FOUNDATION.
Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.—Psalm cii. 25.
Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.—Isaiah, xxviii. 16.
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.—I. Corinthians, iii. 10, 11.
Why build ye on the unsteady sand,
A worthless house that cannot stand?
Behold, in winter’s stormy day,
That frail support will glide away,
And rising billows lightly sweep
Your fortress to the yawning deep.
God hath a sure foundation given,
Fix’d as the firm decrees of heaven:
The changeless, everlasting rock,
That braves the storm, and bides the shock;
There build: the gates of hell in vain
Against that rock their war maintain.
Christ is the rock, the corner stone,
Faith rears her beauteous house thereon;
Adorn’d with works of willing love,
And pointing to the scenes above;
Where faith and hope their sway resign,
Swallow’d in sight and joy divine.
Charlotte Elizabeth.
I built my house upon a rock,
(Faith’s strong foundation firm and sure,)
Fixed my abode, the heaviest shock
Of time and tempest to endure.
Nor small, nor large, nor low, nor high,
Midway it stands upon the steep,
Beneath the storm-mark of the sky,
Above the flood-mark of the deep.
And here I humbly wait, while He
Who pluck’d me from the lowest hell,
Prepares a heavenly house for me,
And calls me hence with Him to dwell.
J. Montgomery.