Scripture Verse

Thou hast given a banner to them that fear Thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Psalm 60:4

Introduction

Words: El­la M. Bangs, 1918. Ref­er­en­ces to the gi­ant Re­sis­tance, the sword Re­sis­tance, etc, echo the li­ter­ary de­vic­es in John Bun­yan’s 1678 Pil­grim’s Pro­gress.

Music: Charles H. Ga­bri­el (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Charles H. Gabriel (1856–1932)

Lyrics

Gird on your stead­fast ar­mor,
O sol­diers of the cross;
Go for­ward into bat­tle,
Nor fear re­pulse nor loss;
Make rea­dy for the con­flict,
The Cap­tain’s call ob­ey;
Then ral­ly and march on­ward,
The trum­pet sounds to­day.

Refrain

Then on­ward to the bat­tle,
We’re march­ing in our might,
We’re press­ing tow’rd the vic­to­ry,
We’re fight­ing for the right;
Upon the breeze re­splen­dent
Our col­ors now we toss,
And o’er our heads shall ev­er float
The banner of the cross.

The Gi­ant of Temp­ta­tion
Will meet us as we go;
We need our strong­est ar­mor
To greet this migh­ty foe;
But our good sword, Re­sist­ance,
Will hold and bind him fast;
And with our cap­tain lead­ing,
We’ll con­quer him at last.

Refrain

The en­emies ap­proaching
Are Self­ish­ness, and Greed,
Vainglory, and Im­pa­tience;
Our lead­er’s help we need.
Yet ever march­ing on­ward,
Why have we fear of loss,
When ov­er us is float­ing
The ban­ner of the cross?

Refrain