Words: , 1839. At the 1873 gen­er­al con­fer­ence of the Evan­gel­i­cal Al­li­ance in New York Ci­ty, Pre­si­dent Wool­sey of Yale Un­i­ver­si­ty quot­ed the first stan­za of this hymn while speak­ing of the world’s skep­ti­cal at­ti­tude to­ward pray­er. The ap­plause was thun­der­ous.

Music: Tall­is’ Or­din­al, , cir­ca 1567.


O where are kings and empires now
Of old, that went and came?
But Lord, Thy Church is praying yet,
A thousand years the same.

We mark her goodly battlements
And her foundations strong;
We hear, within, the solemn voice
Of her unending song.

For not like kingdoms of the world
Thy holy Church, O God,
Though earthquake shocks are threat’ning her,
And tempests are abroad.

Unshaken as eternal hills,
Immovable she stands,
A mountain that shall fill the earth,
A house not made by hands.