Scripture Verse

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. Jeremiah 31:31

Introduction

portrait
Samuel Wesley (1810–1876)

Words: Se­bas­ti­en Bes­nault, in the Pa­ris Bre­vi­ary, 1736 (De­bi­lis ces­sent ele­men­ta le­gis). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Ro­bert Camp­bell (1814–1868). Pub­lished in An­nus Sanc­tus, Vol­ume 1, ed­it­ed by Or­by Ship­ley (Lon­don & New York: Burns & Oates, 1884), pag­es 34–35.

Music: Mid­dle­ham (Wes­ley) Sam­uel S. Wes­ley, in A Se­lect­ion of Psalms and Hymns, by Charles Kem­ble (Lon­don: John F. Shaw, 1864), num­ber 19 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Bes­nault or Camp­bell (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Now an­cient sha­dows flee,
Now night and ter­ror cease;
Thy God, O earth, be­gins with thee
A co­ve­nant of peace.

He who is Light of light,
The true un­cloud­ed sun,
Bleeds to re­move sad na­ture’s blight,
From wrongs that we have done.

This day He doth be­stow
The first-fruits of that blood,
Which will here­af­ter rich­ly flow
To be our cleans­ing flood.

He takes that sac­red name
At which we bend the knee;
Oh, how be­fit­ting Him who came
Our sac­ri­fice to be.

The Son who gave His blood,
The Fa­ther of our Lord,
The Holy Ghost—one God most good,
For ever be adored.