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Saw You Never in the Twilight?

Representative Text

1 Saw you never, in the twilight,
when the sun had left the skies,
up in heav'n the clear stars shining
through the gloom, like silver eyes?
So of old the wise men, watching,
saw a little stranger star,
and they knew the King was given,
and they followed it from far.

2 Heard you never of the story
how they crossed the desert wild,
journeyed on by plain and mountain
till they found the holy child?
How they opened all their treasure,
kneeling to that infant King;
gave the gold and fragrant incense,
gave the myrrh in offering?

3 Know ye not that lowly baby
was the bright and morning Star?
He who came to light the Gentiles
and the darkened isles afar?
And we, too, may seek his cradle;
there our hearts' best treasures bring;
love and faith and true devotion
for our Savior, God, and King.



Source: Trinity Hymnal (Rev. ed.) #228

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Author: Cecil Frances Alexander

As a small girl, Cecil Frances Humphries (b. Redcross, County Wicklow, Ireland, 1818; Londonderry, Ireland, 1895) wrote poetry in her school's journal. In 1850 she married Rev. William Alexander, who later became the Anglican primate (chief bishop) of Ireland. She showed her concern for disadvantaged people by traveling many miles each day to visit the sick and the poor, providing food, warm clothes, and medical supplies. She and her sister also founded a school for the deaf. Alexander was strongly influenced by the Oxford Movement and by John Keble's Christian Year. Her first book of poetry, Verses for Seasons, was a "Christian Year" for children. She wrote hymns based on the Apostles' Creed, baptism, the Lord's Supper, the Ten Commandment… Go to person page >

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Text Information

First Line: Saw you never, in the twilight
Title: Saw You Never in the Twilight?
Author: Cecil Frances Alexander (1853)
Meter: 8.7.8.7 D
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain
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Timeline

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Instances

Instances (1 - 2 of 2)
TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #5934

The Cyber Hymnal #5934
TextPage Scan

Trinity Hymnal (Rev. ed.) #228

Trinity Hymnal (Rev. ed.) #228
Include 83 pre-1979 instances
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