p. 3 | The Hour of Praise

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 14, 1871

The Hour of Praise.

Dear Lord, is any hour so sweet, From blush of morn till evening star, As that which calls me to thy feet— The hour of prayer? O Lord, there is another hour, Which higher can our spirits raise, Though not so oft is felt its power— The hour of praise.

Prayer is the utterance of want, And needy man thus often prays; But gratitude, alas! is scant, And so is praise. Yet ’tis a loftier feeling, far, When thus to God the soul can move, For fear and helplessness are prayer, But praise is love.

How blest the moments, who can show, When heavenly love its stores displays, And all his mercies rise to view— The fruits of grace? And o’er the breast a pleasure steals, Soft as the gentle breath of even, Making the bosom that it fills, A little Heaven.

For adoration is the tongue That’s spoken there. Petition strays, Never from angels’ lips; their song Is only praise. Prayer for the wilderness, the war, The doubt if we may be forgiven; Earth is the boundary for prayer, Praise is for Heaven.