III. JESUS CHRIST.
102.
7s. M.
Bowring.
Advent.
1 Watchman! tell us of the night,
What its signs of promise are;
Traveller! o’er yon mountain’s height,
See that glory-beaming star!
Watchman! does its beauteous ray
Aught of hope or joy foretell?
Traveller! yes; it brings the day,
Promised day of Israel!
2 Watchman! tell us of the night,
Higher yet the star ascends;
Traveller! blessedness and light,
Peace and truth, its course portends.
Watchman! will its beams alone
Gild the spot that gave them birth?
Traveller! ages are its own;
See, it bursts o’er all the earth.
3 Watchman! tell us of the night,
For the morning seems to dawn;
Traveller! darkness takes its flight;
Doubt and terror are withdrawn.
Watchman! let thy wanderings cease;
Hie thee to thy quiet home;
Traveller! lo! the Prince of Peace,
Lo! the Son of God, is come.
103.
11s. M.
Drummond.
“Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord!”
1 A Voice from the desert comes awful and shrill;
The Lord is advancing; prepare ye the way!
The word of Jehovah he comes to fulfil,
And o’er the dark world pour the splendor of day.
2 Bring down the proud mountain, though towering to heaven,
And be the low valley exalted on high;
The rough path and crooked be made smooth and even,
For, Zion! your King, your Redeemer, is nigh.
3 The beams of salvation his progress illume,
The lone, dreary wilderness sings of her God;
The rose and the myrtle there suddenly bloom,
And the olive of peace spreads its branches abroad.
104.
8 & 7s. M.
Gaskell.
The Dayspring From on High.
1 Darkness o’er the world was brooding
Sadder than Egyptian gloom;
Souls by myriads lay in slumber
Deep as of the sealed tomb.
2 Earth had lost the links which bound it
To the throne of light above;
Yet an eye was watching o’er it,
And that eye was full of love.
3 Like a glorious beam of morning,
Straight a ray pierced through the cloud,
Spirits mightily awakening
From their dark and heavy shroud.
4 Still that ray shines on and brightens,
Chasing mist and gloom away;
Happy they on whom it gathers
With its full and perfect day!
105.
C. M.
Patrick.
The Nativity.
1 While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.
2 “Fear not,” said he,—for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind,—
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind.
3 “To you, in David’s town, this day
Is born, of David’s line,
The Saviour, who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign:
4 “The heavenly babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands,
And in a manger laid.”
5 Thus spake the seraph, and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels, praising God, who thus
Address their joyful song:
6 “All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace!
Good-will henceforth, from heaven to men,
Begin and never cease!”
106.
C. M.
E. H. Sears.
The Birth-Song of Christ.
1 Calm on the listening ear of night
Come heaven’s melodious strains,
Where wild Judea stretches far
Her silver-mantled plains!
2 Celestial choirs from courts above
Shed sacred glories there;
And angels, with their sparkling lyres,
Make music on the air.
3 The answering hills of Palestine
Send back the glad reply;
And greet, from all their holy heights,
The dayspring from on high.
4 O’er the blue depths of Galilee
There comes a holier calm,
And Sharon waves, in solemn praise,
Her silent groves of palm.
5 “Glory to God!” the sounding skies
Loud with their anthems ring,
“Peace to the earth, good-will to men
From heaven’s Eternal King!”
6 Light on thy hills, Jerusalem!
The Saviour now is born!
And bright on Bethlehem’s joyous plains
Breaks the first Christmas morn.
107.
P. M.
Mrs. Hemans.
Hymn for Christmas.
1 O Lovely Voices of the sky,
Which hymned the Saviour’s birth,
Are ye not singing still on high,
Ye that sang, “Peace on earth”?
To us yet speak the strains,
Wherewith, in time gone by,
Ye blessed the Syrian swains,—
O Voices of the sky!
2 O clear and shining Light, whose beams,
That hour, heaven’s glory shed
Around the palms, and o’er the streams,
And on the shepherds’ head!
Be near, through life and death,
As in that holiest night
Of hope, and joy, and faith;
O clear and shining Light!
3 O Star which led to Him whose love
Brought down man’s ransom free!
Where art thou?—’midst the host above
May we still gaze on thee?
