Sweet Hour of Prayer
Artist: Vic and Eva Zarley
www.GodlyChristianMusic.com
Sweet Hour of Prayer by William Bradbury Capo 1st Fret

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 con­nect­ions 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 pro­phe­cies, 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 cut­ting, shap­ing and po­lish­ing bones for shoe horns and other lit­tle use­ful im­ple­ments. 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 him­self 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." From http://www.cyberhymnal.org

Amazingly this blind preacher committed his poetry to memory because he couldn't find anyone to write them down. And this was one of his poems, entirely committed to memory right after he composed it!

__C______________________F
Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
______ C______________G
That calls me from a world of care,__________________________________
____ C____________ F
And bids me at my Father’s throne______________________________
____ C________________ G______C
Make all my wants and wishes known.
____ C______F______C
In seasons of distress and grief,
____C________F____ F________ G
My soul has often found relief
____ C______________ F
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
____C________________G________ C
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!”