“There are plenty of theological commentaries on the creed, but you can’t pray a commentary.”

— Samuel John Stone

The Church’s One Foundation is a tale (or collaboration) of two Samuels…

Samuel Sebastian Wesley

The tune to this well-known hymn is called “Aurelia,” composed by the “natural” (illegitimate) son of Samuel Wesley and the grandson of the hymn writer Charles Wesley, one of the great leaders in the Methodist revival. Samuel Sebastian Wesley may have enjoyed fishing more than sacred music because he is said to have arranged his organ playing around his fishing schedule. (He once sent another organist to replace him, saying he was unavoidably detained.)

Although he had an unreliable reputation, Samuel Sebastian (named in part after Johann Sebastian Bach) was a pivotal figure in the development of Anglican church music. He earned a bachelor of music and doctor of music degrees simultaneously in 1839, and he became known as a reformer who sought to improve musical standards in the church and raise the status of church musicians. Wesley was good friends with the organ builder Henry Willis. Together they invented what Willis would have called the “Wesley-Willis” pedalboard, patented in 1855, but Wesley didn’t want his name on the new design.

Samuel John Stone

A 27-year-old Anglican priest ministering in a poor district in England wrote the lyrics to this song in 1866. Samuel John Stone was inspired by the ninth article in the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the holy catholic (universal) church, the communion of saints…”

Considered during his time to be “the battle-song of the Church,” Stone’s words were his response to the theological division caused by Bishop John William Colenso of South Africa. Colenso had published commentaries that espoused a trending theory challenging the authorship and dating of the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua, ultimately undermining the truth of Jesus’ statements about Moses. As the son of a Hebrew scholar, it’s no wonder Stone wanted to counter decreasing confidence in the accuracy of Scripture with the words of the Creed and to affirm the divine inspiration of Scripture. His third stanza references the scorn caused by schisms like Colenso’s, and he writes about the church being “rent asunder” and distressed by heresies.

Stone composed and published Lyra Fidelium: Twelve Hymns on the Twelve Articles of the Christian Faith as one practical way to defend Christian orthodoxy by equipping the cottagers in his neighborhood with a “simple and attractive explanation of the Creed” in everyday language to be used during prayer. Stone explained that “there are plenty of theological commentaries on the creed, but you can’t pray a commentary.” He cared deeply about making sure that his fellow worshipers were not going through the motions of reciting the Creed without truly understanding what it meant. Lyra Fidelium (Lyre of the Faithful) was strategic in that it made heady theology accessible and easier to remember – even 153 years later.

As we sing this mid-19th-century hymn this Sunday, look for how the words echo Scripture and how Stone follows Paul’s instructions to the Ephesians in Acts 20 to keep a careful watch:

I told you all the truth about God. Keep a careful watch over yourselves and over the church. The Holy Spirit has made you its leaders. Feed and care for the church of God. He bought it with His own blood. Yes, I know that when I am gone, hungry wolves will come in among you. They will try to destroy the church. Also men from your own group will begin to teach things that are not true. They will get men to follow them. I say again, keep watching! Remember that for three years I taught every one of you night and day, even with tears. And now, my brothers, I give you over to God and to the word of His love. It is able to make you strong and to give you what you are to have, along with all those who are set apart for God. (NLT)

The Church’s One Foundation (2 stanzas)
The Church’s one foundation (1 Timothy 3:15)
Is Jesus Christ her Lord; (1 Corinthians 3:11, Acts 4:11)
She is His new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17, Matthew 19:28-30)
By water and the Word: (Ephesians 4:1-6, John 17:17)
From heav’n He came and sought her (John 6:38-40)
To be His holy Bride; (Ephesians 5:27, 1 Corinthians 12:27)
With His own blood He bought her, (Galatians 3:13-14)
And for her life He died. (2 Corinthians 5:15)

’Mid toil and tribulation, (Matthew 16:17-19)
And tumult of her war, (2 Timothy 2:1-13)
She waits the consummation (Revelation 19:6-8)
Of peace for evermore; (John 16:33, Revelation 21:1-5)
Till, with the vision glorious, (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10)
Her longing eyes are blest… (1 Peter 1:3-9)

written by a member of our church staff