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N the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:1-3)
This beautiful hymn of Trinity was composed by John Marriott in 1813 but not published until after his death in 1825. The tune, Moscow, is the authorship of the Italian composer, Felice de Giardini, before his death in Moscow, Russia, in 1796. It is a fitting hymn for any Sunday after Trinity.
Thou Whose Eternal Word
Thou, whose Eternal Word
chaos and darkness heard,
and took their flight;
hear us, we humbly pray,
and where the gospel-day
sheds not its glorious ray,
let there be light.
Thou, who didst come to bring
on thy redeeming wing
healing and sight,
health to the sick in mind,
sight to the inly blind,
O now to all mankind
let there be light.
Spirit of truth and love,
life-giving, holy Dove,
speed forth thy flight;
move on the water's face,
bearing the lamp of grace,
and in earth's darkest place
let there be light.
Holy and blessèd Three,
glorious Trinity,
Wisdom, Love, Might;
boundless as ocean's tide
rolling in fullest pride,
through the earth far and wide
let there be light.
1 Thou, whose eternal word chaos and darkness heard, and took their flight; hear us, we humbly pray, and where the gospel-day sheds not its glorious ray, let there be light. You may have observed that a single word (Eternal) in the first line differs from that (Almighty) published in our hymnal. I have taken the same license in changing that word back to the original that appeared in Mr. Marriott’s first writing. I always prefer, in most cases, the original intent of an author over those of the revisers. Of course, God’s Word is Almighty, but it is also Eternal across all time. It is very Light that shines in darkness to those who have the spiritual eyes (as did Fanny Crosby of old) to see the Light. Darkness cannot abide even the slight glimmer of a candle. It must flee at its lighting. We pray that all venues of darkness will soon be dispersed by the brilliance of God’s Light and Word, including our own once godly land.
2 Thou, who didst come to bring on thy redeeming wing healing and sight, health to the sick in mind, sight to the inly blind, O now to all mankind let there be light. The Word is the Light of the World as revealed by the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. The existence of Light avails nothing without the spiritual vision to receive it. Christ came to enable us to receive that vision of God in human form for our understanding. Still, the powers of darkness hid their eyes from that Light. According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, the word ‘inly’ means inwardly – in the heart. In the heart where no man but God can enter, that Light we have received illuminates the whole heart – upper and lower chambers – and creates a change in our being. We are truly new creatures in Christ by that presence of the Light of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. All things, including our thinking, have become new. The Light must be delivered to the chambers of darkness in the world. We, as reflectors of the Light of the World, are given the call to carry that Light to every dark corner of the world.
3 Spirit of truth and love, life-giving, holy Dove, speed forth thy flight; move on the water's face, bearing the lamp of grace, and in earth's darkest place let there be light. The whole of Creation was blessed by the Holy Spirit of God that “ . . . moved upon the face of the waters.” Eden lost the greater blessing when sin entered into all Creation with the Fall of Adam. Our nation was blessed at its founding by that Holy Spirit that guided and directed our Founding Fathers to establish a nation fairer and more blessed than any other on earth. But we have forfeited that blessing along with our abandonment of the God of our Fathers. We have become a vile purveyor of perversion and godlessness. What blessing we have is that which came by way of a better and more righteous people than we have become today. I should make the caveat that not all are so disposed to godlessness, but those who are still godly seem to believe that God will do all the restoration as we simply stand by and watch. The time has come that we must draw upon the courage of the men and women of 1776, of 1861, of the World Wars I & 2. We have dropped the torch, but it still burns. All we need do is retrieve it from its fallen state and bear it aloft on the forward edge of the battle lines of faith and righteousness.
4 Holy and blessèd Three, glorious Trinity, Wisdom, Love, Might; boundless as ocean's tide rolling in fullest pride, through the earth far and wide let there be light. Let us, in the season of Trinity, reaffirm our everlasting faith in the Triune Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. All three were present at the beginning of Creation: God the Father, God the Son (John 1:1), and God the Holy Spirit. All three were present at the baptism of our Lord – Father (who thundered from Heaven), God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Ghost descending as a dove. There are more attributes of God than this devotion can muster to mind, but we do know that God is Love, Light, Wisdom personified, Truth, Life, and the Way. Why do we linger by the roadside with blind Bartimaeus while we need only call to Him for mercy and He will grant is the vision to see the Light?
