254. Dedication Hymn of All Souls Church, Lloyd, 24. Invitation, 73 B.

Like stars upon a troubled sea
Shine out the altars fair,

Where longings of the centuries

Have voiced themselves in prayer.
A guide to tempted, wandering hearts,
A strength in sorrow's hour,
A peace within the common lives
They touched with holy power.

We seek the good those altars held,
Yet read their message clear,
To loyally receive the light

God sends us now and here.
Within these walls may worship fill
Our waiting souls anew,
A present help within our lives
To make them pure and true.

Arr. from LUDWIG SPOHR (1784-1859).

Lord, it is good abiding here-
We cry, the heavenly presence near:
The vision vanishes, our eyes
Are lifted into vacant skies!

Yet hath one such exalted hour
Upon the soul redeeming power,
And in its strength through weary days
We travel our appointed ways.

The mount for vision,-but below
The paths of daily duty go,
Wherein a nobler life shall own
The pattern on the mountain shown.

F. L. HOSMER.

258. I Am so Weak. Dennis, 73A.

Father, I am so weak!

Let me Thy presence feel,
Take now my tired hands in Thine
And bless me as I kneel.

Renew my failing strength,
And teach me how to rise,
And, bearing all my heavy load,
To seek Thy bluer skies.

Let me not wait nor stay,

Nor to the past return,

But kindle still my fainting heart With zeal anew to burn,

Till I shall see Thy love
In every cross I bear;

And, keeping close my hands in Thine,
Shall trust Thee everywhere.

J. E. MCCAINE.

259. Refracted Lights.

Invitation, 73B.

The evening star that softly sheds
Its tender light on me,

Hath other place in the heavenly blue
Than that I seem to see.

Too faint and slender is that beam
To keep its pathway true,
In the vast space of cloud and mist
It seeks an exit through.

Nor light of star, nor truth of God,

Through earth-born clouds and doubt, Can straightway pierce the hearts of men And drive the darkness out.

On bent, misshapen lines of faith
We backward strive to trace
The love and glory that we ne'er
Could look on face to face.

Each fails, through dim and wandering sight,

The vision whole to see,
But none are there so poor and blind
But catch some glimpse of Thee,-
Some knowledge of the better way,
And of that life divine,

Of which our yearning hope is both
The prophecy and sign.

CELIA P. WOOLLEY.