Scripture Verse

Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17

Introduction

Words: Tho­mas C. Neal, in The Sil­ver Spray, by How­ard Doane (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: John Church, 1871), page 87.

Music: W. How­ard Doane (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

portrait
W. Howard Doane (1832–1915)

Lyrics

There’s a book which sur­pass­es the sag­es,
A vol­ume of wis­dom di­vine,
And the glo­ry that gleams from its pag­es,
No splen­dor of earth can out­shine.

Refrain

We’ll cling to the Bi­ble,
Light of ev­ery land;
When foes shall as­sault,
We’ll ne­ver, ne­ver fail
To de­fend it, heart and hand;
By the Bi­ble we will stand,
Like a true and val­iant ar­my,
At the Lord’s com­mand.

’Tis the light which will guide us to glo­ry,
The sword of the Spi­rit of might;
And to dwell on its beau­ti­ful sto­ry,
Is of Hea­ven the sweet­est de­light.

Refrain

It re­veals where the foun­tain is flow­ing,
Which wash­es the soul from its stain;
Age and sor­row are com­fort­ed know­ing,
With earth they shall part with their pain.

Refrain