Rejoicing at the Return of the Sabbath

Representative Text

1 My opening eyes with rapture see
The light of thy returning day;
My thoughts, O God, ascend to thee
While thus my early vows I pay.

2 I yield my heart to thee alone,
Nor would receive another guest:
Eternal King, erect thy throne,
And reign sole monarch in my breast.

3 O, bid this trifling world retire,
And drive each carnal thought away;
Nor let me feel one vain desire,
One sinful thought, through all the day.

4 Then, to thy courts when I repair,
My soul shall rise on joyful wing,
The wonders of thy love declare,
And join the strains which angels sing.

Source: The Seventh-Day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book: for use in divine worship #540

Author: James Hutton

James Hutton, son of a clergyman and cousin to Sir Isaac Newton, was born in London, Sept. 3, 1715, and followed for some years the trade of a bookseller. In 1739 he visited the Moravian settlement at Herrnbut, where he became acquainted with Count Zinzendorf. He retired from business in 1745, and was ordained a diaconus of the Moravian Church in 1749. He died May 3, 1795. He contributed several hymns to the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754. All his hymns were included in an Appendix to his Memoirs, published by Daniel Benham in 1856. --Dictionary of Hymnology, John Julian, 1907… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: My opening eyes with rapture see
Title: Rejoicing at the Return of the Sabbath
Author: James Hutton
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

My opening eyes with rapture see. [Sunday Morning.] Usually attributed to J. Hutton (p. 545, ii.). Duffield (English Hymns, 1886) says it is in the Appendix to D. Benham's Memoirs of Hutton, 1856, but we have failed to find it in any English edition of that work. It is in J. Codman's Boston Collection, 1813, in 6 stanzas. Its modern form of 4 stanzas is from the American Prayer Book Collection, 1826.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

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Church Hymnal, Mennonite #202

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