The Church's One Foundation

Lyrics

The Church's one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation
by water and the word:
from heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy Bride;
with his own blood he bought her
and for her life he died.

Elect from every nation,
yet one o'er all the earth,
her charter of salvation
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses
with every grace endued.

Mid toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war,
she waits the consummation
of peace for evermore;
till with the vision glorious
her longing eyes are blest,
and the great Church victorious
shall be the Church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union
with God the three in One,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is won:
O happy ones and holy!
Lord give us grace that we,
like them the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.

History

Samuel John Stone wrote this hymn for his Lyra Fidelium (1866), a set of twelve hymns on the twelve articles of the Apostles' Creed, published in part as a response to the controversy stirred by John William Colenso, Anglican bishop of Natal, whose book had questioned parts of Scripture and some articles of faith. This hymn takes the ninth article, 'the holy catholic church, the communion of saints': the Church as Christ's 'new creation', bought 'with his own blood', 'elect from every nation, yet one o'er all the earth', waiting through 'toil and tribulation' for the day when 'the great Church victorious shall be the Church at rest'. Stone's text originally had seven stanzas; he added three more in 1885 for processional use at Salisbury Cathedral. Hymnary.org lists it with tunes including AURELIA (Samuel S. Wesley), WEBB and WIE LIEBLICH IST DER MAIEN.

Stone was born at Whitmore, Staffordshire, on 25 April 1839, and educated at Charterhouse and Pembroke College, Oxford, taking his BA in 1862. On taking holy orders he served as a curate at Windsor from 1862 and at St Paul's, Haggerston, from 1870, succeeding his father, the Revd William Stone, at St Paul's in 1874. Besides Lyra Fidelium he published The Knight of Intercession and Other Poems (1872), Sonnets of the Christian Year (1875) and a collected Hymns (1886). He died on 19 November 1900.

Performance

This recording by St Martin's Voices runs to just under three minutes: a short organ introduction leads into four verses, closing with a brief organ postlude.

Sources: hymnary.org · St Martin's Voices recording and Words book (Words_for_9th_Sunday_after_Trinity.docx): 'Samuel John Stone (1839-1900)', '(Public Domain)'