Scripture Verse

Darkness shall cover the earth…but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon Thee. Isaiah 60:2

Introduction

Words: Sa­rah Slinn, in Se­lect­ion of Mis­sion­ary & De­vo­tion­al Hymns, by J. Grif­fin (Port­sea, Eng­land: 1797).

Music: Ar­fau, in Car­mi­na Sac­ra, by Lo­well Ma­son (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: John H. Wil­kins & Ri­chard B. Car­ter, 1844), pag­es 52–53 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Lowell Mason (1792–1872)

Lyrics

Arise in all Thy splen­dor, Lord,
Let pow­er at­tend Thy gra­cious word;
Unveil the beau­ties of Thy face,
And show the glo­ries of Thy grace.

Diffuse Thy light and truth abroad,
And be Thou known th’al­migh­ty God;
Make bare Thine arm, Thy pow­er dis­play,
While truth and grace Thy scep­ter sway.

Send forth Thy mes­sen­gers of peace,
Make Sa­tan’s reign and em­pire cease;
Let Thy sal­va­tion, Lord, be known,
That all the world Thy pow­er may own.

Tho’ dark­ness o’er the earth per­vades,
And men are plunged in dis­mal shades;
God will arise, at the set time,
On Zion, with a light di­vine.

Then na­tions, with His grace re­plete,
Shall spread their tro­phies at His feet;
Clothed with im­mor­tal bliss, to prove,
The pow­er and great­ness of His love.

O may the tri­umphs of Thy grace
Abound, while right­eous­ness and peace
In mild and love­ly forms dis­play
The glo­ries of the lat­ter day.