Scripture Verse

We will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:21

Introduction

portrait
Charles MacPherson (1870–1927)

Words: Ar­chi­bald H. Char­ter­is, 1889, for the Young Men’s Guild of the Church of Scot­land. Pub­lished in The Guild Ma­ga­zine, Au­gust 1889, & in the Church Hym­na­ry, 1898.

Music: Sto­ny­path Charles Mac­Pher­son, in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1916 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Archibald H. Charteris (1835–1908)

Lyrics

Believing fa­thers oft have told
What things by God were done,
When faith­ful men in days of old
Their life­long bat­tle won;
And now when God calls us to life,
And Sa­tan tempts each man,
We choose our side in th’mor­tal strife
To fight as best we can—
Like bro­thers true, of one ac­cord,
To hold one faith and serve one Lord.

Our king has come to claim His own,
Has paid the debt we owe,
Himself has fought the fight alone,
In straits we can­not know.
Amid the world’s con­fus­èd noise,
Where we but dark­ly see,
The Christ ap­peals, with sweet, clear voice,
My bro­thers, follow Me
Like bro­thers true, of one ac­cord,
To hold one faith, to serve one Lord.

His Church our shel­ter, He our guide,
Our strength His heal­ing cross,
We range our­selves up­on His side,
Where none can suf­fer loss.
We’re safe be­hind our Sav­ior’s shield;
He makes us heirs of Hea­ven;
We claim up­on th’em­bat­tled field
The vic­to­ry Christ has giv­en—
Like bro­thers true, of one ac­cord,
To hold one faith, to serve one Lord.

And yet, O Christ, our Sav­ior king,
Unless Thou keep us Thine,
Our faith will soon dry at the spring,
Our love will shrink and pine.
So by Thy Spir­it mold us, Lord;
Inspire our hearts to pray;
Our hun­gry souls feed with Thy Word,
And teach our lips to say,
True bro­thers we, of one ac­cord,
We hold one faith, we serve one Lord.

We fain would do our mas­ter’s part,
And help our fel­low men,
Would cheer some lone­ly bro­ther’s heart,
Some lost one bring again,
Would serve the Church abroad, at home,
With hearts from self set free,
Striving to make Thy king­dom come.
O God, so may it be,
That, bro­thers true, with one ac­cord,
We hold the faith and serve the Lord!