Scripture Verse

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord. John 1:23

Introduction

portrait
James Milligan (1876–1961)

Words: James L. Mil­li­gan, 1925.

Music: Here­ford (Heins) Fran­cis D. Heins, in The Hym­na­ry of the Unit­ed Church of Ca­na­da (To­ron­to, Ca­na­da: Unit­ed Church Pub­lish­ing House, 1930), num­ber 244 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Francis Heins (1878–1949)

Origin of the Hymn

I wrote the hymn at the time of the con­sum­ma­tion of the un­ion of the Pres­by­ter­ian, Me­tho­dist and Con­gre­ga­tion­al church­es [in 1925], which now form the Unit­ed Church of Ca­na­da. I was Di­rect­or of Pub­li­ci­ty dur­ing the three years’ cam­paign pri­or to the Un­ion.

Lyrics

There’s a voice in the wil­der­ness cry­ing,
A call from the ways un­trod:
Prepare in the de­sert a high­way,
A high­way for our God!
The valleys shall be ex­alt­ed,
The lofty hills brought low;
Make straight all the crook­ed plac­es,
Where the Lord our God may go!

O Zion, that bring­est good tid­ings,
Get thee up to the heights and sing!
Proclaim to a de­so­late peo­ple
The coming of their king.
Like the flow­ers of the field they per­ish,
The works of men de­cay,
The pow­er and pomp of na­tions
Shall pass like a dream away.

But the word of our God en­dur­eth,
The arm of the Lord is strong;
He stands in the midst of na­tions,
And He will right the wrong.
He shall feed His flock like a shep­herd,
And fold the lambs to His breast;
In pas­tures of peace He’ll lead them,
And give to the wea­ry rest.

There’s a voice in the wil­der­ness cry­ing,
A call from the ways un­trod:
Prepare in the de­sert a high­way,
A high­way for our God!
The val­leys shall be ex­alt­ed,
The lof­ty hills brought low;
Make straight all the crook­ed plac­es,
Where the Lord our God may go!