That This Boon to Mortals Giv'n

Secret Prayer 
Words and music by Hans Henry Peterson 1835-1909

Words
There is an hour of peace and rest, Unmarred by earthly care; ’Tis when before the Lord I go And kneel in secret prayer. [Chorus] May my heart be turned to pray, Pray in secret day by day, That this boon to mortals giv’n May unite my soul with heav’n.  

The straight and narrow way to heav’n, Where angels bright and fair Are singing to God’s praise, is found Thru constant secret prayer.  [Chorus] May my heart be turned to pray, Pray in secret day by day, That this boon to mortals giv’n May unite my soul with heav’n.  

When sailing on life’s stormy sea, ’Mid billows of despair, ’Tis solace to my soul to know God hears my secret prayer.  [Chorus] May my heart be turned to pray, Pray in secret day by day, That this boon to mortals giv’n May unite my soul with heav’n.  


When thorns are strewn along my path, And foes my feet ensnare, My Savior to my aid will come, If sought in secret prayer.  [Chorus] May my heart be turned to pray, Pray in secret day by day, That this boon to mortals giv’n May unite my soul with heav’n.  

Links
Secret Prayer

What I Learned
I have song this song many many times, but recently as I was singing, I realized I had no idea what the meaning of the words "That this boon to mortals giv'n May unite my soul with heaven"
I noticed this word was repeated each chorus, so when the song was written it must have meant something of significance to Hans Peterson.  If it was an important word to him, I too wanted it clearly understand the meaning of the word "boon".

I pondered a while what the word boon could mean given the context, and I had a few conflicting ideas. (Trials, Blessings)  Upon asking others, I quickly learned that many people also had no idea what "boon"meant, or they were just guessing from the context of the sentence.

So, as when I am stumped, I thought I should try to Google it.  I came up with a number of different definitions depending on the website.

boon¹

bo͞on/

noun

1. 1.

   a thing that is helpful or beneficial.

   "the navigation system will be a boon to both civilian and military users"

   synonyms:

   blessing, godsend, bonus, plus, benefit, advantage, help, aid, asset;More
2. 2.

   archaic

   a favor or request.

   "may I have the inestimable boon of a few minutes' conversation?"

Noun[edit]

boon (plural boons)

1. (obsolete) A prayer; petition.  [quotations ▼]
2. (archaic) That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift; a favour; benefaction; a grant; a present.  [quotations ▼]
3. A good; a blessing or benefit; a great privilege; a thing to be thankful for.  [quotations ▼]

   Finding the dry cave was a boon to the weary travellers.   Anaesthetics are a great boon to modern surgery.

4. (UK dialectal) An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.

boon

noun [C usually singular] UK   /buːn/ US  

     

› something that is very helpful and improves the quality of life:Guide dogs are a great boon to the partially sighted.

(Definition of boon from the Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

Google, yet again seemed to find just what I needed.  

For me personally,  I had to mix a few different meanings together to make the most sense.

That this (very helpful, improving life, prayer and  blessing) is given to men and will allow my soul (sincere words, thoughts and feelings ) to reach heaven.

The next time I sing these words, this song will have a whole new feel (understanding, meaning etc)