A ho­ly state is wed­ded life,
And blest, where God joins man and wife:
A type of Je­sus and His bride,
Beloved and hon­ored at His side.

Where man­ly worth and gen­tle grace
In god­li­ness keep step apace,
There wed­ded love grows ne­ver stale,
Nor Hea­ven’s bless­ings ev­er fail.

Where by the Word the Lord is guest,
And all through faith and pray­er is blest,
There with God’s grace will all be filled.
And God Him­self that house will build.

The skill­ful hand and strong­er arm,
Still plied with zeal and ar­dor warm,
With watch­ful eye and fru­gal care,
Full soon a com­pe­tence pre­pare.

This chaste es­tate of pa­ra­dise,
Is left to man be­low the skies;
Prolific har­bin­ger of good,
Perennial fount of bro­ther­hood:

From this all sta­tions em­an­ate,
The home, the Church, and pow­ers of state;
Blest nur­se­ry of vir­tu­ous worth,
Be thou held sac­red still on earth!