When in silence, over the deep

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When in silence, over the deep

Author: Mary Whitwell Hale
Tune: BEETHOVEN (Beethoven 33123)
Published in 11 hymnals

Representative Text

When in silence, o’er the deep,
Darkness kept its deathlike sleep,
Soon as God His mandate spoke,
Light in wondrous beauty broke.

But a beam of holier light
Gilded Bethlehem’s lonely night,
When the glory of the Lord,
Mercy’s sunlight, shone abroad.

“Peace on earth, good-will to men.”
Burst the glorious anthem then;
Angels, bending from above,
Joined that strain of holy love.

Floating o’er the waves of time,
Comes to us that song sublime,
Bearing to the pilgrim’s ear
Words to soothe, sustain, and cheer.

For creation’s blessed light,
Praise to Thee, Thou God of might!
Seraph-strains Thy name should bless
For the Sun of Righteousness!

Source: A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (15th ed.) #568

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Author: Mary Whitwell Hale

Hale, Mary Whitwell, daughter of Eliphalet Hale of Boston, U.S.A., was born at Boston, Jan. 29, 1810. After receiving a good education she devoted herself to educational work in Boston, Taunton, Keene, N. H., and elsewhere. She died Nov. 17, 1862. Her hymn-writing was brought into notice by two hymns, one on "Home," and the second on "Music," which were written for a juvenile concert at the Unitarian Church in Taunton, April 1834. Several of the hymns and poetical pieces which she subsequently wrote were contributed to the Christian Register under the initials "Y. L. E.," the concluding letters of her name. Her Poems were published at Boston in 1840. A few of her hymns also appeared in the Unitarian Christian Hymns for Public and Private Wo… Go to person page >

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