He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Matthew 3:11–12
Words: Charles Coffin, 1736 (Nunc suis tandum novus e latebris). Translated from Latin to English by Isaac Williams, 1839.
Music: Croft’s 148th William Croft, in the Divine Companion, or David’s Harp New Tun’d, second edition, by H. Playford (London: 1707) (🔊 pdf nwc).
Alternate Tune:
Lo! from the desert homes
Where he hath hid so long,
The new Elias comes,
In sternest wisdom strong;
The voice that cries
Of Christ on high,
And judgment nigh
From opening skies.
Your God e’en now doth stand
At Heaven’s opening door;
His fan is in His hand,
And He will purge His floor;
The wheat He claims
And with Him stows,
The chaff He throws
To quenchless flames.
Ye haughty mountains, bow
Your sky-aspiring heads;
Ye valleys, hiding low,
Lift up your gentle meads;
Make His way plain
Your king before,
For evermore
He comes to reign.
May Thy dread voice around,
Thou harbinger of Light,
On our dull ears still sound,
Lest here we sleep in night,
Till judgment come,
And on our path
Shall burst the wrath
And deathless doom.
O God, with love’s sweet might,
Who dost anoint and arm
Christ’s soldier for the fight,
With grace that shields from harm,
Thrice blessèd Three
Heav’n’s endless days
Shall sing Thy praise
Eternally.