Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge.
Psalm 19:2
Words: Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book 2, 1709, number 6.
Music: Peterborough (Harrison) Ralph Harrison, 1786 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good picture of Harrison (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
Hymnologist Charles S. Robinson wrote about this text:
[I have] an autograph letter of the explorer [Henry Morton] Stanley, probably never before brought to light. It was written and sent in 1879 when he had just emerged from his earliest perils. This was before he had grown into the veteran he is now. But even then…he was just as honestly grateful to God as he has ever been since. These are his words:
That I escaped from it I acknowledge is due only to the goodness of God. He it was who rescued me from the horrors which surrounded us many months. He it was who sustained us in our bitter trials. To Him be all my gratitude. I earnestly hope that what I have been permitted to do will redound to the great glory of his name, and that Africa will send her millions to the fold of Christ.It was aDark Continent,but the rising day saluted the brave man, and he returned the salute like a knight and a soldier:Great God, let all my hours be Thine! Once more I tribute pay to Him that rules the skies!Robinson, p. 18
Once more, my soul, the rising day
Salutes thy waking eyes;
Once more, my voice, thy tribute pay
To Him that rules the skies.
Night unto night His name repeats,
The day renews the sound,
Wide as the Heav’n on which He sits,
To turn the seasons round.
’Tis He supports my mortal frame,
My tongue shall speak His praise;
My sins would rouse His wrath to flame,
And yet His wrath delays.
On a poor worm Thy power might tread,
And I could ne’er withstand;
Thy justice might have crushed me dead,
But mercy held Thine hand.
A thousand wretched souls are fled
Since the last setting sun,
And yet Thou length’nest out my thread,
And yet my moments run.
Dear God, let all my hours be Thine,
Whilst I enjoy the light;
Then shall my sun in smiles decline,
And bring a pleasing night.