Christ is made the sure Foundation,
Christ the Head and Cornerstone;
Chosen of the Lord, and precious,
Binding all the Church in one,
Holy Zion’s Help forever,
And her Confidence alone.

All that dedicated city,
Dearly loved of God on high,
In exultant jubilation,
Pours perpetual melody,
God the One in Three adoring
In glad hymns eternally.

To this temple, where we call Thee,
Come, O Lord of Hosts, today;
With Thy wonted lovingkindness
Hear Thy servants as they pray.
And Thy fullest benediction
Shed within its walls alway.

Here vouchsafe to all Thy servants
What they ask of Thee to gain;
What they gain from Thee forever
With the blessèd to retain,
And hereafter in Thy glory
Evermore with Thee to reign.

Laud and honor to the Father,
Laud and honor to the Son,
Laud and honor to the Spirit,
Ever Three and ever One;
Consubstantial, co-eternal,
While unending ages run.

Christ, of all my hopes the Ground;
Christ, the Spring of all my joy;
Still in Thee may I be found,
Still for Thee my powers employ,
Still for Thee my powers employ.

Let Thy love my heart inflame;
Keep Thy fear before my sight;
Be Thy praise my highest aim;
Be Thy smile my chief delight,
Be Thy smile my chief delight.

When affliction clouds my sky,
And the wintry tempests blow,
Let Thy mercy beaming eye
Sweetly cheer the night of woe.
Sweetly cheer the night of woe.

When new triumphs of Thy Name
Swell the raptured songs above,
May I feel a kindred flame,
Full of zeal, and full of love!
Full of zeal, and full of love!

Life’s best joy, to see Thy praise
Fly on wings of Gospel light,
Leading on millennial days,
Scattering all the shades of night!
Scattering all the shades of night!

Fountain of overflowing grace,
Freely from Thy fullness give;
Till I close my earthly race,
May I prove it “Christ to live!”
May I prove it “Christ to live!”

When, with wasting sickness worn,
Sinking to the grave I lie,
Or, by sudden anguish torn,
Startled nature dreads to die,
Startled nature dreads to die.

Jesus, my redeeming Lord,
Be Thou then in mercy near!
Let Thy smile of love afford
Full relief from all my fear,
Full relief from all my fear.

Firmly trusting in Thy blood,
Nothing shall my heart confound;
Safely I shall pass the flood,
Safely reach Emmanuel’s ground,
Safely reach Emmanuel’s ground.

When I touch the blessèd shore,
Back the closing waves shall roll;
Death’s dark stream shall never more
Part from Thee my ravished soul,
Part from Thee my ravished soul.

Thus, O thus, an entrance give
To the land of cloudless sky;
Having known it “Christ to live,”
Let me know it “gain to die,”
Let me know it “gain to die.”

Great God, a blessing from Your throne
Grant us who lay this cornerstone,
To build a church in which Your Word
Is purely taught and gladly heard.

The work is Yours and not our own;
Oh, come, and make Your presence known;
Our prayers accept, our off’ring bless,
Our labors crown with due success.

We are the people of Your choice,
And while we in this grace rejoice,
Our prayer is this, our constant care,
That others too our bliss may share.

Lord, here erect a blessèd home
Where Christ will ever bid us come,
From Him receiving grace for grace
Till we behold You face to face.

My heart was oppressed with the load of my sin,
And it bent with the weight of its woe;
At a touch of His hand all the burden fell off,
Do you wonder my loving Him so?

Refrain

My Savior is precious to me,
My Savior is precious to me,
And the more He is known by His loved and His own,
More precious He’s certain to be.

Then He filled me with peace that the world knoweth not,
That is with me wherever I go;
’Tis the very same calm that is filling His heart,
Do you wonder my loving Him so?

Refrain

Then He shelters, and blesses, and watches o’er me,
Be my pathway the high or the low;
I am safe, for His arm is protecting His child,
Do you wonder my loving Him so?

Refrain

Oh, will you not love Him who first lovèd you?
Just respond, and His sweetness you’ll know;
And never again will you want other love,
Nor will wonder my loving Him so.

Refrain

O Lord of hosts, whose glory fills
The bounds of the eternal hills,
And yet vouchsafes, in Christian lands,
To dwell in temples made with hands;

Grant that all we, who here today
Rejoicing this foundation lay,
May be in very deed Thine own.
Built on the precious Cornerstone.

Endue the creatures with Thy grace,
That shall adorn Thy dwelling place;
The beauty of the oak and pine,
The gold and silver, make them Thine.

To Thee they all belong; to Thee
The treasures of the earth and sea;
And when we bring them to Thy throne,
We but present Thee with Thine own.

Endue the hearts that guide with skill,
Preserve the hands that work from ill,
That we, who these foundations lay,
May raise the topstone in its day.

Both now and ever, Lord, protect
The temple of Thine own elect;
Be Thou in them, and they in Thee,
O ever blessèd Trinity!

On this stone now laid with prayer,
Let Thy church rise, strong and fair;
Ever, Lord, Thy Name be known,
Where we lay this cornerstone.

Let Thy holy Child, who came
Man from error to reclaim,
And for sinners to atone,
With Thee, bless this cornerstone.

Let the Spirit from above,
That once hovered like a dove
O’er the Jordan, hither flown
Hover o’er this cornerstone.

In the sinner’s troubled breast,
In the heart by care oppressed,
Let the seeds of truth be sown,
Where we’ve laid this cornerstone.

Open wide, O God, Thy door,
For the outcast and the poor,
Who can call no house their own,
Where we lay this cornerstone.

By wise master builders squared,
Here be living stones prepared
For the temple near Thy throne,
Jesus Christ its Cornerstone.