The Christian — Meditation and Prayer

Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer

No. 518
Metre L. M. D.
Tune SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER.
Words William W. Walford.
Music William B. Bradbury.
Key D major
Time 3/8
3 stanzas

Words

Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,That calls me from a world of care,And bids me, at my Father's throne,Make all my wants and wishes known!In seasons of distress and grief,My soul has often found relief,And oft escaped the tempter's snare,By thy return, sweet hour of prayer.

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!Thy wings shall my petition bearTo Him whose truth and faithfulnessEngage the waiting soul to bless.And since he bids me seek his face,Believe his word, and trust his grace,I'll cast on him my every care,And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer.

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!May I thy consolation shareTill from Mount Pisgah's lofty hightI view my home and take my flight.In my immortal flesh I'll riseTo seize the everlasting prize,And shout while passing through the air,"Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!"

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE—MEDITATION AND PRAYER.»; hymn number «518» (large, left), tune name «SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER. L. M. D.» centred over the music («D.» smaller), «WILLIAM B. BRADBURY.» at the right (capitals and small capitals); printed vertically in the left margin beside system 2, «By per. Biglow & Main.» No reference line is printed. Stanza 1 is set under the music in four lines: under system 1, after «1.» and a brace, line 1 «Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, That calls me from a world of care,» (first time) and line 2 «And bids me, at my Father's throne, Make all my wants and (omit) . . . wishes known!» (on the repeat — «(omit)» in italics, with leader dots, under the 1st ending; «wishes known!» under the 2d ending), then in italics «D. C.—And oft es-caped the tempter's snare, By thy re - turn, sweet (omit) . . . hour of prayer.» (sung to system 1 after the D. C., again omitting the 1st ending); under system 2 «In sea - sons of dis - tress and grief, My soul has oft - en found re - lief,». The stanza is given below in its eight sung lines, in the order they are sung (the «(omit)» marks are directions, not words). Stanzas 2–3 are printed as eight-line text in two columns below the music, followed by «William W. Walford.» in italics. The stanza numbers of the text stanzas are printed without a full stop («2 Sweet»); they are numbered «2.» here like stanza 1. The lines are set flush (the opening quotation mark of stanza 3's last line hangs in the margin). The printer's thin space before «!» («prayer !») is closed up here; quotation marks are written straight. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's («hight», «Engage», «I'll»).