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)
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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