Scripture Verse

Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee. Psalm 63:1

Introduction

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Horatius Bonar (1808–1889)

Words: Ho­ra­ti­us Bo­nar, The Song of the New Cre­ation (Lon­don: James Nis­bet, 1872), pag­es 117–21.

Music: Den­nis Hans G. Nä­ge­li (1773–1836). Ar­ranged by Lo­well Ma­son in The Psal­te­ry, 1845 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

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Lowell Mason (1792–1872)

Lyrics

Give thou thy youth to God,
With all its budding love;
Send up thy opening heart to Him,
Fix it on One above.

He seeks thy heart, my child,
He wants to make thee blest;
Thy soul with His own joy to fill,
To give thee peace and rest.

Be early wise for Hea­ven,
Choose thou the narrow way;
The gate is strait, the road is rough,
But it will end in day.

Shun the vain, giddy crowd!
Its shows, and snares, and lies;
Above its beauty and its love,
Lift thou thy wandering eyes.

Set thou thy heart on truth!
The way of truth is one.
Shun error, sweet though it may be;
Look upward to the sun.

One Sun there is above,
One sun of light below;
Take the one light from the one Sun,
So shall thy light o’er­flow.

Love thou the book of God,
Prize every holy line;
Steep in its truth thy thirs­ty soul,
And claim each hope as thine.

Know thou the God of love;
Seek thou thy joy in Him,
A joy that shall endure and bless,
When other joys grow dim.

Take thou the side of God,
In things or great or small;
So shall He ever take thy side,
And bear thee safe through all.

Aim high! thou wert not made
To grovel in the ground:
Aim high! this life is not the last;
The higher lies be­yond.

Quail not before the bad,
Be brave for truth and right;
Fear God alone, and ev­er walk
As in His holy sight.

Each stroke the mar­ble molds,
And every touch the clay;
Each sunbeam rising from the deep
Unfolds the gorgeous day.

So does each lit­tle word,
Or wish, or deed, or plan,
Each hour’s im­pres­sion, help to give
Form to the fu­ture man.

Shun what is low or mean,
Be generous and true;
The noble models of the past—
Keep them before thy view.

Stoop not to brood on self,
Check the self-pi­ty­ing tone;
Rise above self and self­ish thoughts,
And learn to stand alone.

Alone, with on­ly God
For guidance and for light,
For wisdom and for sym­pa­thy,
For counsel and for might.

Love the broad fields of earth,
Its ever mirthful flow­ers;
The fragrance of its wav­ing boughs,
Alike in sun and show­ers.

Love all that God hath made,
Each bud, each leaf, and gem;
They shine all fair in Him, and He
Shines beauteously in them.

Read thou the real and true,
Lest thou become a lie,
Thy life a fiction, and thy words
Mere words of mock­e­ry.

Dread un­re­al­i­ty,
And be what thou dost seem:
The true is fairer than the false,
Whatever men may dream.

Be real to thy­self,
Be real to thy God,
Be real to thy fel­low men;
Keep thou the one true road.

Bend the ex­pect­ant knee,
Love the still hour of pray­er;
Go to the seat of God, and pour
Thy heart’s deep full­ness there.

Seest thou yon cross afar?
There died the Son of God:
That cross, it leads and beck­ons thee
Along the hea­ven­ly road.