1 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.
Refrain:
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!His truth is marching on.
2 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 the righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on. [Refrain]
3 He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out all human hearts before His judgment seat;
O be swift, my soul, to answer Him; be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on. [Refrain]
4 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 us holy, let us die that all be free!
While God is marching on. [Refrain]
5 He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Julia Ward Howe
The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition
<idle musing>
Better known as "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," it occurs in about 550 hymnals. Although it was written during the US Civil War specifically to encourage the belief in the rigtheousness of the North's cause, it does contain some good theology. Unfortunately, that theology is infused with a postmillenialism that I find hard to swallow—especially after the twentieth century!
Seems there is another verse, which I don't recall ever seeing/singing, probably because it makes the war setting too obvious for today:
3. I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;</idle musing>
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.
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