Evening Hymn

Psalm 4:8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.

“The Day is Past and Gone” – originally titled “Evening Hymn” – seems to be the most published of all the hymns of John Leland. In The Sacred Harp it appears with the tune Evening Shade, written by Stephen Jenks in 1805.

1. The day is past and gone,
The evening shades appear;
O may we all remember well
The night of death draws near.

2. We lay our garments by,
Upon our beds to rest;
So death will soon disrobe us all
Of what we’ve here possessed.

3. Lord, keep us all this night,
Secure from all our fears;
May angels guard us while we sleep,
Till morning light appears.

4. And if we early rise,
And view th’unwearied sun,
May we set out to win the prize
And after glory run.

5. And when our days are past,
And we from time remove,
O may we in thy bosom rest,–
The bosom of thy love.

The above hymn was written by John Leland. It is printed under the title “Evening Hymn” in The Writings of the Late Elder John Leland: including Some Events in His Life (Miss L. F. Greene, New York, NY: G. W. Wood, 1845, page 322). It is usually dated to 1790.

John Leland was an influential Baptist minister in America, before, during, and after the Revolution. He was born at Grafton, Massachusetts May 14 or 15, 1754, the son of James Leland. He began to preach at the age of 20 in Massachusetts. He moved to Virginia for about 15 years, ministering there, then returned to Massachusetts circa 1790. Leland supported the struggle for religious liberty, and exerted some influence on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and others. He married Sarah Devine in 1776, and they had several children. Leland died January 14, 1841. He and his wife are buried at the Cheshire Cemetery in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. John Julian describes Leland as eccentric and states, “His influence seems to have been equalled by his peculiarities” (John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, 1907, p. 670).

Other hymns written by John Leland include:

• Brethren, I have come once more
• Come and taste, along with me
• O when shall I see Jesus
• Christians, if your hearts are warm.

The composer of Evening Shade, Stephen Jenks, was born March 17, 1772, the son of John Jenks and Lydia Bucklin of Rhode Island. Jenks became a composer and singing school teacher – and between 1799 and 1818 was author or coauthor of ten published music collections. These works included 125 pieces of sacred music of his own composition. According to Warren Steel, “Jenks was a prolific exponent of the American music idiom developed by Daniel Read and other Connecticut composers during the late eighteenth century.”. Jenks first married Hannah Dauchy around 1792. After her death he married Rachel Travis in 1801. After Rachel’s death he married Abigail Ross. They moved to northern Ohio in 1829, and died there. Stephen Jenks died June 3, 1856. He and Abigail are buried at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Thompson, Geauga County, Ohio.

Steel also notes that Stephen Jenks’s “large manuscript tunebook shows that he continued to compose as late as 1850 and that he grappled with the changing styles of nineteenth-century hymnody.” He left nearly 100 unpublished tunes from his later years. In addition to Evening Shade, Jenk’s tunes Liberty, Mount Vernon, and North Salem continue to be popular with Sacred Harp singers.

In Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Knoxville, TN: Melody Publications, 2020), this text is paired with the tune Leland by L. M. Fosbery. The tune appeared as #31 in the 1899 Book of Worship with Hymns and Tunes, published by the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States. However, it was published at least as early as 1892 in The New Laudes Domini: a Selection of Spiritual Songs, Ancient and Modern for Use in Baptist Churches. Nothing further is known of the composer.