At evening time, let there be light

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At evening time, let there be light

Author: James Montgomery
Tune: HANDY (Holbrook)
Published in 38 hymnals

Representative Text

1 At evening time let there be light;
Life's little day draws near its close;
Around me fall the shades of night,
The night of death, the grave's repose;
To crown my joys, to end my woes,
At evening time let there be light.

2 At evening time let there be light;
Stormy and dark hath been my day--
Yet rose the morn divinely bright;
Dews, birds, and blossoms cheered the way;--
Oh, for one sweet, one parting ray!
At evening time let there be light.

3 At evening time there shall be light!
For God hath spoken; it must be;
Fear, doubt, and anguish take their flight;
His glory now is risen on me;
Mine eyes shall his salvation see;
'Tis evening time, and there is light!

Source: Laudes Domini: a selection of spiritual songs ancient and modern #880

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Author: James Montgomery

James Montgomery (b. Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1771; d. Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, 1854), the son of Moravian parents who died on a West Indies mission field while he was in boarding school, Montgomery inherited a strong religious bent, a passion for missions, and an independent mind. He was editor of the Sheffield Iris (1796-1827), a newspaper that sometimes espoused radical causes. Montgomery was imprisoned briefly when he printed a song that celebrated the fall of the Bastille and again when he described a riot in Sheffield that reflected unfavorably on a military commander. He also protested against slavery, the lot of boy chimney sweeps, and lotteries. Associated with Christians of various persuasions, Montgomery supported missio… Go to person page >

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First Line:	At evening time, let there be light
Author:	James Montgomery
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

Zechariah 14:7
(hymns)

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Notes

At evening time let there be light. J. Montgomery. [Evening.] This hymn on Zech. xiv. 7, in 3 stanzas of 6 lines was written at Conway, N. Wales, in Sept. 1828, and is referred to by Holland in his Memoirs of Montgomery, vol. iv. p. 275. It was published in his Poet’s Portfolio, 1835, pp. 181-2, and in his Poetical Works, 1841 and 1854. It is in extensive use in America. In 1858, the hymn "At evening time, when day is done," appeared in the Baptist Psalms & Hymns No. 996. This is repeated in later editions of that collection, in the Baptist Hymnal, 1879, and other hymnals. It is this hymn rearranged by George Rawson, and its right ascription is, “J. Montgomery, 1828, rewritten by G. Rawson, 1858."

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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