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Text:Now Ancient Shadows Flee
Author:Sebastien Besnault
Translator:Robert Campbell, 1814-1868
Tune:MIDDLEHAM
Composer:Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Media:MIDI file

8384. Now Ancient Shadows Flee

1 Now ancient shadows flee,
Now night and terror cease;
Thy God, O earth, begins with thee
A covenant of peace.

2 He who is Light of light,
The true unclouded sun,
Bleeds to remove sad nature’s blight,
From wrongs that we have done.

3 This day He doth bestow
The first-fruits of that blood,
Which will hereafter richly flow
To be our cleansing flood.

4 He takes that sacred name
At which we bend the knee;
Oh, how befitting Him who came
Our sacrifice to be.

5 The Son who gave His blood,
The Father of our Lord,
The Holy Ghost—one God most good,
For ever be adored.

Text Information
First Line: Now ancient shadows flee
Title: Now Ancient Shadows Flee
Latin Title: Debilis cessent elementa legis
Author: Sebastien Besnault
Translator: Robert Campbell, 1814-1868
Meter: SM
Language: English
Source: Paris Breviary, 1736; Tr.: Annus Sanctus (Vol. 1) by Orby Shipley (London and New York: Burns & Oates, 1884)
Copyright: Public Domain
Notes: Alternate tune: LAKE ENON by Isaac B. Woodbury
Tune Information
Name: MIDDLEHAM
Composer: Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1864)
Meter: SM
Key: D Major
Copyright: Public Domain



Media
Adobe Acrobat image: PDF
MIDI file: MIDI
Noteworthy Composer score: Noteworthy Composer Score
More media are available on the tune authority page.

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