In heaven thou art not set,
Thy rays earth may not dim;
Send them to guide us yet,
O Star which led to Him!
108.
11 & 10s. M.
Heber.
Epiphany.
1 Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid!
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid!
2 Say, shall we yield him, in costly devotion,
Odors of Edom, and offerings divine?
Gems of the mountain, and pearls of the ocean,
Myrrh from the forest, or gold from the mine?
3 Vainly we offer each costly oblation;
Vainly with gifts would his favor secure:
Richer by far is the heart’s adoration;
Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.
4 Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid!
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
109.
C. M.
Doddridge.
Mission of Christ.
1 Hark! the glad sound! the Saviour comes,
The Saviour promised long;
Let every heart prepare a home,
And every voice a song.
2 On him the Spirit, largely poured,
Abides with holy fire;
Wisdom and might, and zeal and love,
His sacred breast inspire.
3 He comes the prisoners to release,
In wretched bondage held;
The gates of brass before him burst,
The iron fetters yield.
4 He comes, the broken heart to bind,
The bleeding soul to cure,
And, with the treasures of his grace,
Enrich the humble poor.
5 Our glad hosannas, Prince of Peace!
Thy welcome shall proclaim;
And heaven’s eternal arches ring
With thy beloved name.
110.
C. M.
Watts.
Christ’s Coming.
1 Joy to the world! the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing.
2 Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.
3 No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
As far as sin is found.
4 He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness,
And wonders of his love.
111.
7s. M.
C. Wesley.
The Star of Bethlehem.
1 Sons of men, behold from far,
Hail the long-expected Star!
Star of truth, that, ’mid the night,
Guides bewildered man aright.
2 Mild it shines on all beneath,
Piercing through the shades of death,
Scattering error’s wide-spread night,
Kindling darkness into light.
3 Nations all, remote and near,
Haste to see your Lord appear;
Haste, for him your hearts prepare,
Meet him manifested there!
4 There behold the dayspring rise,
Pouring light on mortal eyes;
See it chase the shades away,
Shining to the perfect day.
112.
S. M.
Needham.
The Prince of Peace.
1 Behold, the Prince of Peace,
The chosen of the Lord,
God’s well beloved Son, fulfils
The sure prophetic word!
2 No royal pomp adorns
This King of Righteousness;
Meekness and patience, truth and love,
Compose his princely dress.
3 The Spirit of the Lord,
In rich abundance shed,
On this great prophet gently lights,
And rests upon his head.
4 Jesus, the light of men!
His doctrine life imparts;
O, may we feel its quickening power
To warm and glad our hearts!
5 Cheered by its beams, our souls
Shall run the heavenly way;
The path which Christ has marked and trod
Will lead to endless day.
113.
L. M.
Anonymous.
Tempted As We Are.
1 As oft, with worn and weary feet,
We tread earth’s rugged pathway o’er,
The thought how comforting and sweet,—
Christ trod this very path before;
Our wants, our weaknesses, he knows,
From life’s first dawning to its close.
2 If we, beneath temptation’s stress,
Do fight against dark powers within,
So, in Judea’s wilderness,
Christ wrestled with the thoughts of sin,
When, in a weary, lonely hour,
The tempter came with all his power.
3 So, tried as I, this earth he trod,
Knew every human ill but sin,
And though the holiest Son of God,
As I am now so hath he been;
Jesus, my Saviour! look on me;
For help and strength I turn to thee!
114.
7s. M.
Bulfinch.
“The Works Which I Do Bear Witness of Me.”
1 Holy Son of God most high!
Clothed in heavenly majesty,
Many a miracle and sign,
In thy Father’s name divine,
Manifested forth thy might
In the chosen people’s sight.
2 But, O Saviour! not alone
Thus thy glory was made known;
With the mourner thou didst grieve,
Every human want relieve;
Far thy matchless power above
Stands the witness of thy love.
3 Thou, who by the open grave,
Ere thy voice was raised to save,
Didst with those fond sisters shed
Tears above the faithful dead;
Even thy word of might appears
Less resistless than thy tears.
4 Lord! it is not ours to gaze
On thy works of ancient days;
But thy love, unchanged and bright,
More than all those works of might,
More than miracle or sign,
Makes us ever, ever thine.
