Now the Busy Week Is Done

Now the busy week is done,
Now the rest-time is begun;
Thou hast brought us on our way,
Kept and led us day by day;
Now there comes the first and best,
Day of worship, light and rest.

Hallow, Lord, the coming day!
When we meet to praise and pray,
Hear Thy Word, Thy feast attend,
Hours of happy service spend;
To our hearts be manifest,
Lord of labor and of rest.

For Thy children gone before
We can trust Thee and adore;
All their earthly week is past,
Sabbath-time is theirs at last;
Fold them, Father, to Thy breast,
Give them everlasting rest.

Guide us all the days to come,
Till Thy mercy call us home:
All our powers do Thou employ,
Be Thy work our chiefest joy;
Then, the promised land possessed,
Bid us enter into rest.

Author: John Ellerton

Year: 1868

This children's hymn for Saturday evening/Sunday morning is a well-known work of John Ellerton (1826–1893), an Anglican clergyman and prolific hymn-writer. The text first appeared in 1868 and matches the given verses exactly.