Scripture Verse

The Lord is the rock eternal. Isaiah 26:4

Introduction

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Edward H. Bickersteth, Jr. (1825–1906)

Words: Ed­ward H. Bick­er­steth, Jr., 1860. In his book The Two Bro­thers, 1871, Bick­er­steth gives the date of this hymn as 1862, but in his an­no­ta­tion on the hymn, pub­lished in The Hym­nal Com­pan­ion, 1880, he said it was writ­ten in 1860.

Music: Schu­bert ar­ranged from Franz Schu­bert by Will­iam W. Gil­christ, 1895 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

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Franz P. Schubert
1797–1828

Lyrics

O God, the rock of ag­es,
Who ev­er­more hast been,
What time the tem­pest rages,
Our dwell­ing place se­rene:
Before Thy first cre­ations,
O Lord, the same as now,
To end­less ge­ne­ra­tions,
The ev­er­last­ing Thou.

Our years are like the sha­dows
On sun­ny hills that lie,
Or grass­es in the mea­dows
That bloss­om but to die;
A sleep, a dream, a sto­ry
By stran­gers quick­ly told
An un­re­main­ing glo­ry
Of things that soon are old.

O Thou, who dost not slum­ber,
Whose light grows ne­ver pale,
Teach us aright to num­ber
Our years be­fore they fail;
On us Thy mer­cy light­en,
On us Thy good­ness rest,
And let Thy Spi­rit brighten
The hearts Thy­self hast blessed.

Lord, crown our faith’s en­dea­vor
With beau­ty and with grace,
Till, clothed in light for­ev­er,
We see Thee face to face:
A joy no lang­uage mea­sures,
A foun­tain brim­ming o’er,
An end­less flow of plea­sures,
An ocean with­out shore.