115.
C. M.
Mrs. Hemans.
Christ Stilling the Tempest.
1 Fear was within the tossing bark,
When stormy winds grew loud;
And waves came rolling high and dark,
And the tall mast was bowed.
2 But the wind ceased,—it ceased,—a word
Passed through the gloomy sky;
The troubled billows knew their Lord,
And sank beneath his eye.
3 And slumber settled on the deep,
And silence on the blast;
They sank as flowers that fold to sleep
When sultry day is past.
4 O Thou that in its wildest hour
Didst rule the tempest’s mood,
Send now thy Spirit forth in power
O’er our dark souls to brood!
5 Thou that didst bow the billows’ pride,
Thy mandate to fulfil,
Speak, speak to passion’s raging tide,
Speak, and say, “Peace, be still!”
116.
C. M.
Bulfinch.
The Pool of Bethesda.
1 The aged sufferer waited long
Upon Bethesda’s brink;
Till hopes, once rising warm and strong,
Began in fears to sink;
And heavy were the sighs he drew,
And fervent was his prayer,
For he, with safety full in view,
Still languished helpless there.
2 His hope grew dim; but one was nigh
Who saw the sufferer’s grief;
That gentle voice, that pitying eye,
Gave promise of relief.
Each pang that human weakness knows
Obeyed that powerful word;
He spake, and lo! the sick arose,
Rejoicing in his Lord.
3 Father of Jesus, when oppressed
With grief and pain we lie,
And, longing for Thy heavenly rest,
Despair to look on high,
O, may the Saviour’s words of peace
Within the wounded heart
Bid every doubt and suffering cease,
And strength and joy impart!
117.
C. M.
Bulfinch.
Christ Walking on the Sea.
1 Lord, in whose might the Saviour trod
The dark and stormy wave,
And trusted in his Father’s arm,
Omnipotent to save;
2 When darkly round our footsteps rise
The floods and storms of life,
Send Thou Thy Spirit down to still
The dark and fearful strife.
3 Strong in our trust, on Thee reposed,
The ocean-path we’ll dare,
Though waves around us rage and foam,
Since Thou art present there.
118.
P. M.
Bowring.
“He Was There Alone.”
1 He was there alone, when even
Had round earth its mantle thrown,
Holding intercourse with heaven:
He was there alone.
2 There his inmost heart’s emotion
Made he to his Father known;
In the spirit of devotion
Musing there alone.
3 So let us, from earth retiring,
Seek our God and Father’s throne;
And, to other scenes aspiring,
Train our hearts, alone.
119.
L. M.
Bowring.
Jesus Teaching the People.
1 How sweetly flowed the gospel’s sound
From lips of gentleness and grace,
When listening thousands gathered round,
And joy and reverence filled the place.
2 From heaven he came, of heaven he spoke,
To heaven he led his followers’ way;
Dark clouds of gloomy night he broke,
Unveiling an immortal day.
3 “Come wanderers, to my Father’s home,
Come, all ye weary ones, and rest!”
Yes, sacred Teacher, we will come,
Obey thee, love thee, and be blest.
4 Decay, then, tenements of dust!
Pillars of earthly pride, decay!
A nobler mansion waits the just,
And Jesus has prepared the way.
120.
7s. M.
Anonymous.
The Mind Which Was in Christ Jesus.
1 Ever patient, loving, meek,
Holy Saviour, was thy mind;
Vainly in myself I seek
Likeness to my Lord to find;
Yet the mind that was in thee
May be, must be, formed in me.
2 Since such griefs were thine to bear,
For each sufferer thou couldst feel,
Every mourner’s burden share,
Every wounded spirit heal.
Saviour, let thy grace in me
Form that mind which was in thee.
3 When my pain is most intense,
Let thy cross my lesson prove;
Let me hear thee even thence;
Breathing words of peace and love;
Thus thy grace shall form in me
The same mind which was in thee.
121.
7s. M.
Barbauld.
Christ’s Invitations.
1 Come, said Jesus’ sacred voice,
Come and make my paths your choice;
I will guide you to your home;
Weary pilgrim! hither come.
