When all were en­joined by decree,
Before the great im­age to fall,
The ty­rant ex­pect­ed to see
His man­date com­plied with by all.
Whatever their mas­ter or­dained,
Was done by the flex­ible crowd;
By fear of his an­ger con­strained,
Before the great im­age they bowed.

But some there were found who re­fused
To pros­trate them­selves at his word;
They would not ob­ey him, un­used
T’adore any god but the Lord.
In vain did the ty­rant pro­claim,
His pur­pose to make them comply;
In vain did he point out the flame,
And bid them ob­ey him or die.

The cham­pi­ons with con­fidence said,
Let others, O king, dread t­hine arm;
In vain are thy ter­rors dis­played,
To us they con­vey no alarm.
Our God, whom we wor­ship, is nigh
To save us, O king, from thine hand;
But know, we choose ra­ther to die,
Than yield to thy im­pi­ous com­mand.

’Tis thus that the saints must ob­ey,
Their work must be tho­rough­ly done;
Though death should ap­pear on the way,
Their du­ty is still to go on.
The Lord will ap­prove at the last,
Those on­ly who thus per­se­vere;
And such, when the con­flict is past,
Before Him with joy shall ap­pear.