Endeavor's Corner-Stone

[Read at the laying of the corner stone of the Christian Endeavor Headquarters Building Boston July 18, 1917.]

Lift the building fair and strong,
Sink its pillars firm and sure,
Crown its cornices with song,
Frame its portals to endure.
What shall be the corner-stone?
Jesus Christ and He alone.
Prophets and apostles all,
Workers faithful, workers true.
They have wrought upon the wall,
Building better than they knew,
They are not the corner-stone;
It is Jesus Christ alone.
Yes, and he whose flaming soul
Manned it all with loving skill,
He who labored on the whole,
And who leads the workers still,–
He is not the corner-stone:
It is Jesus Christ alone.
Jesus Christ, whose will august
Is our life and truth and way;
Jesus Christ, in whom we trust
For the power to obey,–
Jesus Christ, and He alone,
Is the building’s corner stone
Jesus Christ, whose boundless love
Binds the youth of every land,
With a tie all strife above,
Into one united band,
Him with brother hearts we own
Our unbroken corner-stone.
Jesus Christ, the shepherd true
Of the sheep of many folds,
Who in one benignant view
All His differing churches holds,
Him with comrade hearts we own
Our unsevered corner-stone.
Jesus Christ, who bids us go
Or unresting stay behind,
Till the field or face the foe
With the same courageous mind,
As Endeavor’s guide we own
Christ, the four-square corner-stone.
Framed in Jesus, fitly framed
May the noble building rise,
Temple of the Lord acclaimed,
Of the earth and of the skies,
All its fair proportions grown
Out of Christ, its corner stone.