God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also.
Genesis 1:16
Words: Unknown author, 4th or 5th Century (Coeli Deus sanctissime). Translated from Latin to English by Maurice F. Bell in The English Hymnal (London: Oxford University Press, 1906), number 60.
Music: The Morning Watch Carl F. Price, 1913 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good photo of Bell or Price (head-and-shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels), would you ?
Most holy Lord and God of Heaven,
Who to the glowing sky hast given
The fires that in the east are born
With gradual splendors of the morn;
Who, on the fourth day, didst reveal
The sun’s enkindled flaming wheel,
Didst set the moon her ordered ways,
And stars their ever winding maze;
That each in its appointed way
Might separate night from day,
And of the seasons through the year
The well remembered signs declare;
Illuminate our hearts within,
And cleanse our minds from stain of sin;
Unburdened of our guilty load
May we unfettered serve our God.
O Father, that we ask be done,
Through Jesus Christ, Thine only Son;
Who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee,
Doth live and reign eternally.