Above:  Dusk

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923), Moravian Church in America

Text by John Cennick (1718-1755)

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Ere I sleep, for every favor

Which my God hath bestowed,

I will bless my Saviour;

O my Lord, what shall I render

Unto Thee?  Thou shalt be

This night my Defender.

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Thou, my Rock, my Strength, and Tower,

While I sleep, deign to keep,

Watch from hour to hour;

Visit me with Thy salvation;

Be Thou near, that Thy care

Guard my habitation.

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Leave me not, but ever love me;

Let Thy peace by my bliss,

Till Thou hence remove me;

Then, aroused from peaceful slumber,

Let me rise with the wise,

Counted in their number.

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Above:  Dark Night

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923), Moravian Church in America

Text by John Cennick (1718-1755)

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No farther go to-night, but stay,

Dear Savior, till the break of day;

Abide, my Lord, with me:

And in the morning when I wake,

Me under Thy protection take;

Thus day and night I spend with Thee.

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Above:  Starry Night

Image in the Public Domain

Text by Reginald Heber (1783-1826)

Hymn Source = The English Hymnal (1906), The Church of England

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God, that madest earth and heaven,

Darkness and light;

Who the day for toil has given,

For rest the night;

May thine Angel-guards defend us,

Slumber sweet thy mercy send us,

Holy dreams and hopes attend us,

This livelong night.

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Guard us waking, guard us sleeping;

And, when we die,

May we in thy mighty keeping

All peaceful lie:

When the last dread call shall wake us,

Do not thou our God forsake us,

But to reign in glory take us

With thee on high.

Above:  Sunset in the Philippines

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1865) by the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924), for a Sunday School festival at Horbury Bridge, Yorkshire, England

Hymn Source = The English Hymnal (1906), The Church of England

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Now the day is over,

Night is drawing nigh,

Shadows of the evening

Steal across the sky.

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Now the darkness gathers,

Stars begin to peep,

Birds and beasts and flowers

Soon will be asleep.

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Jesu, give the weary

Calm and sweet repose;

With thy tenderest blessing

May our eyelids close.

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Grant to little children

Visions bright of thee;

Guard the sailors tossing

On the deep blue sea.

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Comfort every sufferer

Watching late in pain;

Those who plan some evil

From their sin restrain.

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Through the long night watches

May thine Angels spread

Their white wings above me,

Watching round my bed.

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When the morning wakens,

Then may I arise

Pure, and fresh, and sinless

In thy holy eyes.

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Glory to the Father,

Glory to the Son,

And to thee, blest Spirit,

Whilst all ages run.

Above:  Star Night

Image in the Public Domain

Original German Text by Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760)

English Translation (1769), recast in 1789 by John Swertner (1746-1813)

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923)

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Jesus, hear our prayer,

For Thy children care;

While we sleep, protect and bless us,

With Thy pardon now refresh us:

Leave Thy peace divine

With us, we are Thine.

Above:  Dark Night

Image in the Public Domain

Original German Text (1566) by Petrus Herbert (1530-1571)

English Translation (1863) by Catherine Winkworth (1829-1878)

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923), Moravian Church in America

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Now God be with us, for the night is closing,

The light and darkness are of His disposing;

And ‘neath His shadow here to rest we yield us,

For He will shield us.

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Let evil thoughts and spirits flee before us;

Till morning cometh, watch, O Master, o’er us;

In soul and body Thou from harm defend us,

Thine angels send us.

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Let holy thoughts be ours when sleep o’ertakes us;

Our earliest thoughts be Thine when morning wakes us;

All sick and mourners, we to Thee commend them,

Do Thou befriend them.

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We have no refuge, none on earth to aid us,

Save Thee, O Father, Who Thine own hast made us;

But Thy dear presence will not leave them lonely,

Who seek Thee only.

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Father, Thy Name be praised, Thy kingdom given,

Thy will be done on earth as ’tis in heaven;

Keep us in life, forgive our sins, deliver

Us now and ever.

Above:  Sunset Dusk

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1878) by Ambrose Nichols Blatchford (1842-1924)

Hymn Source = The New Hymnal for American Youth (1930)

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1.  Peacefully round us the shadows are falling,

Glad be our praises and trustful our prayer:

Hear us, O Lord, on thy providence calling,

Lighten our darkness, and banish our care.

2.  Hushed are the sheep-bells afar on the moorland,

O’er the still meadows the night breezes sweep,

Faint fall the footsteps in city and hamlet,

Safely our children are folded in sleep.

3.  Softly may weary ones rest from their duty,

Bright be the dreams of the troubled and worn,

While thro’ the shade beam the stars in their beauty,

Watching the world till the breaking of morn.

4.  Lord of the night, let thine angels defend us;

Sunshine and gloom are alike unto thee;

Lord of the day, let thy Spirit attend us,

Bless us and keep us wherever we be.

Above:  Morning Mist on Lake

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1927) by Milton S. Littlefield (1864-1934)

Hymn Source = The New Hymnal for American Youth (1930)

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1.  Come, O Lord, like morning sunlight,

Making all life new and free;

For the daily task and challenge

May we rise renewed in thee.

2.  Come, O Lord, like ocean floodtides,

Flowing inland from the sea;

As the waters fill the shallows,

May our souls be filled with thee.

3.  Come, O Lord, like mountain breezes,

Freshening life in vale and lea;

In the heat and stress of duty

May our souls find strength in thee.

4.  Come, O Lord, like evening twilight,

Bringing peace on land and sea;

At the radiant close of labor

May our souls find rest in thee.

Above:  Dark Night

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1933), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Text (1907) by Allen Eastman Cross (1864-1942)

Allen Eastman Cross was a Congregationalist minister in the United States.  His title for this text was “The Great Companion.”  According to the author, quoted in Handbook to the Hymnal (1935), the circumstances of the writing of the hymn were strain and worry.  He explained:

I felt the ineffectualness of my prayer life and the ineffectiveness of workaday service.  The Son of Man seemed to possess all I lacked.  I was drawn to him by sheer difference as well as by far-off kinship.  I turned to him as to a superlative companion and spoke of my need.

The hymn debuted at the Old South Church, Boston, Massachusetts, where Cross was the Assistant Minister, in April 1907.

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1.  Jesus, kneel beside me

In the dawn of day;

Thine is prayer eternal–

Teach me how to pray!

2.  Master, work beside me

In the shining sun;

Gently guide Thy servant

Till the work be done.

3.  Saviour, watch beside me

In the closing light;

Lo, the evening cometh–

Watch with me this night!

4.  Birds are winging homeward,

Sun and shadow cease;

Saviour, take my spirit

To Thy perfect peace.

Above:  Moon at Night

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church (1917), United Lutheran Church in America (1918) and its immediate predecessor bodies

Original German Words (1560) by Nicolaus Hermann (Circa 1485-1561)

English Translation (1841) by Frances Elizabeth Cox (1812-1897)

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1.  Sunk is the sun’s last beam of light,

And now the world is wrapt in night,

Christ, light us with Thy heavenly ray,

Nor let our feet in darkness stray.

2.  Thanks, Lord, that Thou throughout the day,

Hast kept grief and harm away;

That angels tarried round about

Our coming in and going out.

3.  Whate’er of wrong we’ve done or said,

Let not the charge on us be laid;

That, through Thy free forgiveness blest,

In peaceful slumber we may rest.

4.  Thy guardian angels round us place

All evil from our couch to chase;

Our soul and body, while we sleep,

In safety, gracious Father, keep.