Scripture Verse

I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. Revelation 22:16

Introduction

portrait
Philipp Nicolai (1556–1608)

Words: Adapt­ed from a 17th Cen­tu­ry cen­to by Burk­hard Wies­en­mey­er. Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Fran­ces E. Cox (1812–1897).

Music: Wie schön leuch­tet Phi­lipp Ni­co­lai, 1599 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

How love­ly shines the morn­ing star!
In twi­light sky it gleams afar;
The reign of night is end­ed.
Creation stirs to hail the light
Whose glo­ries now with ra­di­ance bright
Stream forth in beau­ty splen­did.
Both far and near
All things liv­ing thanks are giv­ing
Praise out­pour­ing,
Earth and sky the Lord ad­or­ing.

Then haste, my soul, thy song to raise,
Delay thou not thy Lord to praise,
Bow down in ado­ra­tion.
For glo­ry, Lord, to Thee bel­ongs,
Thy praise re­sounds in grate­ful songs,
Thou Lord of all cre­ation.
Let all re­call
Hymns of glad­ness with­out sad­ness,
For Thy favor
And Thy mer­cy nev­er wa­ver.

Tho’ ev­il spir­its thro’ the night
With hell­ish craft and watch­ful spite
Came round me with­out num­ber,
Yet Thou, O Je­sus, with Thy pow­er
Wast near me in that threat­en­ing hour,
Didst guard me in my slum­ber.
Praise be to Thee,
My con­ten­der and de­fend­er,
I’ll adore Thee
While on earth I walk be­fore Thee.

Pour down Thy grace in cheer­ing streams
And warm my heart with mer­cy’s beams
From Heav’n, Thy throne of beau­ty;
Thy Spir­it ev­er lead and guide
That in my call­ing I ab­ide
And find my joy in du­ty.
Send light and might
That each mea­sure, plan and plea­sure,
Heav’nward tend­ing,
E’er in Thee may find its end­ing.

Keep grief, if this may be, away;
If not, Thy will be done, I pray,
My choice to Thine re­sign­ing.
Then, O my heart, cast care aside,
God through the cross His own hath tried;
Bear loss with­out re­pin­ing.
Hope still through ill;
To God cleav­ing, grace re­ceiv­ing,
We shall won­der
At God’s good­ness here and yon­der.