Before the Ending of the Day

Before the ending of the day Creator of the world, we pray (Neale)

Author (attributed to): St. Ambrose; Translator: J. M. Neale (1852)
Published in 64 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Before the ending of the day,
Creator of the world, we pray.
Your grace and peace to us allow
and guard and keep your people now.

2 From evil dreams defend our sight,
from all the terrors of the night,
from all deluding thoughts that creep
on heedless minds disarmed by sleep.

3 O Father, this we ask be done
through Jesus Christ, your only Son,
whom with the Spirit we adore
forever and forever more. Amen.

Source: Christian Worship: Hymnal #790

Author (attributed to): St. Ambrose

Ambrose (b. Treves, Germany, 340; d. Milan, Italy, 397), one of the great Latin church fathers, is remembered best for his preaching, his struggle against the Arian heresy, and his introduction of metrical and antiphonal singing into the Western church. Ambrose was trained in legal studies and distinguished himself in a civic career, becoming a consul in Northern Italy. When the bishop of Milan, an Arian, died in 374, the people demanded that Ambrose, who was not ordained or even baptized, become the bishop. He was promptly baptized and ordained, and he remained bishop of Milan until his death. Ambrose successfully resisted the Arian heresy and the attempts of the Roman emperors to dominate the church. His most famous convert and disciple w… Go to person page >

Translator: J. M. Neale

John M. Neale's life is a study in contrasts: born into an evangelical home, he had sympathies toward Rome; in perpetual ill health, he was incredibly productive; of scholarly tem­perament, he devoted much time to improving social conditions in his area; often ignored or despised by his contemporaries, he is lauded today for his contributions to the church and hymnody. Neale's gifts came to expression early–he won the Seatonian prize for religious poetry eleven times while a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1842, but ill health and his strong support of the Oxford Movement kept him from ordinary parish ministry. So Neale spent the years between 1846 and 1866 as a warden of Sackvi… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Before the ending of the day Creator of the world, we pray (Neale)
Title: Before the Ending of the Day
Latin Title: Te Lucis Ante Terminum
Translator: J. M. Neale (1852)
Author (attributed to): St. Ambrose
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #417
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 15 of 15)

AGO Founders Hymnal #27

Text

Ancient and Modern #12

Text

Christian Worship (1993) #595

Text

Christian Worship #790

Church Hymnal, Fifth Edition #66

TextPage Scan

Common Praise #13

Text

Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New #61

Hymns Ancient and Modern, New Standard Edition #6

Hymns for Today's Church (2nd ed.) #276b

Hymns for Today's Church (2nd ed.) #276a

Hymns Old and New #57

Text

Lutheran Service Book #889

TextAudio

Lutheran Worship #489

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #417

TextPage Scan

The New English Hymnal #241

Include 49 pre-1979 instances
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