Tuesday, September 27, 2016

"To banish sin from our delight..."

In the back of the issue of Christian History I posted about earlier today is a list of hymns: "2000 years, 25 hymns." One of the earliest is "O Splendor of God's Glory Bright" by Ambrose of Milan (340-397). It was unfamiliar to me. The translation below, except for the final verse, is by Robert Bridges (1844-1930).

O SPLENDOR of God's glory bright,
O Thou that bringest light from light,
O Light of Light, light's living spring,
O Day, all days illumining;
To guide whate'er we nobly do,
With love all envy to subdue,
To make ill-fortune turn to fair,
And give us grace our wrongs to bear.
O Thou true Sun, on us Thy glance
Let fall in royal radiance,
The Spirit's sanctifying beam
Upon our earthly senses stream.
All laud to God the Father be;
All praise, eternal Son, to Thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To God the holy Paraclete. Amen.
The Father, too, our prayers implore,
Father of glory evermore,
The Father of all grace and might,
To banish sin from our delight:

I have found versions of the hymn in several hymnbooks including the one we used in my youth and the one we use where I worship now but I don't recall ever singing it.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated. I will gladly approve any comment that responds directly and politely to what has been posted.