The image it presents is singularly dramatic and picturesque. The scene is laid in the midst of the Babylonian Captivity. A lonely watchman is represented as standing on the ramparts of some tower along the defenses of the citadel. He seems to be anxiously looking for the issues of the siege leveled against it. The time is midnight. Calamity is over the land. The people are afflicted. Their enemies are pressing them hard. That solitary sentinel sadly remains at his post, peering into the unlit gloom, trying to discern signs of deliverance. But the heavens are starless, and the impenetrable clouds keep rolling on. Suddenly an unknown voice pierces the air. Whether in wailing sorrow or in bitter taunt, is not evident; but out of the stillness already grown oppressive breaks the question with repetitious pertinacity: “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” The sentinel waits through a moment of surprised meditation and then tranquilly answers: “The morning cometh and also the night; if ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come.” Then the dialog lapses into silence again, and the night gathers its unbroken shadows deeper than ever. For comments on John Bowring see Hymn 55. _MUSIC._ WATCHMAN is by Lowell Mason who wrote the tune in 1830 in 3-4 time. He intended it as a duet between soprano and tenor, with the congregation repeating the last line of each stanza (the reply of the watchman). The tune also lends itself well to antiphonal singing. For comments on Mason see Hymn 12. 67. O come, O come, Emmanuel _From the Latin, 12th Century_ _Stanza 1, Tr. John M. Neale_, 1818-66 _Stanzas 2, 3, Henry Sloan Coffin_, 1877— Veni, veni, Emmanuel captivum solve Israel, qui gemit in exilio, privatus Dei Filio. Gaude, gaude; Emmanuel nascetur pro te, Israel. The hymn comes from the Latin, being a translation of the first of the seven greater _Antiphons_ (short anthems-verses) sung in the Roman Church at Vespers on the seven days before Christmas. The refrain, “Rejoice, rejoice,” etc., added to the hymn during the 13th century, is the answer to the longing for Christ expressed in each stanza. The translation of Stanza 1 is by John M. Neale, 1818-66, a Cambridge scholar and the most noted hymnologist and liturgist of his time. He was a minister and author of books on biblical and historical subjects, but his fame rests chiefly on his translations of Greek and Latin hymns. The _Hymnary_ contains ten of his works. The second and third stanzas were translated in 1916 by Henry Sloan Coffin, eminent Presbyterian minister, formerly of the Madison Avenue Church in New York City, and then for many years president of Union Theological Seminary. He is a recognized leader in contemporary American church life.