Scripture Verse

God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Genesis 1:3

Introduction

Words: John Ma­ri­ott, 1813. Pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in The Ev­an­gel­ic­al Ma­ga­zine, June 1825.

Music: Dort Lo­well Ma­son, 1832 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

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

portrait
Lowell Mason (1792–1872)

Lyrics

Thou, whose almigh­ty Word
[or Thou, whose eter­nal word]
Chaos and dark­ness heard,
And took their flight;
Hear us, we hum­bly pray,
And, where the Gos­pel’s day
Sheds not its glo­ri­ous ray,
Let there be light!

Thou, who didst come to bring
On Thy re­deem­ing wing
Healing and sight,
Health to the sick in mind,
Sight to the in­ly blind,
O now, to all man­kind,
Let there be light!

Spirit of truth and love,
Life giv­ing, ho­ly Dove,
Speed forth Thy flight;
Move on the wa­ter’s face
Bearing the lamp of grace,
And, in earth’s dark­est place,
Let there be light!

Blessèd and ho­ly Three,
Glorious Tri­ni­ty,
Wisdom, love, might!
Boundless as ocean’s tide,
Rolling in full­est pride,
Through the world far and wide,
Let there be light!