Scripture Verse

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12

Introduction

portrait
Johann M. Haydn (1737–1806)

Words: Ma­ri­on F. Ham (1867–1956).

Music: Green­land (Hay­dn) Jo­hann M. Hay­dn (1737–1806). Ar­ranged in Ben­ja­min Ja­cob’s Na­tion­al Psal­mo­dy, 1819 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know when this hymn was writ­ten,

portrait
Marion F. Ham (1867–1956)

Lyrics

O hear them march­ing, march­ing,
The le­gions of good will,
The men of peace who seek not
To bomb and maim and kill;
They march not to their con­quest
With bat­tle flags un­furled;
But with their gen­tle spi­rit
They shall sub­due the world.

Through all the blood­stained ag­es
Their num­bers have in­creased,
The spi­rit strug­gling up­ward
To ov­er­come the beast;
The meek who shall in­her­it
And rule the war­ring earth,
With pa­tient faith are bring­ing
The new re­gime to birth.

The men of war op­pose them,
And seek to bar the way,
The pow­ers of dark­ness striv­ing
To thwart the com­ing day;
But, led by un­seen forces,
Their hosts are march­ing still,
To build for fu­ture ages
The king­dom of good will.

A migh­ty cap­tain leads them,
The val­iant Prince of Peace;
They shall pos­sess the fu­ture,
And an­cient wrongs shall cease;
O men of good will, march­ing
To blood­less vic­to­ry,
We join your hosts in build­ing
The king­dom that shall be.