Center For Church Music, Songs & Hymns

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Hymns with a military theme used to be a staple in the musical diet of Christians in North America. Singing such hymns as "Stand Up for Jesus, Ye Soldiers of the Cross", "Soldiers of Christ Arise" and "Fight the Good Fight" was commonplace. Perhaps the most often sung of all these hymns was our featured hymn, "Onward Christian Soldiers."

All that seemed to change about 30 years ago, perhaps because of the varying thoughts regarding the Vietnam War. Regardless of changing attit...

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Hymns with a military theme used to be a staple in the musical diet of Christians in North America. Singing such hymns as "Stand Up for Jesus, Ye Soldiers of the Cross", "Soldiers of Christ Arise" and "Fight the Good Fight" was commonplace. Perhaps the most often sung of all these hymns was our featured hymn, "Onward Christian Soldiers."

All that seemed to change about 30 years ago, perhaps because of the varying thoughts regarding the Vietnam War. Regardless of changing attitudes, the picture of the Christian as a "soldier" is an important one in the Bible. We do well to recapture that image.

Read, for example, Ephesians 6:10-17: "Put on the full armor of God…" Or St. Paul’s exhortation to the young pastor, Timothy, found in II Timothy 2:3: "Endure hardship…like a good soldier of Christ Jesus."

It’s important to keep in mind that each follower of Jesus Christ is not simply called, but also commanded to fight. This writer’s church asks candidates for baptism:

These are valid and important questions. And the God, who commands the fight, also promises strength for the battle. The same power that enabled Jesus to say "no" to Satan (See Matthew 4) is also available to Christians today. Thank you, Commander in Chief!

In the hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers" Christ’s army is the Church. In the second stanza, the hymn writer says:

Those of us who are called and commanded to fight sin, often spend too much energy fighting each other. Yet, each of us can help to strengthen and unify this army by befriending and praying for one another, even though a fellow believer is from a congregation very different from our own. In so doing, we affirm that we are, indeed, "One in hope and doctrine, one in charity."

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Sabine Baring-Gould wrote: "Whit-Monday [the day after Pentecost] is a great day for school festivals in Yorktown. One Whit-Monday, thirty years ago, it was arranged that our school should join forces with that of a neighboring village. I wanted the children to sing when marching from one village to another, but couldn’t think of anything quite suitable; so I sat up at night, resolved that I would write something myself. ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers’ was the result." At tha...

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Sabine Baring-Gould wrote: "Whit-Monday [the day after Pentecost] is a great day for school festivals in Yorktown. One Whit-Monday, thirty years ago, it was arranged that our school should join forces with that of a neighboring village. I wanted the children to sing when marching from one village to another, but couldn’t think of anything quite suitable; so I sat up at night, resolved that I would write something myself. ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers’ was the result." At that time, he called it "A Hymn for Procession with Cross and Banners," as the children marched with a cross held high and carried various Christian banners.

Baring-Gould reportedly wrote this hymn in about 15 minutes. He later apologized, "It was written in great haste, and I am afraid that some of the lines are faulty." It was due to this fact that he allowed hymn-book compilers to alter the lyrics. The Fellowship Hymn Book, with his permission, changed the phrase ‘one in hope and doctrine’ to ‘one in hope and purpose." For the 1909 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern, he changed the fifth line of the same verse from ‘We are not divided’ to ‘Though divisions harass." However, Baring-Gould’s original words are used in most modern hymnals.

Baring-Gould originally set these words to a tune from the slow movement of Hadyn’s Symphony in D, No. 15. It was first printed the same year it was written, in an English church periodical, the Church Times, and later in several books containing new hymns. It did not receive wide acceptance, however, until Arthur S. Sullivan wrote a new tune for it. This tune, St Gertrude, is the tune that appears in Sullivan’s book, The Hymnal. Paired with the new tune, ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ literally circled the globe within ten years.

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