hülle.” It was published in Vollstandige Sammlung … Choralmelodien (1799), edited by Johann Friedrich Christmann and Knecht, who composed ninety-seven o…
Display Title: O Christ, Thou Hast AscendedFirst Line: O Christ, Thou hast ascendedTune Title: ENDSLEIGHAuthor: Edward Bickersteth, Jr.Meter: 76.76 DSource: In the newspaper Record, 1872