Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By The Holy Year (1862). IV. “O Day of rest and gladness”Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885)
O D
O Day of joy and light,
O balm of care and sadness,
Most beautiful, most bright!
On thee, the high, and lowly,
Through ages join’d in tune,
Sing, Holy, Holy, Holy,
To the great God Triune.
The Light first had its birth;
On thee, for our salvation,
Christ rose from depths of earth;
On thee, our Lord victorious
The Spirit sent from Heaven;
And thus on thee most glorious
A triple Light was given.
From storms that round us rise;
A garden intersected
With streams of Paradise;
Thou art a cooling fountain
In life’s dry, dreary sand;
From thee, like Pisgah’s mountain,
We view our Promised Land.
Where Angels go and come;
Each Sunday finds us gladder,
Nearer to Heaven, our home;
A day of sweet refection,
A day thou art of love;
A day of Resurrection
From earth to things above.
The heavenly Manna falls;
To holy convocations
The silver trumpet calls,
Where Gospel-light is glowing
With pure and radiant beams;
And living water flowing
With soul-refreshing streams.
From this our day of rest,
We reach the Rest remaining
To spirits of the blest;
To Holy Ghost be praises,
To Father and to Son;
The Church her voice upraises
To Thee, blest Three in One.