Scripture Verse

I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18

Introduction

portrait
Arthur C. Coxe (1818–1896)

Words: Ar­thur C. Coxe, 1839. At the 1873 ge­ne­ral con­fer­ence of the Ev­an­gel­ic­al Al­li­ance in New York Ci­ty, Pre­si­dent Wool­sey of Yale Uni­ver­si­ty quot­ed the first stan­za of this hymn while speak­ing of the world’s skep­tic­al at­ti­tude to­ward pray­er. The ap­plause was thun­der­ous.

Music: Tal­lis’ Or­di­nal Tho­mas Tal­lis, cir­ca 1567 (🔊 pdf nwc).

illustration
Egyptian Temple
Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre, 1840

Lyrics

O where are kings and empires now
Of old, that went and came?
But Lord, Thy Church is praying yet,
A thousand years the same.

We mark her goodly battlements
And her foundations strong;
We hear, within, the solemn voice
Of her unending song.

For not like kingdoms of the world
Thy holy Church, O God,
Though earthquake shocks are threatening her,
And tempests are abroad.

Unshaken as eter­nal hills,
Immovable she stands,
A mountain that shall fill the earth,
A house not made by hands.