Rise, O Salem, Rise And Shine

For Epiphany

Words: Rist, 1655
Translation by Catherine Winkworth, 1863

Music: "Jesus Christ, My Sure Defence"

Source: William Sterndale Bennett and Otto Goldschmidt, eds., The Chorale Book For England. Congregational Edition. (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1863, Supp. 1865), Translator: Catherine Winkworth, #38.

See: The Christmas Poetry of Catherine Winkworth

1. Rise, O Salem, rise and shine!
Lo! the Gentiles hail thy waking;
Herald of a morn divine,
See the dayspring o'er us breaking,
Telling God has call'd to mind
Those who long in darkness pined.

2. Ah, how blindly did we stray,
Ere this sun our earth had brightened,
Heaven we sought not, for no ray
Had our 'wilder'd eyes enlighten'd!
All our looks were earthward bent,
All our strength on earth was spent.

3. But, the day-spring from on high
Hath arisen with beams unclouded,
And we all before it fly
All the heavy gloom that shrouded
This sad earth, where sin and woe
Seem'd to reign o'er all below.

4. Thy appearing, Lord, shall fill
All my thoughts in sorrow's hour;
Thy appearing, Lord, shall still
All my dread of death's dark power;
Whether joy or tears be mine,
Through them still Thy light shall shine.

5. Let me, when my course is run,
Calmly leave a world of sadness
For the place that needs no sun,
For Thou art its light and gladness,
For the mansions fair and bright,
Where Thy saints are crown'd with light.

Sheet Music "Jesus Christ, My Sure Defence" from William Sterndale Bennett and Otto Goldschmidt, eds., The Chorale Book For England. Congregational Edition. (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1863, Supp. 1865), Translator: Catherine Winkworth, #38.

Sheet Music to "Jesus Christ, my sure Defence" from William Sterndale Bennett and Otto Goldschmidt, eds., The Chorale Book For England. (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1863), Translator: Catherine Winkworth, #38.

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