p. 12 | The Home Circle

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 20, 1889

The Home Circle.

Let everyone, whate'er his calling be,

Therein abide with God; so wrote of old

Saint Paul to them at Corinth, and to me,

With loving lips, to-night, that truth was told.

I had grown weary with my strifes and cares,

And murmured o'er the service of the day,

Wherein I had forgotten, unawares,

That thus I still might honor and obey.

Therein abide with God; would I might ne'er forget

That evermore I might with him abide;

What matters how or where the stamp is set,

Or what the furnace where the gold is tried,

So that the metal has the sterling ring,

So that the likeness of the King is shown;

God's coinage still, that to the soul may bring

Such wealth as merchant princes have not known.

So let me see and serve, and thus abide;

Not simply patient, or at best content,

Not with eye service, wherein, love denied,

In rounds of duty solemn days are spent;

Give me, O Lord, a joy that is divine;

Touch thou my lips with constant themes of praise;

Since, having thee, all things I need are mine,

Whate'er my lot, whate'er my length of days.

—New York Observer.