Scripture Verse

Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Ephesians 6:17

Introduction

portrait
Seeley D, Kinne (1858–1950)

Words: John T. Bod­dy, in Psalms, Hymns and Songs Spi­ri­tu­al, by Charles A. Squire, Sa­rah L. Squire & See­ley D. Kinne (St. Lou­is, Mis­sou­ri: Squire & Kin­ne, 1910), num­ber 82.

Music: See­ley D. Kinne (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Bod­dy (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Throughout the world to­day is sound­ing,
God’s Pen­te­cost­al bu­gle note,
The wis­dom of the wise con­found­ing—
O hear it swell and float.
Above the din of earth’s com­mo­tion
The mid­night cry we soon shall hear;
Arise and prove thy love’s de­vo­tion—
The day of Christ is near.

Refrain

Arise! Arise! Ye heirs of glo­ry—
The Bride­groom’s at the door!
Salvation’s glad and bless­èd sto­ry,
Proclaim abroad once more.

The King of Hea­ven earth­ward march­es,
His feet are in the clouds to­day,
And soon be­neath time’s crum­bling arch­es,
He’ll lead us to the fray.
Soldiers of Christ pre­pare for bat­tle;
A sound of strife is in the air;
We smell the smoke and hear the rat­tle,
That warns us to pr­epare.

Refrain

Up at the voice of thy com­mand­er,
The fin­al con­flict now is on;
No more to crea­ture com­forts pan­der,
Truth’s vic­t’ry must be won.
Fear not the foe, but trust thy lead­er—
The Lord of hosts just at thy side,
Who comes to win—blest In­ter­ced­er—
A mi­li­ta­ry bride.

Refrain

And by His pow­er all wrongs re­dress­ing,
He soon will seal the aw­ful fate
Of de­mon hosts around us press­ing,
Malignant in their hate.
Press on toward the King’s high call­ing,
With love’s am­bi­tion in thy soul;
Press on while foes around are fall­ing—
Press on toward the goal.

Refrain

Strong in the Gos­pel’s full pro­vi­sion,
Prepared for that event­ful hour;
March with a bold and firm de­ci­sion,
Armed with the Spi­rit’s pow­er.
The glad and wel­come news pro­claim­ing,
In ev­ery land from sea to sea;
The Con­quer­or comes in gar­ments flam­ing
To bring earth’s ju­bi­lee.

Refrain