There is a house not made with hands,
Eternal and on high;
And here my spirit waiting stands,
Till God shall bid it fly.

Shortly this prison of my clay
Must be dissolved and fall;
Then, O my soul! with joy obey
Thy heav’nly Father’s call.

’Tis He, by His almighty grace,
That forms Thee fit for Heav’n;
And, as an earnest of the place,
Has His own Spirit giv’n.

We walk by faith of joys to come,
Faith lives upon His Word;
But while the body is our home,
We’re absent from the Lord.

’Tis pleasant to believe Thy grace,
But we had rather see;
We would be absent from the flesh
And present, Lord, with Thee.

By faith in Christ I walk with God,
With Heav’n, my journey’s end, in view;
Supported by His staff and rod,
My road is safe and pleasant too.

I travel through a desert wide
Where many round me blindly stray;
But He vouchsafes to be my Guide,
And will not let me miss my way.

Though snares and dangers throng my path,
And earth and hell my course withstand;
I triumph over all by faith,
Guarded by His almighty hand.

The wilderness affords no food,
But God for my support prepares;
Provides me every needful good,
And frees my soul from wants and cares.

With Him sweet converse I maintain,
Great as He is I dare be free;
I tell Him all my grief and pain,
And He reveals His love to me.

Some cordial from His Word He brings,
Whene’er my feeble spirit faints;
At once my soul revives and sings,
And yields no more to sad complaints.

I pity all that worldlings talk
Of pleasures that will quickly end;
Be this my choice, O Lord, to walk
With Thee, my Guide, my Guard, my Friend.

My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine!
Now hear me while I pray, take all my guilt away,
O let me from this day be wholly Thine!

May Thy rich grace impart
Strength to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire!
As Thou hast died for me, O may my love to Thee,
Pure warm, and changeless be, a living fire!

While life’s dark maze I tread,
And griefs around me spread, be Thou my Guide;
Bid darkness turn to day, wipe sorrow’s tears away,
Nor let me ever stray from Thee aside.

When ends life’s transient dream,
When death’s cold sullen stream over me roll;
Blest Savior, then in love, fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above, a ransomed soul!

Strong Son of God, immortal love,
Whom we, that have not seen Thy face,
By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove.

Thou wilt not leave us in the dust;
Thou madest man, he knows not why,
He thinks he was not made to die:
And Thou hast made him: Thou art just.

Thou seemest human and divine,
The highest, holiest manhood, Thou.
Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Ours wills are ours, to make them Thine.

Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be;
They are but broken lights of Thee,
And Thou, O Lord, art more than they.

We have but faith: we cannot know;
For knowledge is of things we see;
And yet we trust it comes from Thee,
A beam in darkness: let it grow.

Let knowledge grow from more to more,
But more of reverence in us dwell;
That mind and soul, according well,
May make one music as before.

But vaster. We are fools and slight;
We mock Thee when we do not fear;
But help Thy foolish ones to bear—
Help Thy vain worlds to bear Thy light.

’Tis by the faith of joys to come
We walk through deserts dark as night;
Till we arrive at Heav’n our home,
Faith is our guide, and faith our light.

The want of sight she well supplies,
She makes the pearly gates appear;
Far into distant worlds she pries,
And brings eternal glories near.

Cheerful we tread the desert through,
While faith inspires a heav’nly ray;
Though lions roar, and tempests blow,
And rocks and dangers fill the way.

So Abra’m, by divine command,
Left his own house to walk with God;
His faith beheld the promised land,
And fired his zeal along the road.

We saw Thee not when Thou didst come
To this poor world of sin and death;
Nor yet beheld Thy cottage home,
In that despisèd Nazareth.
But we believe Thy footsteps trod
Its streets and plains, Thou Son of God.
But we believe Thy footsteps trod
Its streets and plains, Thou Son of God.

