Hail, happy day, thou day of holy rest

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 >

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)