Rooted and Grounded

By John S. B. Monsell (1811-1875)

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
Steal into every heart,
And glorifies with duty
Life’s poorest, humblest part;
Thou robest in Thy splendor
The simplest 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,
They sunshine hath no shade.

Light of the world, illumine
This darkened land of Thine,
Till everything that’s human
Be filled with the divine;
Till every tongue and nation,
From sin’s dominion free,
Rise in the new creation
Which springs from love and Thee.