Scripture Verse

Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. Matthew 7:24–25

Introduction

portrait
Fanny Crosby (1820–1915)

Words: Fan­ny Cros­by, in Songs of Tri­umph, ed­it­ed by John S. Ins­kip (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Na­tion­al Pub­lish­ing As­so­cia­tion for Pro­mo­tion of Ho­li­ness, 1882), num­ber 69.

Music: John R. Swe­ney (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
John Sweney (1837–1899)

Lyrics

O, what is thy hope for the fu­ture,
And what of thy­self canst thou say?
Art thou com­ing re­pent­ant to Je­sus,
Or griev­ing the Spir­it away?
Art thou build­ing a house that will per­ish,
Or one that for­ev­er will stand?
Remember the fate of the fool­ish man
That trust­ed the sink­ing sand.

Refrain

The blood of the cru­ci­fied Sav­ior
Was shed on the cross for thee;
But what is thy hope for the fu­ture,
Thy hope for eter­ni­ty?

O, what is thy hope for the fu­ture?
’Tis time thou shouldst think of thy soul,
When the mo­ments like ar­rows are fly­ing,
And the years, oh how swift­ly they roll.
Art thou stor­ing the les­sons of wis­dom,
So pa­tient­ly taught by thy Lord?
Or care­less­ly tread­ing be­neath thy feet
The pearls of His pre­cious Word?

Refrain

Say, what is thy hope for the fu­ture,
And where is thy ha­ven? O where?
Art thou near­ing the har­bor of glo­ry,
Or near­ing the brink of des­pair?
While the Sav­ior still waits to be gra­cious,
Make haste, and His par­don im­plore;
Make haste, or the mer­cy that warns thee now,
Will plead with thy soul no more.

Refrain