Hail, happy day, thou day of holy rest

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Hail, happy day, thou day of holy rest

Author: Simon Browne
Published in 49 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Hail, happy day! thou day of holy rest;
What heavenly peace and transport fill our breast
When Christ, the Lord of grace, in love descends,
And kindly holds communion with his friends!

2 Let earth and all its vanities be gone,
Move from my sight, and leave my soul alone;
Its flattering, fading glories I despise,
And to immortal beauties turn my eyes.

3 Fain would I mount, and penetrate the skies,
And on my Saviour's glories fix my eyes:
O meet my rising soul, thou God of love,
And waft it to the blissful realms above!

4 O Son of God, exalted on thy throne,
Impart that grace which comes from thee alone:
Thou, by whose love our light and peace are given,
Bring us, dear Saviour, to thyself and heaven.

Source: The Seventh-Day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book: for use in divine worship #250

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Author: Simon Browne

Simon Browne was born at Shepton Mallet, Somersetshire, about 1680. He began to preach as an "Independent" before he was twenty years of age, and was soon after settled at Portsmouth. In 1716, he became pastor in London. In 1723, he met with some misfortunes, which preyed upon his mind, and produced that singular case of monomania, recorded in the text-books of Mental Philosophy; he thought that God had "annihilated in him the thinking substance, and utterly divested him of consciousness." "Notwithstanding," says Toplady, "instead of having no soul, he wrote, reasoned, and prayed as if he had two." He died in 1732. His publications number twenty-three, of which some are still in repute. --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins,… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Hail, happy day, thou day of holy rest
Author:	Simon Browne
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Hail, happy day! the [thou] day of holy rest. S. Browne. [Sunday.] First published in his Hymns & Spiritual Songs, &c, 1720, Bk. iii. No. 1, in 9 stanzas of 4 line, and headed, "For the Lord's Day," It is in several modern American collections, altered and abbreviated, as in the Songs for the Sanctuary, 1865, No. 71, where it reads, "Happy day! thou day of holy rest." The stanzas chosen are i., ii. and iv.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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