The eternal gates lift up their heads. Cecil F. Alexander, née Humphreys. [Ascension.] Contributed to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Hymns, 1852, No. 62, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. In 1858 it was published in a revised form in Mrs. Alexander's Hymns Descriptive and Devotional, No. 14, as "The Golden gates are lifted up." It is in common use in both forms: but the earlier is the more widely used of the two. In addition st. iii., iv. are given in the American Unitarian Hymns of the Spirit, Boston, 1864, as "O, ever on our earthly path."
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)