Scripture Verse

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Matthew 7:25–26

Introduction

Words: Fan­ny Cros­by, in Songs of Joy and Glad­ness No. 2 (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts & Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Mc­Don­ald & Gill, 1890). Some hym­nals give the au­thor as Hen­ri­et­ta E. Blair, one of Fan­ny’s pseu­do­nyms.

Music: Her­bert D. Lo­throp (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Lo­throp (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Fanny Crosby (1820–1915)

Lyrics

We are build­ing in sor­row,
And build­ing in joy,
A tem­ple the world can­not see;
But we know it will stand
If we found it on a rock,
Thro’ the ag­es of eter­ni­ty.

Refrain

We are build­ing day by day
As the mo­ments glide away,
Our tem­ple which the world may not see;
Every vic­to­ry won by grace
Will be sure to find its place,
In our build­ing for eter­ni­ty.

Every deed forms a part
In this build­ing of ours,
That is done in the name of the Lord;
For the love that we show
And the kind­ness we be­stow,
He has pro­mised us a bright re­ward.

Refrain

Then be watch­ful and wise,
Let the tem­ple we rear
Be one that no tem­pest can shock
For the Mas­ter has said,
And He taught us in His Word,
We must build upon the sol­id rock.

Refrain