Scripture Verse

He is the living God, the eternal King. Jeremiah 10:10

Introduction

portrait
Henry T. Smart (1813–1879)

Words: Er­nest W. Shurt­leff, 1888. He wrote this hymn for his class gra­du­ation ce­re­mo­ny of An­do­ver Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry.

Music: Lan­ca­shire Hen­ry T. Smart, 1836 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Ernest W. Shurtleff (1862–1917)

Lyrics

Lead on, O King eter­nal,
The day of march has come;
Henceforth in fields of con­quest
Thy tents shall be our home.
Through days of pre­pa­ra­tion
Thy grace has made us strong;
And now, O King eter­nal,
We lift our bat­tle song.

Lead on, O King eter­nal,
Till sin’s fierce war shall cease,
And ho­li­ness shall whis­per
The sweet amen of peace.
For not with swords’ loud clash­ing,
Nor roll of stir­ring drums;
With deeds of love and mer­cy
The heav’n­ly king­dom comes.

Lead on, O King eter­nal,
We fol­low, not with fears,
For gladn­ess breaks like morn­ing
Where’er Thy face ap­pears.
Thy cross is lift­ed ov­er us,
We jour­ney in its light;
The crown awaits the con­quest;
Lead on, O God of might.