1 On what foundation do you build, neighbor,
Your hopes for the future fair?
Do your walls reach down to the rock below,
And rest securely there?
Sad wrecks be 'round you on the sand, neighbor,
The floods and the storms are near;
Will the strong blast hurl to the earth thy walls,
Or blanch thy cheek with fear?
Chorus:
On what foundation do you build, neighbor,
Your hopes for the future fair?
Do your walls reach down to the rock below,
And rest securely there?
2 On sure foundation would you build, neighbor?
Take heed to the Lord's commands;
Ever fast and firm, while the storms go by,
This Rock of Ages stands.
Alas, what folly 'tis to build, neighbor,
A mansion so fair, so grand,
With its costly walls and its lofty towers,
On Sin's delusive sand! [Chorus]
Source: Minnetonka Songs: for Sabbath Schools, compiled especially for the Minnetonka Sabbath-School Assembly #14
Philip P. Bliss (b. Clearfield County, PA, 1838; d. Ashtabula, OH, 1876) left home as a young boy to make a living by working on farms and in lumber camps, all while trying to continue his schooling. He was converted at a revival meeting at age twelve. Bliss became an itinerant music teacher, making house calls on horseback during the winter, and during the summer attending the Normal Academy of Music in Genesco, New York. His first song was published in 1864, and in 1868 Dwight L. Moody advised him to become a singing evangelist. For the last two years of his life Bliss traveled with Major D. W. Whittle and led the music at revival meetings in the Midwest and Southern United States. Bliss and Ira D. Sankey published a popular series of hym… Go to person page >
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