Expand thy wings, celestial Dove

Expand thy wings, celestial Dove. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).  This hymn is made up of five stanzas taken from Charles Wesley’s Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures (Bristol, 1762). Two are from Genesis 1 and three from II Chronicles 6. They are reproduced here from the 1762 text to show the ‘select passage’ in each case:  Genesis: ‘The Spirit of GOD moved upon the face of the waters. - i. 2.’  Expand thy wings, celestial Dove,   And brooding o’er my nature’s night, Call forth the ray of heavenly love,   Let there in my dark soul be light, And fill th’ illustrated abyss With glorious beams of endless bliss.  Genesis: ‘GOD said, Let there be light, and there was light. -i...

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