Scripture Verse

Introduction

Origin of the Hymn

The hymn…was com­posed as an af­ter­noon hymn, as in most of the coun­try par­ish­es in that part of Som­er­set­shire in which I lived, the se­cond ser­vice was near­ly al­ways held in the af­te­rnoon, and not in the ev­en­ing, whilst all the hymns in the hymn books in com­mon use were for the late ev­en­ing or night. I wrote The ra­di­ant morn hath pass’d away to sup­ply this want.

Several of my hymns were writ­ten in con­se­quence of some want of this kind, felt ei­ther by my­self or oth­ers; but most of them, I think, though I have ne­ver made any cal­cu­la­tions, arose al­most spon­tan­eous­ly from thoughts that hap­pened to be run­ning in my mind at the time.

Godfrey Thring