O God, Before Whose Altar

486 O God, Before Whose Altar

1 O God, before whose altar
   The stars like tapers burn,
   At whose inscrutable decree
   The planets wheel and turn,
   Though earth and sea and heaven
   Unite thy praise to sing,
   Man in his weakness yet may give
   A worthier offering.

2 Those who gave up life's bounty
   To serve a race to be,
   Whose bones lie white along the trail
   Which leads the world to thee;
   Those who when fears beset them
   Stand fast and fight and die,
   Their unconsidered lives go up
   Like incense to the sky.

3 All those oppressed or lonely
   Or long at strife with pain,
   Who face the darkness undismayed
   And turn their loss to gain,
   Those who with love and meekness
   Outlast the years of wrong,
   Their silent courage pleads to heaven
   More eloquent than song.

4 O Lord, be ours the glory
   Beyond all earthly fame,
   Like those to conquer for thy sake
   Despair and doubt and shame;
   Till through a world made noble,
   Through lands from sin set free,
   The armies of the living God
   Shall march to victory.
                         P. H. B. Lyon
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Well, this hymn, which I don't recall ever singing, is only in about eight hymnals. Seems the author spent most of his career as a headmaster at various boys' school in England.
</idle musing>