Scripture Verse

How great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty! Corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids. Zechariah 9:17

Introduction

Words: Ro­bert F. Gor­don, in Dain­ty Songs for Lit­tle Lads and Lass­es (New York: John Church, 1887).

Music: James R. Mur­ray (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Gor­don (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
James Murray (1841–1905)

Lyrics

For Christ is our en­dea­vor,
Our hearts to Him be­long;
His pre­sence cheers us ev­er,
His love in­spires our song;
We come in youth’s bright morn­ing,
Obedient to His Word;
And seek for our ad­orn­ing,
The beau­ty of the Lord:
And seek for our ad­orn­ing,
The beau­ty of the Lord.

In full­ness of His mer­cy,
Good work for Him we do;
His name with joy con­fess­ing,
His stand­ard bear­ers true:
And He will nev­er fail us,
Whatever may be­tide;
Tho’ dan­ger should as­sail us,
In Him we safe ab­ide:
Tho’ dan­ger should as­sail us,
In Him we safe ab­ide.

So with youth’s ar­dor glow­ing,
We will­ing serv­ice give;
The mind of Je­sus know­ing,
We for His hon­or live:
For He is our en­dea­vor,
And to Him we be­long;
Whose grace shall nev­er fail us,
Whose love in­spires our song:
Whose grace shall nev­er fail us,
Whose love in­spires our song.