Scripture Verse

Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings. Malachi 4:2

Introduction

Words: Jo­seph Hart, Hymns, etc. Com­posed on Va­ri­ous Sub­jects (Lon­don & Wor­ces­ter, Mas­sa­chu­setts: J. Ev­er­ing­ham, 1759), num­ber 16.

Music: Dar­wall’s 148th John Dar­wall, in The New Uni­vers­al Psal­mo­dist, by Aar­on Will­iams, 1770 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

Once more the con­stant sun,
Revolving round his sphere,
His stea­dy course has run,
And brings ano­ther year:
He ris­es, sets, but goes not back,
Nor ev­er quits his des­tined track.

Hence let be­liev­ers learn
To keep a for­ward pace;
Be this our main con­cern,
To fin­ish well our race.
Backslidings shun, with pa­tience press
Towards the Sun of Right­eous­ness.

What now shall be our task?
Or ra­ther what our pray­er?
What good thing shall we ask
To pros­per this New Year?
With one ac­cord our hearts we’ll lift
And ask our Lord some New Year’s gift.

No trif­ling gift or small
Should friends of Christ de­sire;
Rich Lord, be­stow on all
Pure gold, well tried by fire;
Faith that stands fast when dev­ils roar,
And love which lasts for ev­er­more!