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~Battle Hymn Of The Republic
It was the midst of the terrible U.S. Civil War.
Deeply anguished at the growing conflict between the two sections
of the country, Mrs. Julia Howe watched troops marching off to war
singing “John Brown's Body,” a song about a man who had been hanged
in his efforts to free the slaves.
Julia felt that the catchy camp meeting tune should have better
words. In a desire to
phrase her own feelings about the dreadful events of the time, she
scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper.
Before long the entire nation became inspired by her text and
united in singing the new words with the old tune.
Mrs. Howe's hymn has been acclaimed through the years as one of
our finest patriotic songs.
At one time it was sung as a solo at a
large rally attended by President Abraham Lincoln. After the audience had responded with loud applause, the
President, with tears in his eyes, cried out, “Sing it again!”
It was sung again.
And after more than a hundred years, Americans still join often
in proclaiming, “Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on!”
--Kenneth
W. Osbeck
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Battle Hymn
Of The Republic
(1) Mine
eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of
wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible
swift sword,
His truth is marching on.
Chorus:
Glory! glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on!
(2) I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a
hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews
and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and
flaring lamps,
His day is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat,
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His
judgment seat;
O be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant, my
feet!
Our God is marching on.
(3) In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born
across the sea,
With a glory in His being that transfigures you and
me;
As He died to make men holy let us live to make men
free!
While God is marching on.
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