Sleep, weary world, and take thy rest

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Sleep, weary world, and take thy rest

Author: James Montgomery
Tune: ALLEYNE
Published in 2 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

Sleep, weary world, and take thy rest,
Thy countless eye-lids close;
Shut all thy cares within thy breast,
For once in peace repose.

Wake, slumbering world; a midnight cry
Comes with Almighty breath;
Wake; thy redemption draweth nigh,
Rise from the dust of death.

Yon star, those angels, shepherds, kings,
A birth from heaven proclaim;
The Son of God salvation brings,
Emanuel is His name.

Gather thy children from afar,
Of climes and tongues unknown;
Show them the stable and the star,
Christ's manger and his throne.

253
There, with the Angels, loud and sweet,
All hearts, all voices blend;
There, with the shepherds, at his feet,
All knees, all nations bend.

There, with the wise men from the East,
Sinners their offerings bring;
Each at this altar be a priest,
And every priest a king.

For He shall wash them in His blood,
Shall with His robes array,
And make them kings and priests to God:
Lord Jesus, speed the day.

Source: Sacred Poems and Hymns #250

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Author: James Montgomery

James Montgomery (b. Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1771; d. Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, 1854), the son of Moravian parents who died on a West Indies mission field while he was in boarding school, Montgomery inherited a strong religious bent, a passion for missions, and an independent mind. He was editor of the Sheffield Iris (1796-1827), a newspaper that sometimes espoused radical causes. Montgomery was imprisoned briefly when he printed a song that celebrated the fall of the Bastille and again when he described a riot in Sheffield that reflected unfavorably on a military commander. He also protested against slavery, the lot of boy chimney sweeps, and lotteries. Associated with Christians of various persuasions, Montgomery supported missio… Go to person page >

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