Obedient to his God’s command,

And influenced by faith alone,

Abraham left his native land,

Went out, and sought a place unknown—

A place he should possess at last,

When full four hundred years were o’er;—

Upon the Word himself he cast;

He follow’d God, and ask’d no more.

As in a strange, though promised, land,

(A land his distant heirs received,)

He and his sons in tents remain’d;

He knew on whom he had believed.

A better heritage he sought,

A city built by God on high;

Thither he raised his towering thought,

He fix’d on heaven his steadfast eye.

Whose firm foundations never move,

Jerusalem was all his care,

The New Jerusalem above;

His treasure and his heart was there.

And shall not we the call obey,

And haste where God commands, to go?

Despise these tenements of clay,

These dreams of happiness below?

Yes, Lord we hearken to Thy call

As sojourners o’er earth we rove;

We have for Thee forsaken all,

And seek the heaven of perfect love.