As with Gladness Men of Old

Lyrics

As with gladness men of old
did the guiding star behold,
as with joy they hailed its light,
leading onward, beaming bright;
so, most gracious Lord, may we
evermore be led to thee.

As with joyful steps they sped,
to that lowly manger-bed,
there to bend the knee before
him whom heaven and earth adore;
so may we with willing feet
ever seek thy mercy-seat.

As they offered gifts most rare
at that manger rude and bare,
so may we with holy joy,
pure and free from sin's alloy,
all our costliest treasures bring,
Christ, to thee, our heavenly King.

Holy Jesu, every day
keep us in the narrow way,
and, when earthly things are past,
bring our ransomed souls at last
where they need no star to guide,
where no clouds thy glory hide.

In the heavenly country bright
need they no created light;
thou its light, its joy, its crown,
thou its sun which goes not down;
there for ever may we sing
alleluias to our King.

History

William Chatterton Dix wrote "As with gladness men of old" for Epiphany, drawing on the account of the Magi in the second chapter of Matthew's Gospel. Dix, born in Bristol in 1837, worked as a marine insurance manager in Glasgow and died at Cheddar in Somerset in 1898. One account says he wrote the hymn on 6 January 1859 while recovering from a long illness and unable to attend church; another is less specific and dates the writing to about 1858-1860.

The last two stanzas are linked to Revelation 21:23 and 22:5, where the Lamb is the light of the heavenly city. Sources differ on where it first appeared in print: one names a collection compiled for St Raphael's Church, Bristol, in 1860, together with Dix's own Hymns of Joy and Love, while another mentions A. H. Ward's Hymns for Public Worship and Private Devotion (1860). Both agree it was in Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861, the date the second of them gives for the text. Some hymnals leave out the fifth stanza.

The tune DIX is now so closely tied to the hymn that it carries the author's name. It is adapted from a chorale melody by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872), an organist in Stuttgart, written in 1838 for the German hymn "Treuer Heiland, wir sind hier". William H. Monk, music editor of Hymns Ancient and Modern, shortened and altered it for the 1861 book. Dix himself did not like the pairing. The same melody is also the usual tune for "For the Beauty of the Earth".

A few other tunes appear with the words in individual hymnals (GLENCOE, ORIENT and some untitled settings), though DIX accounts for most of the listed hymnals.

Performance

This recording is credited in its video title to St Martin's Voices and runs for about 3 minutes 17 seconds.

Sources: hymnary.org · en.wikipedia.org · St Martin's Voices recording and Words book