2 Thou who, houseless, sole, forlorn,
Long hast borne the proud world’s scorn,
Long hast roamed the barren waste,
Weary pilgrim! hither haste.
3 Ye who, tossed on beds of pain,
Seek for ease, and seek in vain;
Ye whose swoln and sleepless eyes
Watch to see the morning rise;
4 Ye, by fiercer anguish torn,
In remorse for guilt who mourn,
Here repose your heavy care;
Who the stings of sin can bear?
5 Sufferer! come, for here is found
Balm that flows for every wound;
Peace that ever shall endure,
Rest eternal, sacred, sure.
122.
C. M.
Gaskell.
Spirit of Jesus.
1 O, not to crush with abject fear
The burdened soul of man
Did Jesus on the earth appear,
And open heaven’s high plan:
He came to bid him find repose,
And God his Father know;
And thus with love to raise up those
That once were bowed low.
2 O, not in coldness nor in pride
His holy path he trod;
’Twas his delight to turn aside
And win the lost to God;
And unto sorrowing guilt disclose
The fount whence peace should flow;
And thus with love to raise up those
That once were bowed low.
3 O, not with cold, unfeeling eye
Did he the suffering view;
Not on the other side pass by,
And deem their tears untrue;
’Twas joy to him to heal their woes,
And heaven’s sweet refuge show;
And thus with love to raise up those
That once were bowed low.
123.
L. M.
Bache.
“Behold How He Loved Him.”
1 “See how he loved!” exclaimed the Jews,
When Jesus o’er his Lazarus wept;
My grateful heart the words shall use,
While on his life my eye is kept.
2 See how he loved, who travelled on,
Teaching the doctrine from the skies;
Who bade disease and pain be gone,
And called the sleeping dead to rise.
3 See how he loved, who, firm yet mild,
With patience bore the scoffing tongue;
Though oft provoked, yet ne’er reviled,
Nor did his greatest foe a wrong.
4 See how he loved, who never shrank
From toil or danger, pain or death;
Who all the cup of sorrow drank,
And meekly yielded up his breath.
124.
L. M.
A. C. Coxe.
Divine Beauty of Christ’s Character.
1 How beauteous were the marks divine,
That in thy meekness used to shine,
That lit thy lonely pathway, trod
In wondrous love, O Son of God!
2 O, who like thee,—so calm, so bright,
So pure, so made to live in light?
O, who like thee did ever go
So patient through a world of woe?
3 O, who like thee so humbly bore
The scorn, the scoffs, of men before?
So meek, forgiving, godlike, high,
So glorious in humility?
4 The bending angels stooped to see
The lisping infant clasp thy knee,
And smile, as in a father’s eye,
Upon thy mild divinity.
5 And death, which sets the prisoner free,
Was pang and scoff and scorn to thee;
Yet love through all thy torture glowed,
And mercy with thy life-blood flowed.
6 O, in thy light be mine to go,
Illuming all my way of woe;
And give me ever on the road
To trace thy footsteps, Son of God!
125.
L. M.
Brettell.
The Life of Jesus.
1 He lived as none but he has lived,
That wisest Teacher from above;
He died as none but he has died,—
His every act an act of love.
2 His fervent piety was breathed
To the lone waste, the desert hill;
And in the haunts of men he sought
To do his Heavenly Father’s will.
3 He preached the gospel to the poor,
Beside the couch of anguish stood,
Consoled the sufferer, healed the sick,
And went about still doing good.
4 With sinners he conversed, and gave
Peace to the weary, troubled mind;
Yet free from stain till life’s last hour,
In him his foes no fault could find.
5 Born ’midst the humblest sons of earth,
All earth’s temptations he withstood;
And yet all human praise renounced,
Declaring God alone is good.
126.
P. M.
Anonymous.
He Had Not Where to Lay His Head.
1 Birds have their quiet nest,
Foxes their holes, and man his peaceful bed;
All creatures have their rest,
But Jesus had not where to lay his head.
2 And yet he came to give
The weary and the heavy-laden rest;
To bid the sinner live,
And soothe our griefs to slumber on his breast.
3 Let the birds seek their nest,
Foxes their holes, and man his peaceful bed;
Come, Saviour, in my breast
Come and repose thine oft rejected head!
