Monday, March 24, 2008

The Civil War Was Not About Slavery

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.
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.
Chorus
His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on."
Chorus
Since God 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:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
Chorus
Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
Chorus
While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Chorus
Our God is marching on.

From the wiki: The Battle Hymn of the Republic is usually played at the conclusion of the national convention of the Republican Party.

3 comments:

LarryD said...

Thanks Simon.

Funny how the 3d verse is hard to even find printed these days.


Somehow, says a lot that at their repsctive conventions, Republicans play Battle Hymn of the Republic, and Democrats play Happy Days are Here Again.

linearthinker said...

Another thank you, Simon.

The last verse of the Star Spangled Banner is another I like that we hear too rarely anymore.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave![8]


(Wiki)

DJMooreTX said...

For little reason that I can see, I have to mention David Gerrold's great short story, "The Battle Hum and the Boje", featuring a rock and roll rendition of the Hymn that...well, that would be a spoiler.

Let it be said, though, that Gerrold does not mock the Hymn, nor those who have marched to it.

I'd love to hear it.