Morning Hymn

By Charles Wesley 1707–1788 Charles Wesley

Christ, whose glory fills the skies,

Christ, the true, the only light,

Sun of Righteousness, arise,

Triumph o’er the shades of night:

Day-spring from on high, be near:

Day-star, in my heart appear.

Dark and cheerless is the morn

Unaccompanied by thee,

Joyless is the day’s return,

Till thy mercy’s beams I see;

Till thy inward light impart,

Glad my eyes, and warm my heart.

Visit then this soul of mine,

Pierce the gloom of sin, and grief,

Fill me, Radiancy Divine,

Scatter all my unbelief,

More and more thyself display,

Shining to the perfect day.

Biography

Charles Wesley as poet is a problematic figure. Exalted to the heavens by his advocates, credited with supreme genius, the man and his immense work find scant mention in standard eighteenth-century literary history. Scholarly advocates tend to be sympathetic to Methodism and inappreciative of canonical authors of the day. True believers look to the forthcoming relief of Romanticism and tout Wesley as its herald. Wesley's . . .

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