O God, Creation's Secret Force
O God, creation's secret force,
thyself unmoved, all motion's source,
who from the morn till evening ray
through all its changes guid'st the day:
Grant us, when this short life is past,
the glorious evening that shall last;
that, by a holy death attained,
eternal glory may be gained.
O Father, that we ask by done,
through Jesus Christ, thine only Son,
who, with the Holy Ghost and thee,
doth live and reign eternally.
Words: Ambrose of Milan (340-397);
trans. John Mason Neale, 1851