Christ My Song - 582
Ah, Lord, the world is dark! - Light in darkness
(Horatius Bonar/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
Light in darkness.
1. Ah, Lord, the world is dark!
but thou art only, only light;
its sun is but a dying spark,
but thou art ever, ever bright.
Earth has no wisdom, Lord!
but thou art only, only wise;
no bread its hungry fields afford,
no rain its iron skies! (PDF - Midi)
2. A child of light am I;
my way I cannot, cannot miss;
and yet the goal I scarce descry,
in blinding darkness such as this.
Upon the narrow road
deep mist is settling darkly down;
and now the narrow and the broad
seem mingled into one!
3. Light for these days of gloom,
truth-beams to liberate and cheer,
light for thy Church to guide her home,
light for each pilgrim footstep here.
Let in the living blaze,
till the deep midnight shine as day;
sweep off the soul-bewildering haze
that hides the healing ray.
4. Build up the broken faith,
lest hell, all hell, begin to mock;
the treasures of thy life and death,
O dying, living One, unlock!
Raise up the ruined truth,
afar let each fair falsehood flee;
restore thy Church's glorious youth,
her primal purity.
5. Bring back thy straying sheep,
who in this evil cloudy day
have failed the path of truth to keep,
loving dark error's spell-strewn way.
Cleanse out the temple, Lord!
scourge out, O Christ, the hireling train,
and scatter far the robber horde
that crowd thy courts for gain.
6. Thy Church from Satan guard;
thrust out the error and the lie.
Self and the flesh destroy, O Lord,
the pride, the pomp, the vanity.
Give zeal and holiness,
the calm, brave energy of love;
shed down the freshening dew of peace,
the life-shower from above.
7. Bid the long ages flee,
of doubt, uncertainty, and strife;
give back the ancient unity,
the love, the beauty, and the life.
Reign of the wise and just,
age of the good, the great, and true,
through these thick clouds of smoke and dust,
we calmly wait for you.
Horatius Bonar, Hymns of Faith and Hope III, 1878, 16-18.