Now I pray you receive back the power of prayer for those of you that have lost it . see what the writer has to say SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER
“Pray continually.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Words: William Walford, 1845; appeared in The New York Observer ,
September 13, 1845, accompanied by the following, written by Thomas
Salmon:
During my residence at Coleshill, Warwickshire, England, I became acquainted
with W. W. Walford, the blind preacher, a man of obscure birth and connect­
ions and no education, but of strong mind and most retentive memory. In the
pulpit he never failed to select a lesson well adapted to his subject, giving
chapter and verse with unerring precision and scarcely ever misplacing a word
in his repetition of the Psalms, every part of the New Testament, the prophe­
cies, and some of the histories, so as to have the reputation of “knowing the
whole Bible by heart.” He actually sat in the chimney corner, employing his
mind in composing a sermon or two for Sabbath delivery, and his hands in cut­
ting, shaping and polishing bones for shoe horns and other little useful imple­
ments. At intervals he attempted poetry. On one occasion, paying him a visit,
he repeated two or three pieces which he had composed, and having no friend
at home to commit them to paper, he had laid them up in the storehouse
within. “How will this do?” asked he, as he repeated the following lines, with
a complacent smile touched with some light lines of fear lest he subject him­
self to criticism. I rapidly copied the lines with my pencil, as he uttered them,
and sent them for insertion in the Observer , if you should think them worthy of
preservation.
Music: SWEET HOUR , William B. Bradbury , Golden Chain (New York:
1861) (MIDI , score ).


Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
The joys I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation share,
Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home and take my flight:
This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise
To seize the everlasting prize;
And shout, while passing through the air,
“Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!” ..