light of the world we hail thee

light of the world, we hail thee, flushing the eastern skies;
never shall darkness veil thee again from human eyes;
too long, alas, withholden, now spread from shore to shore;
thy light, so glad and golden, shall set on earth no more.

light of the world, thy beauty steals into every heart,
and glorifies with duty life’s poorest, humblest, part;
thou robest in thy splendor the simple ways of men,
and helpest them to render light back to thee again.

light of the world, before thee our spirits prostrate fall;
we worship, we adore thee, thou light, the life of all;
with thee is no forgetting of all thine hand hath made;
thy rising hath no setting, thy sunshine hath no shade.

light of the world, illumine this darkened earth of thine,
till everything that’s human be filled with what’s divine;
till every tongue and nation, from sin’s dominion free,
rise in the new creation which springs from love and thee.