p. 286 | The Home Circle by Marianne Farningham

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 22, 1882

The Home Circle.

By Marianne Farningham

THOU KNOWEST.

We do not know! Thou knowest! As children in the dark We lift our hearts, our hands to thee, And find a rest, an ark; We trust thee in our ignorance, O Wise, O Good, O Strong! And though the shades encompass us, We find thee with our song.

We think we know, thou knowest. We dream, and hope, and plan, And make mistakes, and sigh to know How frail and weak is man; But thou, from the beginning Canst see the end of all. We rest upon thy knowledge, Father, on whom we call.

We do not know the best for us, And so we strive in vain, And for our sowing often reap A harvest dire of pain; We fail and fall, and then at last We cry to thee for aid, And only rest when thou dost say "‘Tis I, be not afraid."

O God, we would be wiser yet, And only pray, "Choose thou!" Lead as one leads the little ones, We are thy children now, And day by day, and step by step We need the guiding hand; Oh, let us cling to thee, until We reach the safe Home-land.

And then, let days be fair or dark, The journey short or long, Our hearts will rest in comfort, And we will sing our song; Since thou dost know, our ignorance And weakness matter not, We trust in thy great love, O God, And thou dost choose our lot. —Marianne Farningham.