Second Advent

A day of awful grandeur dawns

No. 893
Metre C. M.
Tune GRANDEUR.
Words Anon.
Music English.
Key B-flat major
Singing key A♭ major
Time 4/4
3 stanzas

Words

A day of awful grandeur dawns,And lo! the Judge appears;Ye heavens, retire before his face;And sink, ye darkened stars.

The day approaches, O my soul,The great decisive dayWhich from the verge of mortal lifeShall bear thee far away.

Yet does one short, preparing hour—One precious hour—remain;Rouse, then, my soul, with all thy power,Nor let it pass in vain.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «SECOND ADVENT—EXECUTIVE JUDGMENT.»; hymn number «893» (large, left), tune name «GRANDEUR. C. M.» centred over the music (condensed display capitals), «ENGLISH.» at the right in the composer slot (capitals and small capitals). Stanza 1 is interlinear, between the staves, one line per system, with «1.» before «A»: «1. A day of aw - ful grand-eur dawns, And lo! the Judge ap - pears; Ye» under system 1 and «heavens, re - tire before his face; And sink, ye darkened stars, And sink, ye darkened stars.» under system 2. The music sings verse line 4 twice (first in half notes, then in quarters); the stanzas below give it once, as stanzas 2–3 are printed. «before» and «darkened» stand whole under two notes each. The italic reference line «794, 179, 147.» (= the same words may be sung to the tunes of hymns 794, 179 or 147) is centred in the left column between the music and stanza 2. Stanzas 2–3 are printed as text in the left column, numbered «2», «3» without a full stop (written «2.», «3.» here, like stanza 1); lines 2 and 4 are indented. «Anon.» in italics after stanza 3. The print sets a thin space before «!» and «;» under the staves and in the stanzas («lo !», «face ;», «remain ;»); it is closed up here. The dashes of stanza 3 («hour—», «hour—remain;») are the print's. A handwritten note at the top of the page (cut by the margin, «1869 Hymnal 353») and an ink blot at the bottom-left corner belong to the copy, not to the print.