Angel of Peace

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Angel of peace, thou hast wandered too long

Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes (1869)
Tune: AMERICAN HYMN
Published in 36 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Piano/Organ
	Three Hymns of Thanksgiving

Representative Text

1. Angel of peace, thou hast wandered too long;
Spread thy white wings to the sunshine of love!
Come while our voices are blended in song,
Fly to our ark like the storm-beaten dove—
Fly to our ark on the wings of the dove;
Speed o’er the far-sounding billows of song,
Crowned with the olive leaf garland of love;
Angel of peace, thou hast waited too long!

2. Brothers we meet on this altar of thine,
Mingling the gifts we have gathered for thee;
Sweet with the odors of myrtle and pine,
Breeze of the prairie and breath of the sea—
Meadow and mountain and forest and sea;
Sweet is the fragrance of myrtle and pine,
Sweeter the incense we offer to thee,
Brothers once more round this altar of thine!

3. Angels of Bethlehem, answer the strain!
Hark! a new birth-song is filling the sky!
Loud as the storm wind that tumbles the main,
Bid the full breath of the organ reply—
Loud let the tempest of voices reply;
Roll its long surge like the earth-shaking main!
Swell the vast song till it mounts to the sky!
Angels of Bethlehem, echo the strain!

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #192

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Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, M.D, LL.D., son of the Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D. of Cambridge, U.S.A., was born at Cambridge, Aug. 29, 1809, and educated at Harvard, where he graduated in 1829. After practising for some time in Boston, he was elected in 1847 to the chair of Anatomy, in Harvard. His writings in prose and verse are well known and widely circulated. They excel in humour and pathos. Although not strictly speaking a hymnwriter, a few of his hymns are in extensive use, and include:— 1. Father of mercies, heavenly Friend. Prayer during war. 2. Lord of all being, throned afar. God's Omnipresence. This is a hymn of great merit. It is dated 1848. 3. 0 Lord of hosts, Almighty King. Soldiers’ Hymn. Dated 1861. 4. 0 Love… Go to person page >

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