Scripture Verse

The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. Psalm 110:1

Introduction

Words: J. John­son, Jr., in The Well-Spring, ed­it­ed by Asa Bull­ard (Bos­ton: Mas­sa­chu­setts Sab­bath School So­ci­ety), vol­ume 3, num­ber 26, June 26, 1846, page 104, alt.

Music: Pro­gress (Me­lo­dist), in the Sab­bath School Me­lo­dist, ed­it­ed by Will­iam Byrnes (Bos­ton: Mas­sa­chu­setts Sab­bath School So­ci­ety, 1850), num­ber 96 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

If you know John­son’s full name, or where to get a good pic­ture of him (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

How sweet­ly the morn
Of the Sab­bath arose,
When Je­sus the con­queror
Had van­quished His foes,
Ascended from dark­ness,
Dispelling the night,
When dawned on the na­tions
The Gos­pel’s fair light.

And soon the bright morn­ing
Spread swift­ly and wide,
And awed in­to si­lence
The hosts that de­fied.
The band of dis­ci­ples
A ban­ner un­furled,
The Gos­pel’s white ban­ner,
To float o’er the world.

Still on­ward, and on­ward,
The bright­ness ad­vanced,
From ri­ver and gla­cier
The sun­ny beam danced;
The hea­then re­joiced
In the warmth of the ray,
And wel­comed in glad­ness
Messiah’s mild sway.

A dark­ness, a dark­ness—
All shroud­ed in gloom—
Oh, say, hath the Sav­ior
Returned to the tomb?
The world—must it wan­der
In sor­row again?
Oh, was the great stan­dard
Unfolded in vain?

All hail the white ban­ner!
’Tis wav­ing again;
Adieu then to dark­ness,
And er­ror, and pain.
For Bri­ton, and Gaul,
And the Swit­zer, there’s rest,
And light in the beau­ti­ful
Land of the west.

Strive on then, ye Chris­tians,
Be val­iant and strong;
Ne’er faint in the con­flict,
Although it be long—
And ne­ver re­frain
Till all er­ror is flown,
And earth bright and pure
For the bless­èd One’s throne.

Make room! we are com­ing,
The gen­tle and young;
Though weak now, and hum­ble,
We soon shall be strong.
The hosts of the hea­then
Shall hear of the Lamb,
And na­tions un­count­ed
Shall hon­or His name.