I came upon this hymn last night, and was struck by its simple, direct words:
Lord, I have shut the door,
Speak now the word
Which in the din and throng
Could not be heard;
Hushed now my inner heart,
Whisper Thy will,
While I have come apart,
While all is still.
Lord, I have shut the door,
Here do I bow;
Speak, for my soul attent
Turns to Thee now.
Rebuke Thou what is vain,
Counsel my soul,
Thy holy will reveal,
My will control.
In this blest quietness
Clamorings cease;
Here in Thy presence dwells
Infinite peace;
Yonder, the strife and cry,
Yonder, the sin:
Lord, I have shut the door,
Thou art within!
Lord, I have shut the door,
Strengthen my heart;
Yonder awaits the task—
I share a part.
Only through grace bestowed
May I be true;
Here, while alone with Thee,
My strength renew.
- William M. Runyon, b. 1870
Well... my first impression is that this could be sung to Morecambe (Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart) or Eventide (Abide with Me). Are either of those correct or is their another tune I haven't thought of?
ReplyDeleteThe lyrics are truly beautiful, by the way. I love hymns which state what needs to be said in clean, beautiful, and simple English!
Those tunes would probably work -- the one it's paired with (I've never tried singing it, though - just admired the words! :) is "Sanctuary (Runyan)."
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed the words as much as I did!
Ah, thank you. That tune fits much better than the ones I suggested. Took me a while to find it, too, since it's not the only hymn tune named "Sanctuary!" Hymnary.org doesn't have an example to listen to, sadly, but the Cyber Hymnal does, if you'd like to hear it (http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/o/r/d/lordihav.htm).
ReplyDeleteI'm going to add this one to my list of hymns to add to my hymnal project. Thanks so much for posting this today! I love discovering new hymns!