Scripture Verse

O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee. Psalm 5:3

Introduction

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John M. Neale (1818–1866)
Wikipedia

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Words: At­trib­ut­ed to Am­brose of Mi­lan (340–397) (Iam lu­cis or­to si­de­re). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John M. Neale in The Hym­nal Not­ed, 1852. Do­zens of trans­la­tors have con­vert­ed the La­tin lyr­ics to Eng­lish, but Neale’s ver­sion has been the most po­pu­lar.

Music: War­ring­ton Ralph Har­ris­on, 1784 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Har­ris­on (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

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Ambrose of Milan
(340–397)

Lyrics

Now that the day­light fills the sky,
We lift our hearts to God on high,
That He, in all we do or say,
Would keep us free from harm today.

May He re­strain our tongues from strife,
And shield from an­ger’s din our life,
And guard with watch­ful care our eyes
From earth’s ab­sorb­ing va­ni­ties.

O may our in­most hearts be pure,
From thoughts of fol­ly kept se­cure,
And pride of sin­ful flesh sub­dued
Through spar­ing use of dai­ly food.

So we, when this day’s work is o’er,
And shades of night re­turn once more,
Our path of tri­al safe­ly trod,
Shall give the glo­ry to our God.

All praise to God the Fa­ther be,
All praise, eter­nal Son, to Thee,
Whom with the Spir­it we adore
Forever and for­ev­er­more.