COME, MY SOUL, THOU MUST BE WAKING
"He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being
taught." Isaiah 50:4
Words: Friedrich Rudolf Ludwig von Canitz, 1700; translated from German
to English by Henry James Buckoll, 1838.
Music: "Haydn," arranged from Franz Joseph Haydn, 1791.
Alternate tune: * "Lux Prima," Sir John Stainer, 1872.
Come, my soul, thou must be waking;
Now is breaking over the earth another day;
Come to Him Who made this splendor;
See thou render all thy feeble powers can pay.
Thou, too, hail the light returning
Ready burning be the incense of thy powers;
For the night is safely ended,
God hath tended with His care thy helpless hours.
Pray that He may prosper ever
Each endeavor when thine aim is good and true;
But that He may ever thwart thee,
And convert thee, when thou evil wouldst pursue.
Think that He thy ways beholdeth;
He unfoldeth every fault that lurks within;
He the hidden shame glossed over
Can discover, and discern each deed of sin.
Mayest thou on life's last morrow,
Free from sorrow, pass away in slumber sweet:
And, released from death's dark sadness,
Rise in gladness that far brighter Sun to greet.
Only God's free gifts abuse not,
Light refuse not, but His Spirit's voice obey;
Thou with Him shalt dwell, beholding
Light enfolding all things in unclouded day.