San Francisco Central Seventh-day Adventist Church

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137 We Three Kings

37 We Three Kings

Both words and music of this Christmas carol were written in 1857 by John Henry Hopkins. Hopkins was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1820, and became a rector in the Episcopal Church. He died in 1891.

While the wise men were not called "kings" in the Bible, nor their number given, the three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh imply three givers. They possibly signify three aspects of our Lord's life on earth, namely gold for kingship, frankincense for worship, and myrrh for sacrifice, representing Him respectively as king, priest, and lamb.

By its name, the tune KINGS OF ORIENT recalls the seventh-century tradition that says that gold was brought by the old Man Melchior, the frankincenses by the ruddy yough Kaspar, and the myrrh by the swarthy, dark-skinner Balthsar. The music for the stanzas is in the minor key, the refrain then modulating to the relative major key.

We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

Refrain
O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to Thy perfect light.

Born a King on Bethlehem's plain,
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign.

Refrain
O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to Thy perfect light.

Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising all men raising,
Worship Him, God on high.

Refrain
O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to Thy perfect light.

Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom:
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stonecold tomb.

Refrain
O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to Thy perfect light.

Glorious now behold Him arise,
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Sounds through the earth and skies.

Refrain
O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to Thy perfect light.