1 Whence appears this brilliant star
In the eastern skies afar?
Never hath a ray so bright
Pierced the gloomy shades of night.
2 See! the glory of its beams
With celestial radiance streams
Towards Judea’s holy land,
Guiding there a faithful band.
3 There, a lowly infant made,
There, in Bethlehem’s manger laid,
Christ, the Prince of Life, they find—
Christ, the Savior of mankind.
4 Ye who slight Emmanuel’s grace,
Who in Him no beauty trace,
Here His love for sinners see,
In His deep humility.
5 Rise and shine, bright morning star!
Spread thy heavenly light afar,
Till each heart illumined be,
With the radiance shed by thee.
Source: The Cyber Hymnal #10625
Rv Henri Abraham Cesar Malan, 1787-1864. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, into a bourgeois family that moved to Switzerland to escape religious persecution during the French Revolution, he attended the university in Marseilles, France, intending to become a businessman. Although having some grounding in religious faith by his mother, he decided to attend the Academy at Geneva (founded by Calvin) in preparation for ministry. He was ordained in 1810, after being appointed a college master (teaching Latin) in 1809. Malan was in accord with the National Church of Geneva as a Unitarian, but the Reveil Movement caused him to become a dissident (evangelical) instead of a proponent of the Reformed Church (believing works, not faith, was what mattere… Go to person page >
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