Day is Dying in the West

Friday Classic Hymns
Written By Luke Powell

A beautiful hymn written by Mary Lathbury, for evening prayer time at Lake Chautauqua in New York in the 1870s. Hear the story, an analysis of the lovely words calling us to reclaim our evenings for God, and a performance of the song by Luke at the piano.

Welcome to another Friday Classic Hymn! I do one of these a month these days, although I've done over 100, so go and check out the full catalogue on my website if you'd like.

Today I'm featuring a song that I didn't know - one I had to learn this week: "Day is Dying in the West." What do you know of the song? Do you have a memory of it, or does it mean something to you, or is it brand new to you? Share your thoughts in the comments below - I'd love to see what you think and what the song has meant to you. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already, and share this video with someone who might enjoy it.

The Story Behind "Day is Dying in the West"

It was Mary Lathbury who wrote this song. She was born into a very Methodist family - her father and brothers were ministers. She was a very talented artist, and she trained as an artist and actually ended up teaching art in various schools.

One day God spoke to her, and she captures it in this quote that is attributed to her. God said to her, "Remember, my child, that you have a gift of weaving fancies into verse, and a gift with the pencil of producing visions that come to your heart. Consecrate these to me as thoroughly as you do your inmost spirit."

She had this moment with God, consecrating not just her spiritual life, but her actual gifts and talents, saying, "Take these, Lord, and use them for your glory." Maybe more of us need to do that. She then moved into a full-time ministry role, eventually becoming the general editor of materials for the Methodist Sunday School.

It was 1874 when Dr. John Vincent, who was the secretary of the Methodist Sunday School Union, asked Lathbury to be his assistant at the Chautauqua movement. Chautauqua was a summer camp on Lake Chautauqua, where Sunday School teachers in the area would come for training. After a while, this became such a popular thing that the training expanded into more than just Sunday school teaching, but into all sorts of different events and themes on these summer camps, and scores of people would come to the lake and be part of this movement.

Lathbury was known as the poet of this movement. She was so deeply embedded in it, and the works that she did were very much linked to her time there. This hymn in particular is specially connected to the Chautauqua movement.

It was 1877 when Dr. Vincent came to her and said, "We need a Vesper hymn." Vespers are evening prayers, and at the end of their day's proceedings, the people on the camp would come together, wanting a song they could sing as the day ended. Dr. Vincent asked Lathbury to write one, and she wrote this hymn. She wrote two verses initially, and only later, many years later, wrote the other two when her friends asked her to expand it.

The story is that she sat and watched the sunset over the lake and penned the words. Shortly after, a man named William Sherwin wrote the tune for this beautiful song, and they debuted it - performed it for the first time - in 1877 there at the camp one evening. It was a beautiful occasion. I would have loved to have been there. The sun was setting, they put the choir out on boats on the lake, and Sherwin, who wrote the tune, actually sang the song as a solo and then conducted the choir out in the boats to sing it. Some 2,000 people had gathered to hear the song that had been commissioned, and soon this became a favourite, sung at evening prayers but spreading throughout the Methodist movement and beyond as a beautiful hymn to sing in the evenings.

Lathbury never married, but she did such great work in the Kingdom of God. She died in October 1913, but lives on through this song and through the other hymns that she wrote.

What Do the Lyrics of "Day is Dying in the West" Mean?

Verse 1

Day is dying in the West,
Heaven is touching earth with rest.
Wait and worship while the night
Sets her evening lamps alight
Through all the sky.

I admit, when I first saw that title, I thought it was somehow talking about Western civilisation - I was totally wrong! She's simply saying the sun is setting in the West.

Heaven is touching earth with rest - what a beautiful picture of the end of the day. Heaven touching earth, the sun touching the horizon and bringing rest.

Wait and worship, while the night sets her evening lamps alight through all the sky. I confess I read that and felt quite overwhelmed with awe at who our God is. The night sky is not something I usually use to worship Him through, but here she's saying that as day ends and the darkness settles, God is setting up His lamps in the sky. The stars and the moon are like His lamps of light, and we should wait and worship through the night, or as the night falls.

