[91]Vesper Hymn (Bortniansky):

Dmitri S. Bortniansky, 1818

James Edmeston, 1820;

St.3, Edward H. Bickersteth, 1876

Savior, breathe an evening blessing,

Ere repose our spirits seal;

Sin and want we come confessing;

Thou canst save, and thou canst heal.

Though the night be dark and dreary,

Darkness cannot hide from thee;

Thou art he who, never weary,

Watchest where thy people be.

Though destruction walk around us,

Though the arrows past us fly,

Angel-guards from thee surround us;

We are safe, if thou art nigh.

Be thou nigh, should death o'ertake us;

Jesus, then our refuge be,

And in Paradise awake us,

There to rest in peace with thee.

Father, to thy holy keeping

Humbly we ourselves resign;

Savior, who hast slept our sleeping,

Make our slumbers pure as thine;

Blessed Spirit, brooding o'er us,

Chase the darkness of our night,

Till the perfect day before us

Breaks in everlasting light.

Amen.