1 O day of rest and gladness,
O day of joy and light,
O balm of care and sadness,
most beautiful, most bright;
on thee the high and lowly
through ages joined in tune,
sing "Holy, holy, holy"
to the great God Triune.
2 On thee, at the creation,
the light first had its birth;
on thee, for our salvation,
Christ rose from depths of earth;
on thee, our Lord victorious,
the Spirit sent from heav'n;
and thus on thee, most glorious,
a triple light was giv'n.
3 Today on weary nations
the heav'nly manna falls;
to holy convocations
the silver trumpet calls,
where gospel light is glowing
with pure and radiant beams,
and living water flowing
with soul refreshing streams.
4 New graces ever gaining
from this our day of rest,
we reach the rest remaining
to spirits of the blest.
To Holy Ghost be praises,
to Father, and to Son;
the church her voice upraises
to thee, blest Three in One.
Source: Trinity Psalter Hymnal #153
First Line: | O day of rest and gladness |
Title: | O Day of Rest and Gladness |
Author: | Christopher Wordsworth (1862) |
Meter: | 7.6.7.6 D |
Language: | English |
Notes: | Spanish translation: See "O día de reposo" by E. L. M. and George Paul Simmonds |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
O day of rest and gladness. Bishop C. Wordsworth, of Lincoln. [Sunday.] This is the opening hymn of his Holy Year, 1862, p. i., in 6 stanzas of 8 lines. It is a fine hymn, somewhat in the style of an Ode from a Greek Canon, and is in extensive use. Sometimes stanzas v. and vi. are given as a separate hymn, beginning, "To day on weary nations." In the 3rd edition of the Holy Year, 1863, the full hymn was given as No. 3. In the 1874 Supplement to the New Congregational Hymn Book, it is reduced to 4 stanzas of 8 lines, and is also somewhat altered.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)