As with gladness men of old

Composed by William Chatterton Dix around 1860 during a period of severe illness, this iconic Epiphany hymn was first printed in a small private collection entitled Hymns of Love and Joy. Shortly thereafter, it was featured in the trial edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern. In 1861, the text was published almost simultaneously in five six-line stanzas in both the St. Raphael's Hymnal of Bristol and the official first release of Hymns Ancient and Modern. Following this widespread debut, the hymn was swiftly adopted into nearly every major new hymnal and revised collection across the English-speaking world.

The authorized text prepared by the author was preserved in Church Hymns (1871) and Godfrey Thring's Collection (1882). The hymn was brought into extraordinary prominence when Sir Roundell Palmer, later Lord Selborne, commended it enthusiastically in his address on English Church Hymnody at the 1866 Church Congress in York. In his lecture, Palmer praised the piece as a crowning achievement of contemporary British hymn writing, offering it as an ideal conclusion to his address. An anonymous four-stanza imitation titled "As in Eastern lands afar" later appeared in Holy Song for all Seasons in 1869, though it achieved minimal circulation.