4 Come! give me rest, and take
The only rest on earth thou lov’st, within
A heart that for thy sake
Shall purify itself from every sin.
127.
L. M.
Russell.
Through His Poverty Made Rich.
1 On the dark-wave of Galilee
The gloom of twilight gathers fast;
And o’er the waters heavily
Sweeps cold and drear the evening blast.
2 Still near the lake, with weary tread,
Lingers a form of human kind;
And on his lone, unsheltered head,
Flows the chill night-damp of the wind.
3 Why seeks he not a home of rest?
Why seeks he not the pillowed bed?
Beasts have their dens, the bird his nest;—
He hath not where to lay his head.
4 Such was the lot he freely chose,
To bless, to save, the human race;
And through his poverty there flows
A rich, full stream of heavenly grace.
128.
L. M.
*Gaskell.
Christ The Sufferer.
1 Dark were the paths our Master trod,
Yet never failed his trust in God;
Cruel and fierce the wrongs he bore,
Yet he but felt for man the more.
2 Unto the cross in faith he went,
His Father’s willing instrument;
Upon the cross his prayer arose
In pity for his ruthless foes.
3 O, may we all his kindred be,
By holy love and sympathy;
Still loving man through every ill,
And trusting in our Father’s will!
129.
L. M.
Bulfinch.
Christ The Sufferer.
1 O suffering Friend of human kind!
How, as the fatal hour drew near,
Came thronging on thy holy mind
The images of grief and fear.
2 Gethsemane’s sad midnight scene,
The faithless friends, the exulting foes,
The thorny crown, the insult keen,
The scourge, the cross, before thee rose.
3 Did not thy spirit shrink dismayed,
As the dark vision o’er it came;
And though in sinless strength arrayed,
Turn, shuddering, from the death of shame?
4 Onward, like thee, through scorn and dread,
May we our Father’s call obey,
Steadfast thy path of duty tread,
And rise, through death, to endless day.
130.
L. M.
Doddridge.
“Thy Will, Not Mine, Be Done.”
1 “Father divine!” the Saviour cried,
While horrors pressed on every side,
And prostrate on the ground he lay,
“Remove this bitter cup away.
2 “But if these pangs must still be borne,
Or helpless man be left forlorn,
I bow my soul before thy throne,
And say,—Thy will, not mine, be done!”
3 Thus our submissive souls would bow,
And, taught by Jesus, lie as low;
Our hearts, and not our lips alone,
Would say,—Thy will, not ours, be done!
131.
L. M.
Anonymous.
“Let This Cup Pass From Me.”
1 A voice upon the midnight air,
Where Kedron’s moonlit waters stray,
Weeps forth in agony of prayer,
“O Father, take this cup away!”
2 Ah, thou who sorrow’st unto death,
We conquer in thy mortal fray;
And earth for all her children saith,
“O God, take not this cup away!”
3 O Lord of sorrow, meekly die;
Thou’lt heal or hallow all our woe;
Thy peace shall still the mourner’s sigh;
Thy strength shall raise the faint and low.
4 Great chief of faithful souls, arise;
None else can lead the martyr band,
Who teach the soul how peril flies,
When faith, unarmed, uplifts the hand.
5 O King of earth, the cross ascend;
O’er climes and ages ’tis thy throne;
Where’er thy fading eye may bend,
The desert blooms and is thine own.
4 Thy parting blessing, Lord, we pray;
Make but one fold below, above;
And when we go the last, lone way,
O, give the welcome of thy love.
132.
C. H. M.
Mrs. Hemans.
The Agony in the Garden.
1 He knelt; the Saviour knelt and prayed,
When but his Father’s eye
Looked, through the lonely garden’s shade,
On that dread agony;
He poured in prayer his suppliant breath,
Bowed down with sorrow unto death.
2 The sun went down in fearful hour;
The heavens might well grow dim,
When this mortality had power
Thus to o’ershadow him;
That he who came to save might know
The very depths of human woe.
3 He knew them all,—the doubt, the strife,
The faint, perplexing dread;
The mists that hang o’er parting life
All darkened round his head;
And the Deliverer knelt to pray;
Yet passed it not, that cup, away.
