Evening and Morning

Representative Text

1 Evening and morning,
Sunset and dawning,
Wealth, peace and gladness,
Comfort in sadness:
These are Thy works; all the glory be Thine!
Times without number,
Awake or in slumber,
Thine eye observes us,
From danger preserves us,
Causing Thy mercy upon us to shine.

2 Father, O hear me,
Pardon and spare me;
Calm all my terrors,
Blot out my errors
That by Thine eyes they may no more be scanned.
Order my goings,
Direct all my doings;
As it may please Thee,
Retain or release me;
All I commit to Thy fatherly hand.

3 & 4 [protected by copyright]


Source: Lutheran Service Book #726

Author: Paul Gerhardt

Paul Gerhardt (b. Gräfenheinichen, Saxony, Germany, 1607; d. Lubben, Germany, 1676), famous author of Lutheran evangelical hymns, studied theology and hymnody at the University of Wittenberg and then was a tutor in Berlin, where he became friends with Johann Crüger. He served the Lutheran parish of Mittenwalde near Berlin (1651-1657) and the great St. Nicholas' Church in Berlin (1657-1666). Friederich William, the Calvinist elector, had issued an edict that forbade the various Protestant groups to fight each other. Although Gerhardt did not want strife between the churches, he refused to comply with the edict because he thought it opposed the Lutheran "Formula of Concord," which con­demned some Calvinist doctrines. Consequently, he was r… Go to person page >

Translator: Richard Massie

Massie, Richard, eldest son of the Rev. R. Massie, of Goddington, Cheshire, and Rector of Eccleston, was born at Chester, June 18, 1800, and resides at Pulford Hall, Coddington. Mr. Massie published a translation of Martin Luther’s Spiritual Songs, London, 1854. His Lyra Domestica, 1st series, London, 1860, contains translations of the 1st Series of Spitta's Psalter und Harfe. In 1864 he published vol. ii., containing translations of Spitta's 2nd Series, together with an Appendix of translations of German hymns by various authors. He also contributed many translations of German hymns to Mercer's Church Psalter & Hymn Book; to Reid's British Herald; to the Day of Rest, &c. He died Mar. 11,1887. -- John Julian, Di… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Evening and morning, Sunset and dawning
Title: Evening and Morning
German Title: Die güldne Sonne
Author: Paul Gerhardt
Translator: Richard Massie
Meter: 5.5.5.5.10.5.6.5.6.10
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Die güldne Sonne. P. Gerhardt. [Morning. ] Lauxmann, in Koch, viii. 185, calls this "A splendid hymn of our poet, golden as the sun going forth in his beauty, full of force and of blessed peace in the Lord, full of sparkling thoughts of God." It first appeared as No. 25 in the Dritte Dutzet, Berlin, 1666, of Ebeling's edition of his Geistliclie Andachten, in 12 stanzas of 10 lines, entitled "Morning Blessing." In the editions of his Geistliche Lieder by Wackernagel, No. 98, and by Bachmann, No. 101. Included in J. Crüger's Praxis pietatis melica, 1672, and later editions, and recently as No. 449 in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851. The beautiful melody (in the Irish Church Hymnal called “Franconia") is by Ebeling, and appeared with the hymn 1666, as above.
Translations in common use:—
1. The golden sunbeams with their joyous gleams. A translation of stanzas i.-iv., viii., ix., xii., by Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Germanica, 1st Series, 1855, p. 214, repeated, omitting the translations of stanzas ii., viii., ix., as No. 814, in Kennedy, 1863.
2. Evening and Morning. A very good translation beginning with stanza iv. (“Abend und Morgen"), and being stanza iv., viii.—xii., contributed by R. Massie, as No. 500, to the 1857 edition of Mercer's Church Psalm & Hymn Book. This form is included, in whole or part, in the Irish Church Hymnal, 1873, No. 8; Allon's Supplemental Hymns, No. 218; New Congregational Hymn Book, No. 1195; J. L. Porter's Collection, No. 100; Martineau's Collection, No. 425; Horder's Congregational Hymnal, No. 556, &c. Beginning with the translation of stanza ix. ("Gott, meine Krone") as "Father, O hear me," it is included as No. 636 in Kennedy, 1863, and the same in Mercer's Oxford edition, 1864, No. 384. Mr. Massie included it, prefixing translations of stanzas i.-iii., which begin, "Golden and glorious," in his Lyra Domestica, 1864, p. 106, and this full form is repeated as No. 379 in Reid's Praise Book, 1872.
Translations not in common use:— (1) "The sun's golden beams," by Miss Dunn, 1857,
p. 21. (2) “Sunbeams all golden,” by Miss Cox, 1864, p. 13. (3) “What is our mortal race” (beginning with st. vii), by E. Massie, 1866, p. 87. (4) “See the sun’s glorious light," by E. Massie, 1867, p. 8. (5) "The golden morning," by J. Kelly, 1867, p. 270. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Christian Worship (1993) #430

Christian Worship #501

Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #57

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Evangelical Lutheran Worship #761

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Lutheran Service Book #726

Lutheran Worship #419

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Small Church Music #6904

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The Cyber Hymnal #1380

Worship Supplement 2000 #782

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