Adventist Pioneer Library

Worship — The Sabbath

O day of rest and gladness

  • No. 246
  • Metre 7s & 6s. D.
  • Tune EWING.
  • Words Christopher Wordsworth.
  • Music Alex. Ewing.
  • Key D major
  • Singing key B♭ major
  • Time 4/4
  • 3 stanzas
1

O day of rest and gladness,
O day of joy and light,
O balm of care and sadness,
Most beautiful, most bright;
On thee, the high and lowly,
Who bend before the throne,
Sing, Holy, holy, holy,
To the Eternal One.

2

Thou art a port protected
From storms that round us rise,
A garden intersected
With streams of paradise;
Thou art a cooling fountain
In life's dry, dreary sand;
From thee, like Pisgah's mountain,
We view our promised land.

3

A day of sweet reflection
Thou art, a day of love;
A day to raise affection
From earth to things above.
New graces ever gaining
From this our day of rest,
We seek the rest remaining
In mansions of the blest.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «WORSHIP—THE SABBATH.»; hymn number «246» (large), tune name «EWING. 7s & 6s. D.» centred over the music (condensed capitals and small capitals), «ALEX. EWING.» at the right (capitals and small capitals). Stanza 1 is interlinear, between the staves, one line per system, with «1.» before «O»; under the staves «sad - ness», «beau - ti - ful», «low - ly», «ho - ly» and «E - ter- nal» are hyphenated and «Ho-ly» has a tight hyphen, while «gladness,» and «before» are printed as unbroken words under two notes each. Stanzas 2–3 are printed as text in the left column below the music, under the reference line «492, 611, 415,» in italics (= may also be sung to the tunes of hymns 492, 611 or 415; the line ends with a comma). «Christopher Wordsworth.» in italics after stanza 3. The print sets a thin space before «;» and «!» («paradise ;», «sand ;», «love ;»); it is closed up here. The printer's curly apostrophe is written straight («life's», «Pisgah's»). Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's. Lines 2, 4, 6 and 8 of each stanza are indented in the print.

Source
The Seventh-day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book (Battle Creek: Review & Herald, 1886/1888)
Where
Worship — The Sabbath · No. 246 · printed page 82
Checked
score verified (fork reading; parent check pending) · 2026-10-01
Download audio · 1.1 MB
Original key · D major
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Score of O day of rest and gladness
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Score
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Score, large