1 Upon the gospel's sacred page
The gathered beams of ages shine;
And, as it hastens, evEry age
But makes its brightness more divine.
2 On mightier wing, in loftier flight,
From year to year does knowledge soar;
And, as it soars, the gospel light
Becomes effulgent more and more.
3 More glorious, still, as centuries roll,
New regions blest, new powers unfurled,
Expanding with the expanding soul,
Its radiance shall o'er-flow the world,–
4 Flow to restore, but not destroy;
As when the cloudless lamp of day
Pours out its flood of light and joy,
And sweeps the lingering mists away.
AMEN.
Source: The A.M.E. Zion Hymnal: official hymnal of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church #350
First Line: | Upon the gospel's sacred page |
Title: | Upon the Gospel's Sacred Page |
Author: | John Bowring |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Upon the Gospel's sacred page. Sir J. Bowring. [Progress of the Gospel.] Contributed to Beard's Unitarian Collection of Hymns, 1837, No. 206, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, “Progress of Gospel truth." It was included in the 3rd edition of the author's Matins and Vespers, 1841, p. 240, and subsequently in several hymnbooks, especially in America. In the American Unitarian Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, No. 698, "On mightier wing, in loftier flight," is composed of st. ii., iv., v. (slightly altered) of this hymn.
John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)