Scripture Verse

Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Ephesians 6:10

Introduction

portrait
George Stebbins
(1846–1945)

Words: Fran­ces R. Ha­ver­gal, Loy­al Re­spons­es; or, Dai­ly Me­lo­dies for the King’s Min­strels (Lon­don: James Nis­bet, 1878), pag­es 24–27. In the orig­in­al, the re­frain be­low was the last stan­za.

Music: Blag­nac George C. Steb­bins, 1878 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

  • True-Heart­ed Jo­si­ah Booth, in the Ca­na­di­an Pres­by­ter­ian Book of Praise (Lon­don: Hen­ry Frowde, 1897), num­ber 245 (🔊 pdf nwc)
  • Watchword Fran­ces R. Ha­ver­gal (1836–1879) (🔊 pdf nwc)
portrait
Frances R. Havergal
(1836–1879)

Lyrics

Truehearted, whole­heart­ed,
Faithful and loy­al,
King of our lives,
By Thy grace we will be!
Under Thy stand­ard,
Exalted and roy­al,
Strong in Thy strength
We will bat­tle for Thee.

Refrain

Peal out the watch­word!
Silence it ne­ver!
Song of our spir­its,
Rejoicing and free!
Truehearted, whole­heart­ed,
Now and for­ev­er,
King of our lives,
By Thy grace we will be!

Truehearted, whole­heart­ed!
Fullest al­le­giance
Yielding hence­forth
To our glo­ri­ous king;
Valiant en­dea­vor
And lov­ing obe­di­ence
Freely and joy­ous­ly
Now would we bring.

Refrain

Truehearted! Sav­ior,
Thou know­est our sto­ry,
Weak are the hearts
That we lay at Thy feet,
Sinful and trea­cher­ous!
Yet, for Thy glo­ry,
Heal them, and cleanse them
From sin and deceit.

Refrain

Wholehearted! Sav­ior
Belovèd and glo­ri­ous,
Take Thy great pow­er
And reign Thou alone,
Over our wills
And af­fect­ions vic­to­ri­ous—
Freely sur­ren­dered
And whol­ly Thine own.

Refrain

Half-hearted, false-heart­ed!
Heed we the warn­ing!
Only the whole
Can be per­fect­ly true;
Bring the whole of­fer­ing,
All ti­mid thought scorn­ing,
Truehearted on­ly
If whole­heart­ed too.

Refrain

Half-heart­ed! Sav­ior,
Shall aught be with­hold­en,
Giving Thee part
Who hast giv­en us all?
Blessings out­pour­ing,
And pro­mis­es gold­en
Pledging, with ne­ver
Reserve or re­call.

Refrain

Half-hearted? Mas­ter,
Shall any who know Thee
Grudge Thee their lives,
Who has laid down Thine own?
Nay; we would of­fer
The hearts that we owe Thee—
Live for Thy love
And Thy glo­ry alone.

Refrain

Sisters, dear sis­ters,
The call is re­sound­ing,
Will ye not ec­ho
The sil­ver re­frain,
Mighty and sweet, and
In glad­ness abound­ing—
Truehearted, whole­heart­ed!
Ringing again.

Refrain

Jesus is with us,
His rest is be­fore us,
Brightly His stand­ard
Is wav­ing above,
Brothers, dear bro­thers,
In ga­ther­ing chor­us,
Peal out the watch­word
Of cour­age and love!

Refrain