Death and Resurrection

Behold the western evening light!

No. 938
Words William B. O. Peabody.
Singing key B♭ major
5 stanzas

Sung to LAUREL HILL (hymn 941)

Words

Behold the western evening light!It melts in deepening gloom;So calmly Christians sink away,Descending to the tomb.

The winds breathe low, the yellow leafScarce whispers from the tree;So gently flows the parting breathWhen good men cease to be.

How mildly on the wandering cloudThe sunset beam is cast!So sweet the memory left behindWhen loved ones breathe their last.

And lo! above the dews of nightThe vesper star appears;So faith lights up the mourner's heart,Whose eyes are dim with tears.

Night falls, but soon the morning lightIts glories shall restore;And thus the eyes that sleep in death,Shall wake to close no more.

About this hymn

As printed Words only. As printed: hymn number «938» (large) in the left column of p. 315, below hymn 937 (CHINA) and «Isaac Watts.», with the reference line «941, 644.» in italic figures beside it (sing to the tunes of hymns 941 LAUREL HILL or 644 CADDO, both C. M.; no meter is printed — the lines 8.6.8.6 are C. M.). Stanzas 1–4 stand in the left column; stanza 5 continues at the head of the right column, above hymn 939, and is followed by «William B. O. Peabody.» in italics, right-aligned. Stanzas numbered «1»–«5» without periods (written «1.»–«5.» here, as in the other deliveries of this book); lines 2 and 4 indented. The first word «BEHOLD» is set in a capital and small capitals; written «Behold». The print sets a thin space before «;» and «!» («light !», «gloom ;», «tree ;», «cast !», «lo !», «appears ;», «restore ;»); it is closed up here. The apostrophe of «mourner's» is written straight. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's (the comma after «death» in stanza 5 included).