Scripture Verse

Send out Thy light and Thy truth. Psalm 43:3

Introduction

portrait
François H. Barthélémon (1741–1808)

Words: John But­tress, prob­ab­ly 1778, alt.

This hymn in the Am­eri­can Meth. Episc. Hys. 1849, 1879, and oth­ers, is giv­en in [Low­ell] Ma­son and [Da­vid] Greene’s [Church] Psal­mo­dy, 1831, as from the Ev­ang. Mag.

It is es­sen­ti­al­ly dif­fer­ent from the hymn Hail, sac­red truth, thou source of peace, in the Gos­pel Mag., 1778, p. 55, and there signed John But­tress.

John Ju­li­an, p. 1568

Music: Bal­ler­ma Fran­çois H. Bar­thé­lé­mon (1741–1808). Adapt­ed by Ro­bert Simp­son in A Se­lect­ion of Or­ig­in­al Sac­red Mu­sic, 1833 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you have ac­cess to a good pic­ture of But­tress (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), or a bet­ter one of Bar­thé­lé­mon,

Lyrics

Hail, sac­red Truth! whose pierc­ing rays
Dispel the shades of night;
Diffusing o’er the men­tal world
The heal­ing beams of light.

Thy Word, O Lord, with friend­ly aid,
Restores our wan­d’ring feet,
Converts the sor­rows of the mind
To joys di­vine­ly sweet.

O send Thy light and truth abroad
In all their ra­di­ant blaze,
And bid th’ad­mir­ing world ad­ore
The glo­ries of Thy grace.