Adventist Pioneer Library

Worship — The Sabbath

How bright a day was that which saw

  • No. 232
  • Words Anon.
  • 5 stanzas
  • Words only in the original

Words

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1

How bright a day was that which saw
Creation's work complete!
All nature owned her Maker's law,
And worshiped at his feet.

2

The world, arranged by power divine,
In perfect order stood;
And, resting from his great design,
God saw that all was good.

3

Not such a Sabbath now appears,
For sin has ruined all;
No longer man with pleasure hears
A gracious Father's call.

4

Yet, Lord, bring back the reign of peace,
Let brighter days begin;
And teach vain creatures how to cease
From folly and from sin.

5

Let sinners be again made thine,
Though once with vengance cursed;
And let the holy Sabbath shine,
As glorious as at first.

About this hymn

As printed Words only. As printed: hymn number «232» (large) with the reference line «546, 446, 438.» in italics beside it (sing to the tune of hymn 546, 446 or 438), at the top of the right column of p. 77, beside the end of hymn 230's music; «Anon.» in italics after stanza 5. The first word «How» shows no capital-only letter in small capitals (in this face the small capitals O and W have the same form as the lower-case o and w, so the book's usual small-capital first word cannot be told apart here). The print sets a thin space before «!» and «;» («complete !», «stood ;», «all ;», «begin ;», «cursed ;»); it is closed up here. «worshiped» (one p) and «vengance» (stanza 5, without the first e, followed by a wide space) are printed so and kept. The printer's curly apostrophes are written straight («Creation's», «Maker's», «Father's»). Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are indented in the print. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's. No meter is printed (the text is C. M., 8.6.8.6).

Source
The Seventh-day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book (Battle Creek: Review & Herald, 1886/1888)
Where
Worship — The Sabbath · No. 232 · printed page 77
Checked
lyrics verified (fork reading; parent check pending) · 2026-10-01