In distant Europe oft I've longed to see
This quiet Vale of Grace ; to list the sound
Of lulling brooks and moaning turtles round
The apostle Schmidt's old consecrated tree;
To hear the hymns of solemn melody
Rising from the sequestered burial ground;
To see the heathen taught, the lost sheep found,
The blind restored, the long-oppressed set free.
All this I've witnessed now — and pleasantly
Its memory shall in my heart remain;
But yet more close familiar ties there be
That bind me to this spot with grateful chain —
For it hath been a Sabbath Home to me,
Through lingering months of solitude and pain.
The town of Genadendal in the Western Cape was founded on the site of the oldest mission station in what is now South Africa.