They shall be as mighty men…and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them.
Zechariah 10:5
Words & Music: John H. Hopkins, Jr., Carols, Hymns and Songs (New York: Church Book Depository, 1863), pages 30–31, alt. (🔊 pdf nwc).
Moses clave the sea in twain,
The waters did like walls remain,
While through its coral groves, dry shod,
Marched on the chosen tribes of God.
Pharaoh’s armies dared the path,
But waves o’erwhelmed with God’s deep wrath,
While Israel’s hosts sang loud and free,
To Him who triumphed gloriously.
Refrain
Thus Christ arose,
A mighty conqueror, o’er all our foes,
Forever and evermore, hallelujah.
Samson, when the sun went down,
Invaded Gaza’s godless town;
His foes all night await their prey,
While bound by sin and death he lay;
Midnight sees the hero ris’n;
The gates and bars that formed his pris’n,
Swift from the massive wall he tears,
And up the hill in triumph bears.
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Jonah calmed the raging sea,
When swallowed by the fish was he;
From out the pit of deepest hell,
He prayed the God of Israel.
Risen from that living tomb,
With newborn power, behold him come,
While Nineveh’s thousands, young and old,
Melt at the charming of his tongue.
Refrain
Daniel, in the lions’ den,
Was thrown, at eve, by cruel men;
They sealed the stone, but angels came
And made the roaring lions tame.
Free among the dead was he,
And rose at morn victoriously;
While all his furious foes were found
Twice dead before they touched the ground.
Refrain
Thus the mighty men of old
Our Jesu’s victories foretold;
By mighty deeds they dimly showed
The mightier deeds of Christ, our God;
Deeds of valor, too, be ours,
With bolder hearts, and nobler powers,
For babes, in Christ, can now do more
Than all the mighty men of yore.
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