These words by an anonymous author are a quite devotional prayer extolling the blessings and peace of the sabbath Day. The writer considers the Sabbath as a time of communion with God to break the monotonous round weary labor of the six working days, a time when prayer, praises, and Bible study can be undertaken; in brief, a day to welcome and desired.

PLEYEL’S HYMN is an adaptation, made in 1791, of the slow movement of the string quartet Opus 7, No. 4, composed about 1782 by Ignace Joseph Pleyel. It is based on the theme of the “Andante” with variations. Pleyel was born June 1, 1757, in Ruppersthal, near Vienna, Austria, the twenty-fourth child of the village school master. He studied under Haydn in Vienna for five years, and later in Italy. He was appointed assistant director of music at Strasbourg Cathedral, and then director in 1789. This, however, was cut short by the French Revolution. He went to London in 1791 to conduct special concerts, and then moved to Paris in 1807, where he established a piano factory and a music publishing business. These enterprises were so successful that he devoted all his time to their operations and gave up musical composition. He died in Paris on November 4, 1831.

📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.