The church's one found-a-tion
Is Je-sus Christ her Lord,
She is His new cre-a-tion
By wa-ter and the Word.
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His ho-ly bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
E-lect from every na-tion,
Yet one o'er all the earth;
Her char-ter of sal-va-tion,
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One ho-ly Name she bles-ses,
Par-takes one ho-ly food,
And to one hope she pres-ses,
With ev-ery grace en-dued.
Though with a scorn-ful won-der
We see her sore op-pressed,
By schis-ms rent a-sund-er,
By her-e-sies dis-tressed,
Yet saints their watch are keep-ing;
Their cry goes up, "How long?"
And soon the night of weep-ing
Shall be the morn of song.
Mid toil and trib-u-la-tion,
And tu-mult of her war,
She waits the con-sum-ma-tion
Of peace for-ev-er-more;
Till, with the vi-sion glo-rious,
Her long-ing eyes are blessed,
And the great church vic-tor-ious
Shall be the church at rest.
Yet she on earth hath un-ion
With God the Three in One,
And mys-tic sweet com-mun-ion
With those whose rest is won.
O hap-py ones and ho-ly!
Lord, give us grace that we
Like them, the meek and low-ly,
On high may dwell with Thee.