Scripture Verse

The smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God. Revelation 8:4

Introduction

Words: Phoe­be A. Hol­der, in Songs of the Year, by John H. Brew­er & Fred­er­ic Red­dall (New York: May­nard, Mer­rill, 1894), num­ber 28.

Music: Ko­so­vo Will­iam F. Gib­son (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Hol­der or Gib­son (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

In my heart a song is ris­ing,
Holy peace of twi­light calm,
As the Sab­bath breathes its bless­ing,
Vesper hour, of hal­lowed calm.
Thought of God among us fall­en,
Kindled by His breath di­vine,
Is the won­drous pow’r unit­ing
Myriad hearts at ves­per shrine.

Vesper hour, the soul at lei­sure,
Climbs a sac­red Pis­gah height,
Views the Pro­mised Land be­fore us
Arched by God’s bright bow of light;
Earth and Hea­ven seem meet­ing, blend­ing,
In this rich­ly freight­ed hour,
Wondrous is the pre­sence round us,
Thrilling with a mys­tic pow­er.

Clouds of in­cense sweet as­cend­ing,
From heart al­tars to the Lord,
Prayers from lov­ing, wait­ing ser­vants,
One be­fore the throne of God;
Added sweet­ness to the Sab­bath,
Comes with ves­per hal­lowed time,
Like clear bells in sil­ver chor­us
With their mel­low dist­ant chime.

Some glad day, ’neath flow­ery arch­es,
Of our hea­ven­ly Fa­ther’s love,
Through the gates in­to the ci­ty
May we pass to joy above!
Here, we list the sweet-toned echo
In our Fa­ther’s gra­cious Word;
There, we join the sound­ing an­them,
Al­le­lu­ia! praise the Lord!