The Golden Key

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Prayer is the key on the bending knee

Author: John Parker
Tune: GOLDEN KEY
Published in 56 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Prayer is the key on the bending knee
To open the morn’s first hours;
See the incense rise to the starry skies,
Like perfume from the flow’rs.

2 Not a soul so sad, nor a heart so glad,
When cometh the shades of night,
But the daybreak song will the joy prolong,
And darkness turn to light.

3 Take the golden key in your hand and see,
As the night tide drifts away,
How its blessed hold is a crown of gold,
Through the weary hours of day.

4 When the shadows fall, and the vesper call
Is sobbing its low refrain,
’Tis a garland sweet to the toil-worn feet,
And a healing touch for pain.

5 Soon the year’s dark door shall be shut no more;
Life’s tears shall be wiped away
As the pearl gates swing and the gold harps ring,
Ush’ring in eternal day.

Evening Light Songs, 1987 (Timeless Truths)

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Author: John Parker

John Parker, born in England, immigrated to the United States about 1847 at the age of 22. He was a Methodist pastor, serving churches in New York and Vermont. He was a chaplain in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. He died in Asbury Park, New York in 1911. Dianne Shapiro, from "The Christian Advocate," Vol. 86, September 28, 1911, P. 1298 (6) Go to person page >

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