[Music]
Sweet is the day of sacred rest;
No mortal cares shall seize my breast;
O may my heart in tune be found,
Like David's harp of solemn sound.
Then shall I share a glorious part,
When grace hath well refined my heart,
And fresh supplies of joy are shed,
Like holy oil, to cheer my head.
Then shall I see, and hear, and know
All I desired and wished below;
And ev'ry power find sweet employ,
In that eternal world of joy.
Watts wrote the words. The tune is ascribed in the _Sacred Harp_ to
Americk Hall. Found also, MOH 34, GCM 91, SOH 13, UH 48, WP 17, SKH 9,
GOS 548; and in _Social Hymn and Tune Book_ (Philadelphia, 1865) under
the title 'Penitent'.
In JFSS, viii., 72, Miss Gilchrist calls attention to the likeness of
the above tune to Sharp's Appalachian versions of 'Little Musgrave and
Lady Barnard'. She also notes Miss Broadwood's discovery of its
likeness to two Gaelic tunes, 'Tearlach Og' in the _Gesto Collection_,
and 'Muile nam Morbheann' in the _Celtic Lyre_. I append also 'Lost
Babe', Sharp, ii., 161, as a further relative.
No. 121
TENDER CARE, GOS 291