Hail to the Sabbath Day

Hail to the Sabbath day!
The day divinely given,
When men to God their homage pay,
And earth draws near to Heaven.

Lord, in this sacred hour,
Within Thy courts we bend,
And bless Thy love, and own Thy power,
Our Father and our Friend.

But Thou art not alone
In courts by mortals trod;
Nor only is the day Thine own
When man draws near to God.

Thy temple is the arch
Of yon unmeasured sky;
Thy Sabbath, the stupendous march
Of vast eternity.

Lord, may that holier day
Dawn on Thy servants’ sight;
And purer worship may we pay
In Heaven’s unclouded light.

Author: Stephen G. Bulfinch

Year: 1832

This hymn first appeared in Bulfinch's 'Contemplations of the Saviour' (1832) and later in his 'Poems' (1834). It is occasionally misattributed in some 19th-century collections, but Bulfinch is the accepted author.