| I'm not sure when it became permissible to put one's God and one's militaristic leanings into a single pot and stir them together, but certainly there was no one during the Civil War who didn't believe that God was on his side and would help smite the enemy! (What a bunch of jerks we are!)
This was an American abolitionist song written by Julia Ward Howe in November 1861 and first published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1, 1862 that was made popular during the American Civil War.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on."
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Since God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
While God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Our God is marching on. |
Very nice, I had never read the entire hymn before. More somber than I remember.
ReplyDeleteQuite so. I didn't know all the verses, either. Guess we're too used to hearing it as a movie tidbit or as a jingle in commercials and cartoons! Maybe if I'd ever belonged to a choir, I'd have known it!
ReplyDeleteAlways been a special song for me - from the fifth grade on.
ReplyDeleteSounds like Bush's theme song for his War on Terror.
ReplyDeletehmmmm - Britain's National Anthem does a similar job of mixing God and the military. God must get quite confused at times about what he/she is supposed to be doing - multi-tasking, I guess. ;-)
ReplyDeleteGod save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen.
O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix:
God save the Queen.
Thy choicest gifts in store,
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign:
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the Queen
From every latent foe,
From the assassins blow,
God save the Queen!
O'er her thine arm extend,
For Britain's sake defend,
Our mother, prince, and friend,
God save the Queen!
>
Was that when they started calling you Mushy?
ReplyDeleteAs for the Brits song, the sin seems even greater when applied to one's royalty rather than the country. Of course, you British took a long time before you could quite distinguish between the two.