John Ellerton, graduate of Trinity College, Anglican vicar during the high noon of Victorian England, author of some fine hymns and a contributor to the standard compilation Hymns Ancient and Modern, was born in England on this date in 1826.



Here is the text of his greatest hymn, sung to the very fine tune St. Clement of Clement Cotterill Scholefield, which Father Rutler has called a kind of cradle song for the cosmos.



The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended,

The darkness falls at Thy behest;

To Thee our morning hymns ascended,

Thy praise shall sanctify our rest.



We thank Thee that Thy church, unsleeping,

While earth rolls onward into light,

Through all the world her watch is keeping,

And rests not now by day or night.



As o’er each continent and island

The dawn leads on another day,

The voice of prayer is never silent,

Nor dies the strain of praise away.



The sun that bids us rest is waking

Our brethren ’neath the western sky,

And hour by hour fresh lips are making

Thy wondrous doings heard on high.



So be it, Lord; Thy throne shall never,

Like earth’s proud empires, pass away:

Thy kingdom stands, and grows forever,

Till all Thy creatures own Thy sway.