Lift Up, Lift Up Your Voices Now

Author: 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 >

Lift up, lift up your voices now . [Easter.] This hymn, in the American Episcopal Hymnal 1892, No. 119, is a mosaic made up of fragments of Easter hymns, pieced together without any regard to the continuity of the originals. It is principally from Dr. Neale's “The foe behind," &c, p. 1148, ii.; from his translation of "En dies est dominica," p. 330, ii.; and Mrs. Charles's version of "Aurora lucis," p. 94, i. [Voice of Christian Life in Song, &c, 1858. p. 100 : "The morning kindles all the sky.") This cento is repeated in several American collections. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)