We Praise Thee, Lord, with Earliest Morning Ray

We praise Thee, Lord, with earliest morning ray;
We praise Thee with the glowing light of day:
All things that live and move, by sea and land,
Forever ready at Thy service stand.

The nations all are singing night and day,
“Glory to Thee, the mighty God, for aye!
By Thee, through Thee, in Thee all beings are!”
The listening earth repeats the song afar.

Thy Name is great, Thy kingdom in us dwell;
Thy Will constrain, and feed and guide us well:
Guard us, redeem us in the evil hour;
For Thine the glory, Lord, and Thine the power!

Author: Gregory the Great

Year: 600

This is a translation of the Latin morning hymn 'Splendor paternae gloriae' (or a close variant), traditionally attributed to Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great, c. 540–604). The English rendering here is likely by an 19th-century translator such as J. M. Neale or a similar hand, but the original author is Gregory.