Christians, to the war, gather from afar

Top Text Author Text Info Tune Timeline Page Scans Instances

Christians, to the war, gather from afar

Author: Frederick W. Faber
Tune: Christians! to the war! gather from afar
Published in 5 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Christians! to the war! gather from afar;
Hark! hark! the word is given;
Jesus bids me fight "for God and the right,"
And for Mary, the Queen of heav'n,
And for Mary, the Queen of heav'n.

2 Now first for thee, thou wicked world,
Puffed up with godless pomp and pageant,
Avenging grace, to humble thee,
Can make the weakest arm its agent.
Christians! to the war! gather from afar;
Hark! hark! the word is given;
Jesus bids us fight "for God and the right,"
And for Mary, the Queen of heav'n,
And for Mary, the Queen of heav'n.

3 And thou, dark fiend, six thousand years
The Bride of Christ in vain tormenting,
Shall find our hate and scorn of thee
Deep as thine own, and unrelenting.

4 Ah, self! so oft forgiven, thou
Canst play no part but that of traitor;
We spare thy life, but thou must bear
The felon's brand, the captive's fetter.

5 But worse than devil, flesh, or world,
Human respect like poison creeping,
Chills and unnerves the host of Christ,
When weary war-worn hearts are sleeping.

6 Christians! to the war! gather from afar
Hark! hark! the word is given;
Jesus bids me fight "for God and the right,"
And for Mary, the Queen of heaven.

Source: Laudis Corona: the new Sunday school hymn book, containing a collection of Catholic hymns, arranged for the principal seasons and festivals of the year #199

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

Author: Frederick W. Faber

Raised in the Church of England, Frederick W. Faber (b. Calverly, Yorkshire, England, 1814; d. Kensington, London, England, 1863) came from a Huguenot and strict Calvinistic family background. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and ordained in the Church of England in 1839. Influenced by the teaching of John Henry Newman, Faber followed Newman into the Roman Catholic Church in 1845 and served under Newman's supervision in the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Because he believed that Roman Catholics should sing hymns like those written by John Newton, Charles Wesley, and William Cowpe, Faber wrote 150 hymns himself. One of his best known, "Faith of Our Fathers," originally had these words in its third stanza: "Faith of Our Fathers! Mary'… Go to person page >

^ top