Patrick Comerford
Advent began last Sunday with Advent Sunday (30 November 2025), and today is the Second Sunday of Advent (7 December 2025). At noon each day in Advent this year, I am offering one image as part of my ‘Advent Calendar’ for 2025, and one Advent or Christmas carol, hymn or song.
The Second Sunday of Advent and the second candle lit on the Advent Wreath this morning are associated with the Prophets. So, my choice of a hymn, carol or song today is ‘Long Ago, Prophets Knew’, an Advent carol written on 1970 by the Methodist minister and hymn writer, the Revd Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000). It was written at the suggestion of John Wilson and was published a year later in 26 Hymns.
The carol gained popularity in the Church of England when it was included in More Hymns for Today in 1980, in Hymns Ancient and Modern – New Standard in 1983, and then in The New English Hymnal in 1986.
Green set this hymn to the tune of Personent hodie, a Christmas carol originally published in 1582 in the Finnish song book Piae Cantiones.
The Revd Fred Pratt Green was born in Roby, Lancashire, and was ordained a Methodist minister in 1928. He began writing prolifically after he retired and his hymns reflect his rejection of fundamentalism and show his concern for social issues. He also wrote poetry, and his poem ‘The Old Couple’ was included by Philip Larkin in The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century English Verse (1973). His translations include one of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s late poems as the hymn ‘By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered’.
Long ago, prophets knew
Christ would come, born a Jew.
Come to make all things new;
Bear his People’s burden,
Freely love and pardon.
Refrain:
Ring, bells, ring, ring, ring!
Sing, choirs, sing, sing, sing!
When he comes,
When he comes,
Who will make him welcome?
God in time, God in man,
This is God’s timeless plan:
He will come, as a man,
Born himself of woman,
God divinely human. [Refrain]
Mary, hail! Though afraid,
She believed, she obeyed.
In her womb God is laid;
Till the time expected
Nurtured and protected. [Refrain]
Journey ends! Where afar
Bethlem shines, like a star,
Stable door stands ajar.
Unborn Son of Mary,
Saviour, do not tarry!
Refrain:
Ring, bells, ring, ring, ring!
sing, choirs, sing, sing, sing!
Jesus comes!
Jesus comes!
We will make him welcome!
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