And found in Christ alone;
: Lord, grant Thy little children,
To know Thee as their own.: ||

A. Midlane.

242

SHEPHERD of tender youth,

Guiding in love and truth, Through devious ways; Christ our triumphant King, We come Thy name to sing, And here our children bring, To shout Thy praise.

2 Thou art our holy Lord,
O all-subduing Word,
Healer of strife:

Thou didst Thyself abase,
That from sin's deep disgrace
Thou mightest save our race,
And give us life.

3 Thou art the great High-Priest;
Thou hast prepared the feast
Of holy love:

And in our mortal pain,

None call on Thee in vain;
Help Thou dost not disdain,
Help from above.

4 Ever be near our side,

Our Shepherd and our Guide,
Our Staff and Song:

Jesus, Thou Christ of God,
By Thine enduring Word
Lead us where Thou hast trod;
Make our faith strong.

5 So now, until we die,
Sound we Thy praises high,
And joyful sing:
Let all the holy throng,
Who to Thy church belong,
Unite and swell the song
To Christ our King!

Clement of Alexandria.

H. M. Dexter, Tr.

243

THE truest Friend abides in heaven;

On earth our friends are rare and few;
The world to faithlessness is given;
Her children often prove untrue:
And therefore I must here contend
That Jesus is my truest Friend.

2 Men like a cradle sway and falter,
But Jesus like a rock doth stand;
Though storms of woe my fortune alter,
He holds me firmly by the hand:
Yea, He stands by me to the end,
So Jesus is my truest Friend.

3 For me He suffers crucifixion,

For me He sheds His precious blood, He lends me help in my affliction,

His counsels all are wise and good:
Upon His word I may depend,
And thus He is my truest Friend.

4 My Friend, such faithfulness possessing;
My Friend, whose own I am for aye;
My Friend, so tender and caressing;
My Friend e'en unto death will stay.
Then let me evermore contend
That Jesus is my truest Friend.

244

B. Schmolcke. H. Brueckner, Tr.

THERE is a gentle Gardner,
Who owns a garden fair,
Where countless blooming flowers
Enjoy His tender care,

Where countless blooming flowers
Enjoy His tender care.

2 He grants them radiant sunshine,
And soft, refreshing rain;

Thus nurtured, they must flourish.
And sweetest fragrance gain.: ||

3 They fondly love the Gard'ner,
And all to Him incline,

|: While with their clinging tendrils They seek Him to entwine. :

4 And when their day is ended He takes them to His breast,

||: And heavenward He bears them To regions ever blest. : ||

5 There shall those flowers glisten
In beauty evermore,

: Nor cold nor frost shall blight them
On that celestial shore. :!|

6 Thou Gard'ner true and gentle,
Care for us every day,

That we in yonder garden

May thrive and bloom for aye. : ||

245

M. von Schenkendorf.
H. Brueckner, Tr.

WITH noiseless step an angel

Doth pass through ev'ry land; No human eye can see him, Though he is near at hand. From heaven, the eternal home,

God sent him, here on earth to roam.

2 From house to house he wanders,
And where a child obeys

Its father and its mother,
The kindly angel stays

To give the child his faithful care,
And to attend it everywhere.

3 He shares its joyful moments,
And guards it while at play;
He teaches it to study

And promptly to obey.

Of all he says the child takes heed,
And so improves in word and deed.

K. L. T. Lieth. H. Brueckner, Tr.

246

HUSH'D was the evening hymn,
The temple courts were dark;
The lamp was burning dim
Before the sacred ark;

When suddenly a voice divine

Rang through the silence of the shrine.

2 The old man, meek and mild, The priest of Israel, slept; His watch the temple-child,

The little Levite, kept;

And what from Eli's sense was sealed,
The Lord to Hannah's son revealed.

3 O give me Samuel's ear,

The open ear, O Lord,
Alive and quick to hear

Each whisper of Thy Word;
Like him to answer at Thy call,
And to obey Thee first of all.
4 O give me Samuel's heart,
A lowly heart that waits
Where in Thy house Thou art,
Or watches at Thy gates

By day and night; a heart that still
Moves at the breathing of Thy will.

5 O give me Samuel's mind,

A sweet, unmurmuring faith, Obedient and resigned

To Thee in life and death;

That I may read with child-like eyes
Truths that are hidden from the wise.

J. D. Burns.