Music & HymnsOne Sweetly Solemn Thought

"In my Father's house there are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you." John 14:2

Words: Phoebe Cary, 1852. The song was popularized in the Moody-Sankey evangelistic campaigns in Britain. The Congregational Quarterly for October 1874 says:

…it was written, she tells us, in the little back third story bedroom, one Sabbath morning in 1852, on her return from church.

Music: "Dulce Domum" (Sweet Home), Robert Steele Ambrose, 1876

One sweetly solemn thought
Comes to me o'er and o'er;
Nearer to my home today am I
Than e'er I've been before.

Nearer my Father's house,
Where many mansions be;
Nearer today, the great white throne,
Nearer the crystal sea.

Nearer the bound of life
Where burdens are laid down;
Nearer to leave the heavy cross,
Nearer to gain the crown.

But lying darkly between,
Winding down through the night,
Is the deep and unknown stream
To be crossed ere we reach the light.

Father, perfect my trust!
Strengthen my power of faith!
Nor let me stand, at last, alone
Upon the shore of death.

Be Thee near when my feet
Are slipping over the brink;
For it may be I'm nearer home,
Nearer now than I think.

Hymns supplied through the gracious generosity of the Cyber Hymnal Website