The lighthouse founded on a rock

Author: James Montgomery
Published in 1 hymnal

Representative Text

The lighthouse founded on a rock,
Casts o'er the flood its radiant eye,
Firm amidst ocean's heaviest shock,
Serene beneath the stormiest sky.

Though winds and waters rage and foam,
Though darkness lowers like Egypt's night,
Here peace and safety find a home;
In this small Goshen there is light.

Nor for itself it stands alone,
The seaman's friend, it shines from far,
As though an angel from the throne
Came down to be his leading star.

It warns to shun the breakers near,
Smooth into port the vessel guides,
Points where a wider course to steer,
Shows how to 'scape conflicting tides.

Thus built upon eternal truth,
High in mid-heaven o'er land and sea,
Christ's Church holds forth to age and youth
A beacon and a sanctuary.

147
Light, peace, and safety dwell within,
Abroad its sunbright beams display,
Clear from the rocks and shoals of sin,
Through life and death, the one good way.

Sacred Poems and Hymns

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

Author: James Montgomery

James Montgomery (b. Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1771; d. Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, 1854), the son of Moravian parents who died on a West Indies mission field while he was in boarding school, Montgomery inherited a strong religious bent, a passion for missions, and an independent mind. He was editor of the Sheffield Iris (1796-1827), a newspaper that sometimes espoused radical causes. Montgomery was imprisoned briefly when he printed a song that celebrated the fall of the Bastille and again when he described a riot in Sheffield that reflected unfavorably on a military commander. He also protested against slavery, the lot of boy chimney sweeps, and lotteries. Associated with Christians of various persuasions, Montgomery supported missio… Go to person page >

^ top