Behold the western evening light

Representative Text

1 Behold the western evening light!
It melts in deepening gloom:
So calmly Christians sink away,
Descending to the tomb.
The winds breathe low, the withering leaf
Scarce whispers from the tree:
So gently flows the parting breath,
When good men cease to be.

2 How beautiful on all the hills
The crimson light is shed!
'Tis like the peace the Christian gives
To mourners round his bed.
How mildly on the wandering cloud
The sunset beam is cast!
'Tis like the memory left behind
When loved ones breathe their last.

3 And now above the dews of night
The rising star appears:
So faith springs in the heart of those
Whose eyes are bathed in tears.
But soon the morning's happier light
Its glory shall restore,
And eyelids that are sealed in death
Shall wake to close no more.

Source: Laudes Domini: a selection of spiritual songs, ancient and modern for use in the prayer-meeting #547

Author: William B. O. Peabody

Peabody, William Bourne Oliver, D.D., twin brother of Oliver William Bourne, was born at Exeter, New Hampshire, July 9, 1799, and educated in his native town and at Harvard College. Leaving Harvard in 1817, he taught for a year at an academy in Exeter, and then proceeded to study theology at the Cambridge Divinity School. He began to preach in 1819, and became the Pastor of the Unitarian Congregation at Springfield, Massachusetts, in October, 1820. This charge he held to his death on May 28, 1847. His Memoir (written by his brother) was published with the 2nd ed. of his Sermons, 1849; and his Literary Remains followed in 1850. "He was a man of rare accomplishments, and consummate virtue," whose loveliness of character impressed many outsid… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Behold the western evening light
Author: William B. O. Peabody
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

NAOMI (Nägeli)

NAOMI was a melody that Lowell Mason (PHH 96) brought to the United States from Europe and arranged as a hymn tune; the arrangement was first published in the periodical Occasional Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1836). Some scholars have attributed the original melody to Johann G. Nageli (PHH 315), but there…

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CAROLYN (Emmelar)


ST. ASAPH (Giornovichi)


Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #10407
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The Cyber Hymnal #10407

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