LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Down to this dark sin-shrouded earth

He came who is the Light;

Salvation’s banner was unfurled

In Bethlehem, by night.

He came unwanted and unasked,

The lost to seek and save;

In life, in a poor manger laid,

In death, another’s grave.

We do not advent angels praise,

Nor humble shepherds sing;

We fix our gaze on yonder babe,

To Him our worship bring.

How strangely God salvation wrought

To meet the law’s demands;

He put the mighty work into

A tiny infant’s hands.

And now those hands by sinners pierced,

Bear honourable scars,

And are for ever strong to break

Sin’s grim unyielding bars.

The Light has come, how bright it shines

Across this darkened earth;

Gethsemane and Calvary show

The purpose of His birth.

N. R. Perry