Scripture Verse

[God] hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth. Acts 17:26

Introduction

portrait
William P. Merrill (1867–1954)

Words: No­lan R. Best, 1909.

Music: Fra­ter­ni­ty Will­iam P. Merr­ill, 1908 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

Made of one blood with all on earth who dwell,
Born bro­thers of the near and far as well,
The child­ren of one sac­red Fa­ther­hood,
And com­mon heirs of uni­ver­sal good—
Grant us, who bow, O Lord,
Before Thy so­ve­reign face,
To learn with Thee to love
Our world en­circ­ling race.

Our el­der bro­ther to a mor­tal frame
His God-like glo­ry hum­bled and be­came
The fel­low of the poor, the sick man’s aid,
Defense of weak­ling, fin­der of the strayed.
Grant us to be, O Lord,
Disciples of His death,
And breathe His love to men
Through ev­ery liv­ing breath.

Amidst the trou­bled, griev­ing, ov­er­borne,
Among the help­less, hope­less, and for­lorn,
Engirt with ill and po­ver­ty and pain,
And bit­ter strife of greed for emp­ty gain—
Give us, O Lord, the sight
With Christ­ly eyes to see
The hid­den, soul-deep need
Of men for us and Thee.