What time the evening shadows fall
Around the Church on earth,
When darker forms of doubt appall,
And new false lights have birth;
Then closer should her faithful band
For truth together hold,
Hell’s last devices to withstand,
And safely guard her fold.

O Father, in that hour of fear,
Thy Church on earth do keep,
Thine altar to the last to rear,
And feed Thy fainting sheep;
May she the holy truths attest
Apostles taught of yore,
Nor quit the faith by saints confessed,
Though tempted ne’er so sore.

O Christ, who for Thy flock didst pray
That all might be as one,
Unite us all ere fades the day,
Thou sole begotten Son;
The East, the West, together bind
In love’s unbroken chain;
Give each one hope, one heart, one mind,
One glory, and one gain.

O Spirit, Lord of light and life,
The Church with strength renew,
Compose the angry voice of strife,
All jealousies subdue;
Do Thou in ever quickening streams
Upon Thy saints descend,
And warm them with reviving beams,
And guide them to the end.

Great Three in One, great One in Three,
Our hymns of prayer receive,
And teach us all from sin to flee,
And live as we believe;
So, pure in faith, our thoughts and speech,
And acts that faith shall own;
So shall we to Thy presence reach,
And know as we are known.