Scripture Verse

Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near. Joel 3:9

Introduction

Words: Tho­mas L. Bai­ly, in The Wells of Sal­va­tion, ed­it­ed by John Swe­ney & Will­iam J. Kirk­pat­rick (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1881), page 104.

Music: John R. Swe­ney (🔊 pdf nwc). Some hym­nals show the com­pos­er as S. J. Rob­son, Sweney’s pseu­do­nym.

portrait
John Sweney (1837–1899)

Lyrics

Wake, bro­thers, wake,
The dawn is now ap­pear­ing,
Light o’er the earth
Makes all so bright and cheer­ing;
Loud sound the cry—
The conf­lict now is near­ing—
For God and the right.

Refrain

On to the field,
The foe is there be­fore us,
Strike for our cause,
And sing aloud our chor­us,
Point to the flag
That waves in tri­umph o’er us;
Jesus is our king.

March, com­rades, march,
The foe is draw­ing near­er,
Look o’er the field—
Their le­gions show­ing clear­er,
Armed for the fray—
O what have we that’s dear­er
Than God and His cause?

Refrain

Stand, sol­diers, stand,
The foe is grow­ing bold­er,
Raise up the cross,
And shoul­der put to shoul­der;
Shout for our king,
Nor let our love grow col­der,
For God and His truth.

Refrain

Cheer, Chris­tians, cheer,
The word at last is spok­en,
Hell and its host
No long­er stand un­brok­en,
Victory is ours—
Be this our on­ly to­ken:
In God is our trust.

Refrain