The Royal Way

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We may spread our couch with roses

Author: Philip Phillips
Tune: [We may spread our couch with roses] (Hartsough)
Published in 29 hymnals

Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1. We may spread our couch with roses,
And sleep thro' the summer day;
But the soul that in sloth reposes
Is not in the narrow way.
If we follow the chart that is given,
We need not be at loss,
For the only way to heaven,
Is the royal way of the cross.

2. Unto those who live in splendor,
The cross is a heavy load;
And the feet that are soft and tender,
Will shrink from the thorny road;
But the chains of the soul must be riven,
And wealth must be as dross;
For the only way to heaven,
Is the royal way of the cross.

3. We may say we'll walk to-morrow,
The path we refuse to-day;
And still, with our lukewarm sorrow,
We shrink from the narrow way.
What heeded the chosen eleven,
How fortune life might toss,
As they followed their Lord to heaven,
By the way of the royal cross.

Grove Songs #2, 1873

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Author: Philip Phillips

Phillips, Philip, commonly known as the "Singing Pilgrim," was born in Chautauqua County, N. York, Aug. 13, 1834. Although engaged in farming for a time, from an early age he devoted himself to music, and ultimately devoted himself to the work of a "Singing Evangelist," in which capacity he has visited most English-speaking countries. His popular hymnals are: (1) Early Blossoms, 1860; (2) Musical Leaves, 1862; and (3) The Singing Pilgrim, 1866. In these works he published one or two hymns, including "I have heard of a Saviour's love" (The love of Christ), as in I. D. Sankey's Sacred Songs and Solos, 1878. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907) Go to person page >

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