The wise men to Thy cradle-throne

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 >

The wise men to Thy cradle throne. Cecil F. Alexander, née Humphreys. [Epiphany.] Published in her Hymns Descriptive and Devotional, &c, 1858, No. 8, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. Although seldom found in modern collections it is in Mrs. Alexander's best style. Possibly her interpretation of the gold, frankincense, and myrrh, as symbolizing love, prayer, and repentance, has made against the general adoption of the hymn.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)