The Church's One Foundation

Samuel J. Stone (1839-1900) 1866, 1868
Composer - Samuel S. Wesley (1810-1876) 1864
Ephesians 5:23

1.    The Church-'s one foun-da-tion Is Je-sus Christ her Lord;
        She is His new cre-a-tion By wa-ter and the Word:
        From heav'n He came and sought her To be His ho-ly bride;
        With His own blood He bought her, And for her life He died.

2.    E-lect from ev-'ry 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 bless-es, Par-takes one ho-ly food,
        And to one hope she press-es, With ev-'ry grace en-dued.

3.    '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 blest,
        And the great Church vic-to-rious Shall be the Church at rest.

4.    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.

5^a.    Though with a scorn-ful won-der Men see her sore op-pressed,
        By schisms rent a-sun-der, 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.

^a (Used as verse 3) Northfield Hymnal No. 3, The Bookstore, The Northfield Schools, East Northfield, Mass. 1918
^a (Used as verse 3) The Hymnal for Youth, The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1951