The Following Poem/Hymn, "Dedication Ode", 

Was Written By Fanny J. Crosby 

For The Cornerstone Ceremony Of The New 

1894 Ocean Grove NJ Auditorium (August 30. 1894).

Dedicated To The First Ocean Grove Camp Meeting 

President, Rev. Dr. Ellwood H. Stokes.

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V1:  God of Ages, God eternal!

Great Creator!, Mighty King!

What has been and is and shall be,

Teach, oh teach my tongue to sing.

Thou art here, the bright Shekinah,

Now descending from Thy Throne,

Resteth on Thy sacred temple,

While we lay its Corner Stone.

V2:  Brothers, sisters, what a moment!

Let our souls with rapture glow,

Shout with gladness as we shouted

Five and twenty years ago!

Hail our silver Anniversary,

Let the trees of Ocean Grove,

Wave their branches to the music,

Of Jehovah’s wondrous love.

V3:  Speak, O speak, majestic Ocean!

Tell of sermon, prayer, and song,

Wafted on thy heaving bosom,

While the billows heaved along.

Thousands here have found the Saviour,

Some have reached the golden shore,

And the grand old “Ship of Zion”

Waits to carry thousands more.

V4:  Here are those who bore their burden,

In the toil and heat of day,

Bringing wanderers out of darkness,

To the light of gospel day.

Doctor Stokes, like little children,

We are gathered round thee now,

Looking up to catch the radiance,

Beaming on thy placid brow.

V5:  Like a father thou has loved us,

Like a father still thou art,

May thy precept and example,

Arm with courage every heart.

O how ernest, kind and patient,

O how faithful thou hast been;

Listen while this vast assembly,

Answers with a loud Amen!

V6:  What we feel no words can utter,

Language fails our love to tell;

But perchance thy heart can read it,

While again we say farewell.

God be with thee, God protect thee,

Till thy voyage of life shall cease,

And thy barque shall drop its anchor,

In the sunny vales of peace.

V7:  We must not forget the leader,

Or the choral songs that ring,

Through our spacious Auditorium,

While our praise to God we sing;

Taught by hallowed inspiration,

How to wake those strains so dear,

At his post, as now, unwearied,

He has stood from year to year.

V8:  Brethren, sisters, though we sever;

Though we take the parting hand;

We are marching onward, upward,

Marching home to Canaan’s land.

Soon will come a blissful morning;

Breaking through a cloudless sky,

Then the meeting, glorious meeting,

Where we’ll never say “Good-bye”.

These words were sung at the Sunday Service on  August 28th, 1994, 

before the Cornerstone Ceremony following at 12:15pm. 

Rev. Dr. D. James Kennedy was the Preacher for that service.

(Maybe someone remembers the tune these words were set to that day? ).