The Cyber Hymnal ‎#17025

17025. The Old Saint's Prayer

1. Within a dark and cheer­less hut,
Where haugh­ty spurned to stray,
Where even sun­shine paused not long
An old saint knelt to pray.

2. Her ill-clad form was bent with age,
Her crisp hair specked with snow,
Her wrin­kled face was up­ward turned:
Her voice was deep and low.

3. Long she had worn her ar­mor bright;
Oft Sa­tan’s host de­fied;
Full six­ty years she’d faced the brunt,
And still she was not tired.

4. Her faith was strong­er than the winds
That rent Lake Ga­li­lee;
She laid her cross­es at His feet;
His blood her on­ly plea.

5. Before a liv­ing God she knelt,
She felt His pre­sence near;
She prayed with all her heart, this saint:
She knew her Lord would hear.

6. Had not she felt His kind­ly arm
Embrace with fa­ther’s care,
And bear her up, she knew not how,
From ut­ter, dire des­pair?

7. She knew on whom her hopes were built,
To whom her wrongs to tell,
She felt a peace steal o’er her heart,
That told her, all was well.

8. Yes, all is well, oh bless­èd saint,
Thou low­ly one di­vine!
God strikes the shac­kle from dim eyes
And bids the light to shine.

9. Thou strong and migh­ty one in pray­er,
Thou heir to bliss on high—
Cease not thine ar­dent, heav’n­ly chant,
Jehovah heeds thy cry.

Text Information

• First Line: Within a dark and cheerless hut
• Title: The Old Saint's Prayer
• Author: Priscilla J. Thompson
• Meter: CM
• Language: English
• Source: Ethiope Lays (Rossmoyne, Ohio: Priscilla J. Thompson, 1900), pages 3-6, cento

Tune Information

• Name: CLAUDIUS
• Composer: Arthur Henry Mann (1905)
• Meter: CM
• Key: e minor or modal
• Source: In The Methodist Hymnal (New York: The Methodist Book Concern, 1905), number 595