1 Hail to the Sabbath day,
The day divinely given,
When men to God their homage pay,
And earth draws near to heaven.
2 Lord, in this sacred hour,
Within Thy courts we bend,
And bless Thy love, and own Thy power,
Our Father and our Friend.
3 But Thou art not alone
In courts by mortals trod;
Nor only is the day Thine own
When man draws near to God:
4 Thy temple is the arch
Of yon unmeasured sky;
Thy Sabbath, the stupendous march
Of vast eternity.
5 Lord, may that holier day
Dawn on Thy servants' sight;
And purer worship may we pay
In heaven's unclouded light.
Source: Methodist Hymn and Tune Book: official hymn book of the Methodist Church #253
First Line: | Hail to the Sabbath day |
Title: | The Eternal Sabbath |
Author: | Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch |
Meter: | 6.6.8.6 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Hail to the Sabbath day. Sunday. In the Contemplations, &c, p. 45. It is appended to Sect. xii. on the “Walk through the cornfields," and is in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. It is in extensive use both in Great Britain and America, and is the best known of this author's hymns. In many collections it begins with st. ii., " Lord, in Thy [this] sacred hour."
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)