I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven.
Exodus 32:13
Words: Benjamin T. Tanner, 1882.
Music: Our Fathers’ Church Levi J. Coppin, 1882 (🔊 pdf nwc).
We are the children of the church,
Our mothers reared by prayer;
The church our fathers fortified,
By faith and manly care.
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Our fathers’ church—our mothers’ church—
Is just the church for me;
Our fathers’ church—our mothers’ church—
Mine evermore shall be.
Strong are its massive gates and wide,
Its walls a towering pile;
Alike impregnable to all
Who would its courts defile.
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Numerous its people as the stars,
As pledged in days of old;
And will be as the countless sand,
A number yet untold.
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And stirred it is by lofty aims,
Of love toward man and God,
And will be till the world accepts
Messiah’s staff and rod.
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How glorious then, this heritage,
Burdened with storied wealth,
Enriching us and all mankind
With life, and peace, and health.
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As gathered on the Children’s Day
We at its altars vow,
To mark its bulwarks, tell its towers,
And hold our place as now.
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