And Greet the Light

Photo credit: .Andrew Dunn.

With beauty decked the morn ascends,

And all the earth is bright;

And lo, the sun the darkness rends,

And floods the sky with light.


All hail, Thou Sun of Righteousness,

Upon our night arisen!

May sin no more our souls oppress,

And bind in darksome prison.


Let those that lie in slumber fast,

Because the darkness reigns,

The light behold, and straightway cast

Aside their gloomy chains;


And greet the light that makes them free,

The bounding joy it brings;

And share the calm felicity,

That looks to heaven and sings.


O Jesus Christ, our hearts aglow,

Thy blessed advent hail;

On us Thy healing virtue show,

And o'er our ills prevail.


And let us walk as those whose eyes

Have seen the light of heaven,

Till light shall in our souls arise,

Whence night and gloom are driven.


--from Hymns of the Early Church by John Brownlie

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