Don't you think it's sad that night time is not what it used to be? I would love to go back and live in a time where there was no electricity - I realise how ironic that is, being on the internet and all of that! But imagine a time when as the sun went down, day ended, and you didn't do any more work because the gift of rest was given to you with the coming of the night. Today we've got our electric lights and we just keep on working. We sit and watch entertainment in our homes, watch TV and do stuff like that. I think we've lost the beauty of the night time - a time to rest, but also a time to worship and consider the light of God that shines in the darkness. Maybe it's time for us to recover our evenings as times of worship and praise, not as times of entertainment, and let our worship and praise be our rest.

Verse 2

Lord of life, beneath the dome
Of the universe, Thy home.
Gather us who seek Thy face
To the fold of Thy embrace,
For Thou art nigh.

The universe is His home. That's a beautiful picture - it's not just any particular place that is His home, but anywhere where God is, is His home, and that's everywhere. The night sky, in a sense, is representative of the unending beauty of God.

Gather us who seek Thy face, to the fold of Thy embrace, for Thou art nigh. If we look up and see God in His home - the sky - at least we're thinking of Him as huge and great and majestic. And yet He is nigh. He is near. He gathers us in moments like these and reminds us that He is close. I can imagine the people there at that campsite singing this and saying, "Gather us and let us be embraced in Your fold, and let us sing Your praise together." That's lovely.

Verse 3

While the deepening shadows fall,
Heart of love enfolding all,
Through the glory and the grace
Of the stars that veil Thy face,
Our hearts ascend.

Perhaps there is a metaphor here - the shadows representing darkness, but the heart of love enfolding us even as shadows fall. No darkness can overcome the love of God. This great heart of love - God Himself - embraces and enfolds us. We don't need to be afraid of darkness or night.

Through the glory and the grace of the stars that veil Thy face, our hearts ascend - lift it up in joy and in praise as we see the glory and the grace in this night time. I like how she says the stars veil His face. The stars themselves aren't God - in fact, they sort of cover Him in a sense. Because if we were to truly see His light, I think we would melt. They cover the fullness of His glory, and we just see little dots of it coming through. Of course, one day we will be in the place where God's light is the only light, and there will be no need of sun, according to Revelation. Then we won't need the stars either.

Verse 4

When forever from our sight
Pass the stars, the day, the night,
Lord of angels, on our eyes
Let eternal morning rise,
And shadows end.

Now she's painting a picture of life on the other side of death. When we die, we will rise again, and morning will dawn upon us as all things are made new by God. It's a beautiful picture of the end of all things. One day when we pass from this place - out of sight, past the stars, when days and nights are no more - let eternal morning rise, that we may enjoy His presence. The shadows will be ended. What a beautiful ending to this song - the shadows that represent death and darkness will have no place on the new heavens and the new earth.

Chorus

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts,
Heaven and earth are full of Thee,
Heaven and earth are praising Thee,
O Lord Most High.

This comes directly out of Isaiah 6, where the Seraphim sing that as they circle the throne of God. Heaven and earth are full of Him - the creatures in heaven are praising Him, and we on earth join in and sing that He is holy, holy, holy. That threefold repetition of God's ultimate character - the beauty of the night sky reminds us that He is the holy, holy, holy Lord of Hosts. And so we worship Him.

Conclusion

What a beautiful song! What do you think of it? Any thoughts to share in the comments about words that meant something to you, or maybe an interpretation that I missed? Please share that below.

Before we sing the song, please do check out my Patreon where all my music is available to download. All the songs I've released are on there, and every week I put all of these up for you to download if you'd like - any amount really helps support the work that I do and keep my family afloat. Thank you.

I'd also love it if you would consider saying a prayer for me and the work that I do. On my website, on the Support This Ministry page, there is a prayer support section, and I've received such encouraging and powerful prayers from you there - that has helped me so much. Please do consider that if you've been blessed by this video.

Let's sing the song, and I hope you're going to praise His name and consider the wonder of God as seen in the night sky. Maybe tonight, as the sun goes down, you'll go and watch it set, look at the stars if you can see any from where you live, and just marvel at this great God.

References

Luke Powell https://lukepowellministries.com
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Low in the Grave He Lay (Christ Arose)