The Palace Walls

Earth, with its dark and dreadful ills

Author: Alice Cary
Published in 21 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1. Earth, with all its dark and dreadful ills,
Recedes and fades away;
Lift up your heads, ye heavenly hills,
Ye gates of death, give way!

2. My soul is full of whispered song;
My blindness is my sight;
The shadows that I feared so long
Are all alive with light.

3. The while my pulses faintly beat,
My faith doth so abound;
I feel grow firm beneath my feet
The green immortal ground.

4. That faith to me a courage gives,
Low as the grave to go;
I know that my Redeemer lives—
That I shall live, I know.

5. The palace walls I almost see
Where dwells my Lord and king;
O grave! where is thy victory?
O death! where is thy sting?

Author: Alice Cary

Alice Cary (1820-1871) was born and raised in Mount Healthy in Hamilton County, Ohio. Her family had come from Lyme, New Hampshire when her grandfather was given land in return for his service in the Continental Army. She had been nationally recognized as an interpreter of pioneer traditions. Her short story collections depict Mount Healthy as it was transformed from an isolated rural village to a Cincinnati suburb. She and her sister Phoebe wrote for local religious periodicals before Alice moved to New York City. John Greenleaf Whitier praised Alice's stories as "simple, natural, truthful [with] a keen sense of humor and pathos of the comedy and tragedy of life in the country." Her hymn "Along the mountain track of life" was published i… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Earth, with its dark and dreadful ills
Title: The Palace Walls
Author: Alice Cary
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Language: English
Refrain First Line: The palace walls I almost see
Copyright: Public Domain

Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #1304
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 21 of 21)
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College Hymnal #340

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Evangelical Hymnal #584

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Garden of Spices #43

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Garden of Spices #43

Hymn and Tune Book for the Church and the Home and Services for Congregational Worship. Rev. ed. #d119

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Hymn and Tune Book for the Church and the Home. (Rev. ed.) #722

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Hymn Book of the United Evangelical Church #584

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Hymn-Book of the Evangelical Association #812

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Hymns and Songs for Social and Sabbath Worship #584

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Hymns and Songs for Social and Sabbath Worship. (Rev. ed.) #584

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Hymns and Songs of Praise for Public and Social Worship #1278

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Hymns of the Ages #583

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Hymns of the Ages #583

Methodist Hymn and Tune Book #d160

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Methodist Hymn-Book #844

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #1304

The Evangelical Hymn and Tune Book #d151

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The Treasury of American Sacred Song with Notes Explanatory and Biographical #139

TextPage Scan

The Voice of Praise #886

University Hymn Book for use in the Chapel of Harvard University #d43

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Worship Song #527

Exclude 20 pre-1979 instances
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