Hymnal: The Sacred Melodeon
Date: 1848
Compiler: A S Hayden
Publisher/Printer: A S Hayden
First Line: To leave my dear friends and with neighbors to part
Topic: <no topic given>
Writer: <no first name given> <no last name given>
Composer:
Meter: 11s
Tune: Bower of Prayer
Hymn Number: <no hymn number given>
Page Number: 197, click to see hymnal pages
LyicsTo leave my dear friends and with neighbours to part,
And go from my home, it afflicts not my heart
Like thoughts of absenting myself for a day
From that bless'd retreat where I've chosen to pray,
I've chosen to pray.
Dear bower! Where the pine and the poplar have spread,
And woven their branches a roof o'er my head;
How oft have I knelt on the evergreen there,
And poured out my soul to my Saviour in prayer!
My Saviour in prayer!
The early shrillnotes of a loved nightingale
That dwelt in my bower, I observed as my bell
To call me to duty, while birds of the air
Sang anthems of praises as I went to prayer.
How sweet were the zephyrs, perfumed by the pine,
The ivy, the balsam, and wild eglantine!
But sweeter, oh sweeter superlative were
The joys that I tasted in answer to prayer!
For Jesus, my Saviour, oft deigned there to meet
And bless with his presence my lonely retreat;
Oft fill'd me with rapture and blessedness there,
Inditing in heaven's own language my prayer.
Dear bower, I must leave you and bid you adieu,
And pay my devotions in parts that are new;
For Jesus my Saviour can hear everywhere,
And can in all places give answer to prayer.