Give Thou Thy Youth to God

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.