We did not see Thee lifted high,
Amid that wild and savage crew;
Nor heard Thy meek, imploring cry,
“Forgive, they know not what they do!”
Yet we believe the deed was done,
That shook the earth and veiled the sun.
But we believe the deed was done,
Which shook the earth and veiled the sun.

We stood not by the empty tomb,
Where late Thy sacred body lay;
Nor sat within that upper room,
Nor met Thee on the open way.
But we believe that angels said,
“Why seek the living with the dead?”
But we believe that angels said,
“Why seek the living with the dead?”

We did not mark the chosen few,
When Thou didst through the clouds ascend,
First lift to Heaven their wondering view,
Then to the earth all prostrate bend;
But we believe that mortal eyes
Beheld that journey to the skies;
But we believe that mortal eyes
Beheld that journey to the skies.

And now that Thou dost reign on high,
And thence Thy waiting people bless,
No ray of glory from the sky
Doth shine upon our wilderness;
But we believe Thy faithful Word,
And trust in our redeeming Lord;
But we believe Thy faithful Word,
And trust in our redeeming Lord.

We have not seen Thy footsteps tread
This wild and sinful earth of ours,
Nor heard Thy voice restore the dead
Again to life’s reviving powers:
But we believe—for all things are
The gifts of Thine Almighty care.

We have not seen the billowy sea
Grow calm and still at Thy command,
Nor the dim orbs again to see,
Beneath the healing of Thine hand:
But we believe the Fount of light
Again could give those eyeballs sight.

We did not see Thee tread the wave;
We did not hear the voice from heaven,
Which once with awful warning gave
That God’s own Son for us was given.
But we believe—oh! strengthen Thou
The faith which to Thy Name we owe.

We did not see the armed throng
Steal to the garden’s midnight shade,
And watch the palm-tree’s boughs among,
Then quail beneath Thy glance afraid:
But we believe—Almighty love
Alone could such dark moments prove.

We did not see the darkness veil
With sudden gloom the noon-day skies;
Nor the fierce soldier’s cheek grow pale;
And priestly mockery veil their eyes;
When the proud Roman owned the power
Of heaven, ’twas in that awful hour.

We did not hear the footsteps fall
Within that lonely garden ground,
Of the all-wakeful sentinel,
Slow tracing there his watchful round;
But we believe—the Holy One
Bursting that tomb, in glory shone.

We were not with the chosen few
Who saw Thee through the clouds ascend,
Who gazed, and wished to follow too,
Then on the earth all prostrate bend;
But we believe that mortal eyes
Beheld the journey to the skies.

Chase every shade of doubt away;
“Light of the World!” in mercy shine;
Illume with faith our erring way,
We would no worship own but Thine.
Bring us to heaven’s peaceful shore,
And make us Thine forevermore!

We walk by faith, and not by sight;
No gracious words we hear
From Him Who spake as man ne’er spake;
But we believe Him near.

We may not touch His hands and side,
Nor follow where He trod;
But in His promise we rejoice,
And cry, “My Lord and God!”

Help then, O Lord, our unbelief;
And may our faith abound,
To call on Thee when Thou art near,
And seek where Thou art found.

That, when our life of faith is done,
In realms of clearer light
We may behold Thee as Thou art,
With full and endless sight.

We walk by faith, and oh, how sweet
The flow’rs that grow beneath our feet
And fragrance breathe along the way
That leads the soul to endless day.

Refrain

We walk by faith, but not alone,
Our Shepherd’s tender voice we hear
And feel His hand within our own,
And know that He is always near.

We walk by faith; He wills it so
And marks the path that we should go.
And when, at times, our sky is dim,
He gently draws us close to Him.

Refrain

We walk by faith divinely blest,
On Him we lean in Him we rest.
The more we trust our Shepherd’s care,
The more His love ’tis ours to share.

Refrain

And thus by faith till life shall end
We’ll walk with Him our dearest Friend.
Till safe we tread the fields of light
Where faith is lost in perfect sight.

Refrain