Scripture Verse

Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day. 1 Thessalonians 5:5

Introduction

Words: Au­re­li­us Pru­den­ti­us (348–cir­ca 413) (Nox et te­ne­brae et nu­bi­la). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Ed­ward Cas­wall, Ly­ra Ca­tho­li­ca, 1849. The mo­di­fied trans­la­tion by Sam­uel Long­fel­low, in his Hymns of the Spir­it, 1864, is gi­ven be­low.

Music: Fes­tus, from a Ger­man cho­rale in the Mo­ra­vi­an Psal­ter (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Samuel Longfellow
(1819–1892)

Lyrics

Now with cre­ation’s morn­ing song
Let us, as child­ren of the day,
With wak­ened heart and pur­pose strong,
The works of dark­ness cast away.

O may the morn so pure, so clear,
Its own sweet calm in us in­still!
A guilel­ess mind, a heart sin­cere,
Simplicity of word and will.

And ever, as the day glides by,
May we the bu­sy sens­es rein;
Keep guard up­on the hand and eye,
Nor let the con­science suf­fer stain.

Grant us, O God, in love to Thee,
Clear eyes to mea­sure things be­low;
Faith, the in­vi­si­ble to see;
And wis­dom, Thee in all to know.