Scripture Verse

I am the Light of the world. John 8:12

Introduction

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Horatius Bonar (1808–1889)

Words: Ho­ra­ti­us Bo­nar, Hymns of Faith and Hope se­cond ser­ies (Lon­don: James Nis­bet, 1861), pages 165–66.

Music: Wil­ton Ar­thur H. Mann, in The Church Hym­na­ry, ed­it­ed by John Stain­er (Ed­in­burgh, Glas­gow, Bel­fast, Lon­don & New York: Hen­ry Frowde, 1902), num­ber 126 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know when the mu­sic was writ­ten,

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Arthur H. Mann (1850–1929)
Wikipedia

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Lyrics

Light of the world! for­ev­er, ev­er shin­ing,
There is no change in Thee;
True light of life, all joy and health en­shrin­ing,
Thou canst not fade nor flee.

Thou hast aris­en, but Thou des­cend­eth ne­ver;
Today shines as the past;
All that Thou wast, Thou art, and shalt be ev­er,
Brightness from first to last!

Night vi­sits not Thy sky, nor storm, nor sad­ness;
Day fills up all its blue:
Unfailing beau­ty, and un­fal­ter­ing glad­ness,
And love for ev­er new!

Why walk in dark­ness? Our true light yet shin­eth,
It is not night, but day!
All heal­ing and peace His light en­shrin­eth,
Why shun His lov­ing ray?

Are night and sha­dows bet­ter, tru­er, dear­er,
Than day and joy and love?
Do trem­blings and mis­giv­ings bring us nearer
To the great God of love?

Light of the world! un­dim­ming and un­set­ting,
O shine each mist away!
Banish the fear, the false­hood, and the fret­ting,
Be our un­chang­ing day!

The com­mon­ly omitted first verse:

Why walk in dark­ness? Has the dear light van­ished,
That gave us joy and day?
Has the great Sun de­part­ed? Has sin ban­ished
His life-be­get­ting ray?