The Eternal Sabbath

Hail to the Sabbath day

Author: Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch
Published in 92 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

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

Author: Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch

Bulfinch, Stephen Greenleaf, D.D. This Unitarian minister was born at Boston, June 18, 1809, and removed to Washington in 1818, his father being the architect of the Capitol. He graduated at Columbian College and the Cambridge Theological School. In 1831 lie was ordained at Charleston, S.C., as assistant to Dr. Gilman. Subsequently he was pastor at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Washington, 1838; Nashua, New Hampshire, 1845; Dorchester, Mass., 1852; and "East Cambridge, Mass., 1865. He died at the last place, Oct. 12, 1870. His works include:— (1) Contemplations of the Saviour; A Series of Extracts from the Gospel History, with Reflections and Original and Selected Hymns. Boston, Carter and Hendee, 1832. This has been reprinted in England. (… Go to person page >

Text Information

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

Notes

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)

Tune

MORNINGTON (Mornington)


SCHUMANN (51567)

SCHUMANN is one of many hymn tunes arranged by Lowell Mason (PHH 96). He first published the arrangement in Cantica Laudis (1850), a collection he edited with George J. Webb (PHH 559). First called WHITE, the tune was marked "Arr. from Schumann" and was thus ascribed to the German composer Robert A.…

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THATCHER (Handel)


Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #2106
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Instances

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The Cyber Hymnal #2106

Church Hymnal, Mennonite #181

Include 90 pre-1979 instances
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