Blest day of God! most calm, most bright

Representative Text

1 Blest day of God! most calm, most bright,
The first, the best of days;
The labourer's rest, the saint's delight,
The day of prayer and praise.

2 My Saviour's face made thee to shine,
His rising thee did raise,
And made thee heavenly and divine
Beyond all other days.

3 The first-fruits oft a blessing prove
To all the sheaves behind;
And they the day of Christ who love,
A happy week shall find.

4 This day I must with God appear;
For, Lord, the day is Thine;
Help me to spend it in Thy fear,
And thus to make it mine.

Hymnal: according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, 1871

Author: John Mason

Mason, John. The known facts of his life are scanty. He was the son of a Dissenting Minister, and the grandfather of John Mason, the author of A Treatise on Self-Knowledge. He was educated at Strixton School, Northants, and Clare Hall, Cambridge. After taking his M.A., he became Curate of Isham; and in 1668, Vicar of Stantonbury, Bucks. A little more than five years afterwards he was appointed Rector of Water-Stratford. Here he composed the volume containing The Songs of Praise, his paraphrase of The Song of Solomon, and the Poem on Dives and Lazarus, with which Shepherd's Penitential Cries was afterwards bound up. This volume passed through twenty editions. Besides the Songs of Praise, it contains six Penitential Cries by Mason, and it i… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Blest day of God! most calm, most bright
Author: John Mason
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Blest day of God, most calm, most bright. J. Mason. [Sunday.] First published in his Songs of Praise, 1683, as the second of two hymns entitled "A Song of Praise for the Lord's Day," in 6 stanzas of 8 lines and 1 stanza of 4 lines. Early in the present century centos from this "Song” of various lengths began to be introduced into the hymn-books of the Church of England, and later, into Nonconformists’ hymnals also; but in scarcely a single instance do we find the same arrangement in any three collections. In modern hymnbooks both in Great Britain and America, the same diversity prevails, no editor having yet succeeded in compiling a cento which others could approve and adopt. No collection can be trusted either for text or original sequence of lines. The full Original text, however, is easily attainable in Sedgwick's reprint of the Songs of Praise, 1859. The opening line sometimes reads:—"Blest day of God, how calm, how bright," as in Mrs. Brock's Children's Hymn Book,1881, No. 40, but the use of this form of the text is limited. Taking the centos together, their use is extensive.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

BELMONT (Gardiner)

This tune has been mis-attributed to various other composers, but is clearly the work of the above-named composer.

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RICHMOND (Haweis)

RICHMOND (also known as CHESTERFIELD) is a florid tune originally written by Thomas Haweis (PHH 270) and published in his collection Carmina Christo (1792). Samuel Webbe, Jr., adapted and shortened the tune and published it in his Collection of Psalm Tunes (1808). It was reprinted in 1853 in Webbe's…

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Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #576
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 100 of 132)
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A Collection of Hymns #41

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A Collection of Hymns, for the use of the United Brethren in Christ #394

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship. (45th ed.) #567

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship. 16th ed. #567

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for the Sanctuary #49

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, for Social and Private Worship (Rev. ed. with supplement) #509

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A Selection of Hymns #59

Anglican Hymn Book #24

Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver #d18

Book of Common Praise #d57

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Book of Worship with Hymns and Tunes #37

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Carmina Sanctorum, a selection of hymns and songs of praise with tunes #70a

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Carmina Sanctorum, a selection of hymns and songs of praise with tunes #70b

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Carmina Sanctorum #70

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Children's Praise #16

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Christian Praise #19

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Church Book #35

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Church Book #35

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Church Harmonies #39

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Church Hymnal #144

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Church Hymns and Tunes #42

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Evangelical Hymnal #176

Hymn and Tune Book for the Church and the Home and Services for Congregational Worship. Rev. ed. #d69

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Hymn and Tune Book for the Church and the Home. (Rev. ed.) #94

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Hymn and Tune Book, for the Church and the Home #38

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Hymn Book of the United Evangelical Church #176

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Hymn-Book of the Evangelical Association #602

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Hymn, Tune, and Service Book for Sunday Schools #31

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Hymnal and Canticles of the Protestant Episcopal Church with Music (Gilbert & Goodrich) #149

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Hymnal Companion to the Prayer Book with Accompanying Tunes (Second Edition) #34

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Hymnal Companion to the Prayer Book #34

Hymnal of the Evangelical Church. Word ed. #d70

Text

Hymnal #149

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Hymnal #149

Hymns and Hymn Tunes in the English Metrical Psalters #d519

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Hymns and Songs for the Sunday School #24

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Hymns and Songs of Praise for Public and Social Worship #966

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Hymns and Tunes for Schools #37

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Hymns for Christian Devotion #8

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Hymns for Christian Devotion #8

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Hymns for Church and Home #42

Hymns for Divine Worship in Churches and Sunday Schools and at Various Occasions #d14

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Hymns for Family Worship, with Prayers for Every Day in the Week (2nd ed.) #11

Hymns for Social Worship and Private Devotion #d20

Hymns for Sunday School Worship #d10

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Hymns for the Christian Church, for the Use of the First Church of Christ in Boston #350

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Hymns for the Church of Christ (3rd thousand) #93

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Hymns for the Church of Christ. (6th thousand) #93

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Hymns for the Sanctuary and Social Worship #61

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Hymns for the use of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, by the Authority of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania #34

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Hymns of Praise and Patriotism #15

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Hymns of the Christian Centuries #126

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Hymns of the Christian Life. No. 3 #255

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Hymns of the Church Universal #559

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Hymns of the Church #46

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Hymns of the Faith with Psalms #413

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Hymns of the Faith #539

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In Excelsis #123

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In Excelsis #a123

Little Children's Book #d9

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Little Children's Book #14

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Luther League Hymnal #63

Lutheran Sunday School Hymnal. 9th ed. #d18

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Pilgrim Songs #12

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Plymouth Collection #a30

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Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes; for the use of Christian Congregations #30

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Prayer Book and Hymnal for the Sunday School #59

Prayers and Hymns for the Church and the Home #d59

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Revival Hymns #383

School Carols #d31

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Select Songs No. 2 #36

Service and Hymns for Sunday Schools #d16

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Songs for the Sanctuary, or Hymns and Tunes for Christian Worship #30

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Songs for the Sanctuary; or Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship (Baptist Ed.) #30

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Songs for the Sanctuary; or, Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship (Words only) #30

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Songs for the Sanctuary #30

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Songs for the Sanctuary #30

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Songs for the Sanctuary #30

Songs of Christian Praise with Music #d55

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Songs of Faith, Hope, and Love #61c

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Songs of Praise with Tunes #66

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Songs of the Church #22

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Songs of Worship #3

Sunday School Hymnal #d46

The Alleluia #d25

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The Alleluia #42b

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The Baptist Hymn and Tune Book #30

The Book of Common Praise #d60

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The Children's Hymn Book #40a

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The Children's Hymn Book #40b

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The Children's Hymnal #171

The Children's Hymnal and Service Book #d16

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The Christian Hymn Book #699

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The Church and Home Hymnal #69a

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The Church Hymnal with Canticles #149

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The Church Hymnal #31a

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The Church Hymnal #31b

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The Church Hymnal #31a

Pages

Exclude 131 pre-1979 instances
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