We lift our hearts to Thee,
O Day Star from on high!
The sun itself is but Thy shade,
Yet cheers both earth and sky.
O let Thine orient beams
The night of sin disperse,
The mists of error and of vice
Which shade the universe.
How beauteous nature now:
How dark and sad before!
With joy we view the pleasing change,
And nature’s God adore.
O may no gloomy crime
Pollute the rising day;
Or Jesus’ blood, like evening dew,
Wash all the stains away.
May we this life improve,
To mourn for errors past;
And live this short, revolving day
As if it were our last.
To God—the Father, Son,
And Spirit—One in Three,
Be glory; as it was, is now,
And shall forever be