It took the work of three authors to bring us this hymn in its present form. Reginald Heber wrote only the first stanza for and evening hymn and included it in his Hymns, 1827. In 1838 Richard Whately added stanza 3 of the SDAH version and printed it in Sacred Poetry Adapted to the Understanding of Children and Youth (Dublin). It is a free translation of the antiphon portion of the Latin “Nunc Dimittis” (see “Simeon’s Prayer,” SDAH 837; see also SDAH 67 and 682). William Mercer’s two stanzas were probably added in the 1850s.

Reginald Heber is best known for “Holy, Holy, Holy,” SDAH 73. He also wrote the Communion hymn “Bread of the World,” SDAH 398. In the early part of the nineteenth century most members of the Church of England despised the Methodist and independent churches and looked with disfavor on their practice of hymn singing, which had received tremendous impetus under Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts. However, Reginald Heber, a natural poet, noted the effect of hymn singing on the people and was determined to introduce the same enthusiasm into the Anglican Church, which at that time confined itself only to psalm singing or chanting. So in 1811 Heber began publishing his original hymns in the Christian Observer, and started a collection of hymns for each Sunday, based on the Gospel and the Epistles. He intended the particular hymn for the day to be sung between the sermon and the recital of the creed. The manuscript of his collection was submitted in 1820 to the archbishop of Canterbury but failed to receive his approval for use in the regular worship service. However, the collection was printed in 1826 in the third edition of Supplement to Psalms and Hymns for the Parish Church of Banbury. This hymn next appeared in his posthumous Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year, 1827. His window published the book and dedicated it to the archbishop of Canterbury, who had evidently changed his mind and given implicit approval to the publication.

Reginald Heber was born April 21, 1783, at Malpas, a small town near Chester in Cheshire, England. He attended the grammar school at Whitchurch and then later went to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he distinguished himself by winning the Newdigate Prize in 1803 for his long poem “Palestine.” After graduation he traveled in Europe, and then he was ordained in 1807 and appointed vicar of Hodnet in Shropshire, where his father had been rector and lord of the manor. A devoted parish priest, he wrote all of his hymns as well as other literary works at Hodnet. Always interested in India, he was offered the post of bishop of Calcutta three times. The third time he accepted, against his friends’ advice. When he arrived in India in 1823, he found that his See covered the whole of India and Ceylon, but he visited faithfully. Unfortunately, he contracted fever and died at Trichinopoly, south of Madras, on April 3, 1826.

William Mercer was born in 1811 at Barnard Castle, Durham, England, and studied at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1840 he began 33 years of service as pastor in St. George’s Parish, Sheffield. He was successful in filling the Sunday school, and his preaching drew capacity crowds. With James Montgomery and John Goss, he edited The Church Psalter and Hymn Book,1854, which was for many years the most used hymnal in the Church of England. He died at Sheffield August 21, 1873.

Richard Whately was born February 1, 1787, at Marylebone, London; he was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, and ordained a priest in 1814. His career included: Bampton lecturer; principal, St. Alban’s Hall, Oxford; the chair of political economy at Trinity College, Dublin; member of the Royal Irish Academy; and member of the House of Lords in Parliament. He was bishop of Dublin when he died October 8, 1863.

AR HYD Y NOS, pronounced “Arr-heed-i-naws,” means “on length of night,” or “all through the night,” which is the English of the Welsh of a secular song set to this tune. It was first found in Edward Jones’s Musical Relicks of the Welsh Bards, 1784. It is said that Heber wrote this one stanza after hearing the tune played by a harper in a Welsh home. Lowell Mason (see Biographies) used it with the text “When the spark of life is waning,” and it has long been sung with the secular text “All through the night.”