O Day of Rest and Gladness

Hymn lyrics by Christopher Wordsworth,
Music by Lowell Mason

Verse 1

• O day of rest and gladness,
• O day of joy and light,
• O balm of care and sadness,
• Most beautiful, most bright:
• On Thee, the high and lowly,
• Through ages joined in tune,¹
• Sing holy, holy, holy,
• To the great God Triune.²

Verse 2

• On Thee, at the creation,
• 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 heav’n,
• And thus on Thee, most glorious,
• A triple light was giv’n.

Verse 3

• Thou art a port, protected
• 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.

Verse 4

• Thou art a holy ladder,
• Where angels go and come;
• Each Sunday finds us gladder,
• Nearer to heav’n, our home;
• A day of sweet refection,³
• Thou art a day of love,
• A day of resurrection
• From earth to things above.

Verse 5

• Today on weary nations
• The heav’nly 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.

Verse 6

• New graces ever gaining
• 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.

¹Some hymnals read “Bending before the throne”—probably from Lowell Mason.
²Some hymnals read “To the great Three in One”—See Note 1 above.
³This is not an error. Refection means “Refreshment with food and drink.”