CHRISTIAN CHURCH >> COMMUNITY IN CHRIST
SDAH 345
Christ is the world’s true light,
Its captain of salvation,
The daystar clear and bright
Of every man and nation;
Text
1
Christ is the world’s true light,
Its captain of salvation,
The daystar clear and bright
Of every man and nation;
New life, new hope awakes
Where’er men own His sway:
Freedom her bondage breaks,
And night is turned to day.
2
In Christ all races meet,
Their ancient feuds forgeting,
The whole round world complete,
From sunrise to its setting:
When Christ is throned as Lord,
Men shall forsake their fear,
To plowshare beat the sword,
To pruning hook the spear.
3
One Lord, in one great name
Unite us all who own Thee,
Cast out our pride and shame
That hinder to enthrone Thee;
The world has waited long,
Has travailed long in pain,
To heal its ancient wrong,
Come, Prince of Peace, and reign.
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(a) 2 Pet 1:19 (b) Isa 2:4 (c) Eph 4:5; Isa 9:6
Author
George W. Briggs (1875-1959)
Year Published
1931
Copyright
Words from Enlarged Songs of Praise by permission of Oxford University Press
Hymn Tune
DARMSTADT
Metrical Number
6.7.6.7.6.6.6.6.
Composer
Ahasuerus Fritsch (1629-1701)
Arranged
J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Year Composed
1679
Get the hymn sheet in other keys here
Notes
Get to know the hymns a little deeper with the SDA Hymnal Companion. Use our song leader’s notes to engage your congregation in singing with understanding. Even better, involve kids in learning this hymn with our homeschooling materials.
The Light appeared when the world’s darkness was deepest… There was but one hope for the human race… that the knowledge of God might be restored to the world. (Lesson 5, 4th Quarter 2020 – Monday, Revealing the Father Cont’, 10/26/2020)
This was written by George Briggs for Songs of Praise, 1933, to go with another Bach tune, RINKART (KOMMT SEELEN), which has a wide range, an octave and a half, making it difficult for congregational use.
George Wallace Briggs (1875-1959; see SDAH 261 was a minister, musician, and educator the Church of England; he furnished eight tunes and 16 texts for Songs of Praise, 1933. He also wrote SDAH 261, “The Spirit of the Lord Revealed,” and SDAH 413, “God Has Spoken by His Prophets.”
DARMSTADT (O GOTT, DU FROMMER GOTT, O God, Thou Faithful God) first appeared in Fritsch’s Himmels-Lust und Welt-Unlust (Desire of Heaven and Dislike for Earth), 1679. The tune name comes from the fact that this tune appeared in a hymnbook in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1689. (The German SDA Seminary is situated in the outskirts of this city.) There have been many different melodic versions of this, one of the finest stately and most stately of the German chorales. The arrangement SDAH uses is slightly altered from the final chorus of Bach’s Cantata No. 94, “Was frag’ ich nach der Welt (What Do I Care for the World). He also used it in Cantatas 45, 64, and 133.
Ahasuerus Fritsch was born December 16, 1629, in Mücheln, Saxony, Germany, the eight of 11 children, in the house of the town mayor. His childhood was during the Thirty Years’ War, and the family suffered when the town was besieged. In spite of poverty brought about by the death of his father when Ahasuerus was only 14, somehow he managed to get an education, and went to study at Jena in 1650. Becoming a tutor in a wealthy family, he earned their respect, and they supported him in completing his Doctor of Law degree at the University of Jena in 1661. He later served as chancellor of the university and as president of the consistory of Rudolstadt. A prolific writer on antiquarian, legal, and sacred subjects, he made collections of hymns, carefully naming all the authors, but modestly leaving off his name from his own works. He died at Rudolstadt August 24, 1701.
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