4 It passed not, though the stormy wave
Had sunk beneath his tread;
It passed not, though to him the grave
Had yielded up its dead;
But there was sent him, from on high,
A gift of strength, for man to die.
5 And was his mortal hour beset
With anguish and dismay?
How may we meet our conflict yet
In the dark, narrow way?
How, but through him that path who trod?
Save, or we perish, Son of God!
133.
6 & 10s. M.
Bulfinch.
Bearing the Cross.
1 Burden of shame and woe!
How does the heart o’erflow
At thought of him the bitter cross who bore!
But we have each our own,
To others oft unknown,
Which we must bear till life shall be no more.
2 And shall we fear to tread
The path where Jesus led,
The pure and holy one, for man who died?
Or shall we shrink from shame,
Endured for Jesus’ name,
Our glorious Lord, once spurned and crucified?
3 Then, ’mid the woes that wait
On this our mortal state,
Patience shall cheer affliction, toil, and loss,
And though the tempter’s art
Assail the struggling heart,
Still, Saviour! in thy name we bear the cross.
134.
7s. M.
Bulfinch.
The Crucifixion.
1 In the Saviour’s hour of death,
Bound upon the cross of fear,
While his quick and struggling breath
Spoke the fatal moment near,
While his proud, triumphant foes
Mocked the sufferings that he bore,
Then his loving spirit rose
More sublime than e’er before.
2 He has taught us to forgive,
By his words in days gone by;
He has taught us how to live;
Can he teach us how to die?
Listen! as the cross they raise,
One brief prayer ascends to heaven;
For his murderers he prays,—
Father, may they be forgiven!
135.
P. M.
W. J. Fox.
Stabat Mater.
1 Jews were wrought to cruel madness,
Christians fled in fear and sadness,
Mary stood the cross beside.
2 At its foot her foot she planted,
By the dreadful scene undaunted,
Till the gentle sufferer died.
3 Poets oft have sung her story;
Painters decked her brow with glory;
Priests her name have deified;
4 But no worship, song, or glory,
Touches like that simple story,—
“Mary stood the cross beside.”
5 And when under fierce oppression
Goodness suffers like transgression,
Christ again is crucified.
6 But if love be there, true-hearted,
By no grief or terror parted,
Mary stands the cross beside.
136.
7s. M.
Bulfinch.
“It Is Finished.”
1 It is finished! glorious word
From thy lips, our suffering Lord!
Words of high, triumphant might,
Ere thy spirit takes its flight.
It is finished! all is o’er;
Pain and scorn oppress no more.
2 Now, no more foreboding dread
Shades the path thy feet must tread;
No more fear, lest in thine hour
Pain should patience overpower;
On the perfect sacrifice
Not a stain of weakness lies.
3 Champion! lay thine armor by;
’Tis thine hour of victory!
All thy toils are now o’erpast;
Thou hast found thy rest at last;
All hath faithfully been done,
And the world’s salvation won.
137.
P. M.
H. Ware.
Easter Hymn.
1 Lift your glad voices in triumph on high,
For Jesus hath risen, and man cannot die.
Vain were the terrors that gathered around him,
And short the dominion of death and the grave;
He burst from the fetters of darkness that bound him,
Resplendent in glory, to live and to save.
Loud was the chorus of angels on high,—
“The Saviour hath risen, and man shall not die.”
2 Glory to God, in full anthems of joy;
The being he gave us death cannot destroy.
Sad were the life we must part with to-morrow,
If tears were our birthright, and death were our end;
But Jesus hath cheered the dark valley of sorrow,
And bade us, immortal, to heaven ascend.
Lift, then, your voices in triumph on high,
For Jesus hath risen, and man shall not die.
138.
6 & 4s. M.
Anonymous.
“Let There Be Light.”
1 On earth was darkness spread,
One boundless night;
“Let there be light,” God said,—
And there was light!
2 There hung a deeper gloom
O’er quick and dead,
But Jesus burst the tomb,
And darkness fled.
3 God by His word arrayed
Darkness with light;
God by His Son displayed
Day without night.
4 For thee, O man, arose
Creation’s ray;
For thee, too, brighter glows
Salvation’s day.
5 The beams first poured on earth
For mortals shone;
The light of later birth
Immortals own.