If you have read last week’s post, where I explain my hymn engraving passion, you will know what I mean when I refer to the 100, the 200, and so on. This week’s hymn is part of that first set, the 100, that collection of new yet old hymns my wife and I learned as young adults while still in college. Today’s hymn is one of those that form the core of the original Tanglewood Hymnal that started me down this journey all those years ago. This Day at Thy Creating Word is one of my favorite hymns. It has an uncommon feature, in that it uses several literary devices to deliver its message, making it is a “thinking” hymn. There is no tugging on your heart strings here. I know of no other hymn that uses this style to achieve its goal. When I sing this hymn I often internally chuckle, as it reminds me of the exchange of riddles between Gollum and Bilbo, deep under the earth in the fifth chapter of The Hobbit.
This Day
In the first three stanzas this hymn has the same short opening phrase “This day”, with a slightly altered “O day” in the fourth stanza. The phrase is not an attention grabber in the sense that it is a linguistic hook or catchy turn of a phrase. Rather, it seems to be an invitation to the reader/singer to guess what particular day is being sung about. It’s like a Victorian parlor game. You are expected to guess the day in each of the first four stanzas based what is found in the first couplet of each one. The fourth stanza variant of “O day”, sets up the purpose of the hymn as a whole, which is giving praise to God.
The Physical and the Metaphysical
The rhyme of the stanzas is a simple AABB scheme. In each of the first three stanzas the first couplet describes a physical act, while the second couplet plays off of that physical act and turns it metaphysically. In each of these first three stanzas, a different person of the Trinity is given the limelight; first the Father, then the Son, and then the Holy Spirit. The fourth stanza is a summary of the first three stanzas and shows how the gifts contained in the first three stanzas should be offered back to God in thanksgiving. The fifth and final stanza contains a classical Trinitarian offering of praise and adoration. That makes this hymn a double Trinitarian hymn, which is not common in hymnody. Come, Thou Almighty King is also a double Trinitarian hymn in this same way.
This Day at Thy Creating Word is found in the 1961 Trinity Hymnal as number 324. A click on the image below will take you to the hymn’s web page, where you will also find a playable and downloadable mp3 of the tune (no lyrics), as well as a downloadable MIDI file. Speaking of MIDI files, this and many more fine hymns can be found in the iOS app Sing Your Part. It’s the perfect app for practicing your part to the hymns you will be singing next Sunday in church. Try it out for free at sing your part.app
These lyrics are packed with so much solid theology that it is a great hymn to reflect on again and again each time it is sung. The simple yet pleasant tune WINCHESTER NEW gives room for thought. See if you can guess from the context what days are being referenced.
This day at thy creating word
First o’er the earth the light was poured:
O Lord, this day upon us shine
And fill our souls with light divine.This day the Lord for sinners slain
In might victorious rose again:
O Jesus, may we raised be
From death of sin to life in thee.This day the Holy Spirit came
With fiery tongues of cloven flame:
O Spirit, fill our hearts this day
With grace to hear and grace to pray.O day of light and life and grace,
From earthly toil sweet resting place,
Thy hallowed hours, blest gift of love,
Give we again to God above.All praise to God the Father be,
All praise, eternal Son, to thee,
Whom, with the Spirit, we adore
For ever and for evermore.
Scriptural References
Stanza one – God the Father
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. … And the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:3, 5b, KJV
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 KJV
Stanza two – God the Son
In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it… And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Matthew 28:1-2,5-6 KJV
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: Ephesians 2:4-6 KJV
Stanza three – God the Holy Spirit:
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven…. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? … But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:...Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. Acts 2:1-5, 12, 14, 33 KJV
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father… Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:15, 26
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. John 16:12-13a KJV
Stanza four – A Day of Rest
What a blessing it is to have a day of rest each week. What an even greater blessing it is to be the same day of the week that God said “Let there be light.”, and the same day of the week that our Lord Jesus rose from the grave to purchase our salvation in His blood, and the same day that the Holy Spirit came in power on the day of Pentecost to be our paraclete. What else could we do on this day besides offering praise and thanksgiving back to Him?
Stanza Five – Doxology
Quite a few hymns contain a doxology for their last verse. Thomas Ken’s pair of Morning and Evening hymns each end with the famous lines of of what we know as the Doxology. What a way to end a hymn to God.
About the Author and Composer
William Walsham How was born in 1823 in Shrewsbury England, and died in 1897 in Leenane, Ireland. He was a British Anglican minister who served several congregations in the slums of London and the factory sectors of Yorkshire. Reverend How wrote around sixty hymns and edited two hymnals. He was fondly referred to as “the poor man’s bishop.”
The hymn tune known as WINCHESTER NEW was first published in the Musikalisches Handbuch in 1690 in Hamburg, Germany, by George Wittwe. It later underwent modification at the hands of William J. Havergal, where it became the Long Meter tune we have today. It appeared in Havergal’s Old Church Psalmody in 1864, where it was first named WINCHESTER NEW.