O CHRIST, OUR TRUE AND ONLY

LIGHT!

(O Jesu Christe, wahres Licht.)

From the German of JOHANN Heermann, 1653, by Miss C. WINKWORTH (Lyra Germ. II. 43).

CHRIST, our true and only light!
Illumine those who sit in night;
Let those afar now hear Thy voice,
And in Thy fold with us rejoice.

Fill with the radiance of Thy grace
The souls now lost in error's maze,
And all in whom their secret mind
Some dark delusion hurts and blinds.

And all who else have strayed from Thee,
Oh, gently seek! Thy healing be
To every wounded conscience given,
And let them also share Thy heaven.

O make the deaf to hear Thy word,
And teach the dumb to speak, dear Lord,
Who dare not yet the faith avow,

Though secretly they hold it now.

THEY GAVE TO THEE.

Shine on the darkened and the cold,
Recall the wanderers from Thy fold,
Unite those now who walk apart,
Confirm the weak and doubting heart.

So they, with us, may evermore
Such grace with wondering thanks adore;
And endless praise to Thee be given,
By all Thy Church in earth and heaven.

THEY GAVE TO THEE.

117

By Bishop JEREMY TAYLOR (died 1667) 1650.

THEY

HEY gave to Thee

Myrrh, frankincense, and gold;

But, Lord, with what shall we

Present ourselves before Thy majesty,

Whom Thou redeemedst when we were sold?

We've nothing but ourselves, and scarce that

neither;

Vile dirt and clay;

Yet it is soft, and may
Impression take.

Accept it, Lord, and say, this Thou hadst rather;

Stamp it, and on this sordid metal make

Thy holy image, and it shall outshine

The beauty of the golden mine.

ALL YE GENTILE LANDS, AWAKE!

(Werde Licht, du Volk der Heiden.)

By JOHANN RIST, 1655. Lyra Germ., I. 30. Abridged

ALL ye Gentile lands, awake!

Thou, O Salem, rise and shine!
See the Dayspring o'er you break,
Heralding a morn divine,
Telling, God hath called to mind.
Those who long in darkness pined.

Lo, the shadows flee away!

For our Light is come at length,
Brighter than all earthly day,
Source of being, life, and strength!
Whoso on this Light would gaze
Must forsake all evil ways.

Ah! how blindly did we stray,
Ere shone forth this glorious Sun,
Seeking each his separate way,
Leaving Heaven unsought, unwon!
All our looks were earthwards bent,
All our strength on earth was spent.

ALL YE GENTILE LANDS, AWAKE!

119

But the glory of the Lord
Hath arisen on us to-day!

We have seen the light outpoured
That must surely drive away
All things that to night belong,
All the sad earth's woe and wrong.

Thy arising, Lord, shall fill
All my thoughts in sorrow's hour;
Thy arising, Lord, shall still

All my dread of Death's dark power:
Through my smiles and through my tears
Still Thy light, O Lord! appears.

Let me, Lord, in peace depart
From this evil world to Thee;
Where Thyself sole Brightness art,
Thou hast kept a place for me:
In the radiant city there,

Crowns of light Thy saints shall wear.

THE WONDERING SAGES TRACE
FROM FAR.

(Im Abend blinkt der Morgenstern.)

From the German of ERNST Lange (1650-1727). By FRANCES ELIZABETH Cox, Sacred Hymns from the German, Lond. 1841.

HE wondering sages trace from far,

THE

Bright in the west, the morning star;

A light illumes the western skies,
Seen never in the east to rise.

Eternity produced its blaze,

Time's fulness hails its nearer rays;
Its brightness chases night away,
And kindles darkness into day.

O Jesu! brightest Morning Star!

Shed forth Thy beams both near and far,
That all, in these our later days,

May know Thee, and proclaim Thy praise.