Come Forth, Ye Men

Representative Text

1. Come forth, ye men of every race and nation!
We are making God's new world for all the songs of men:
Our hearts unite in daring expectation,
For the matchless Lord of life doth tread this earth again.
Behold, He comes as first He came
To write upon the hearts of men in words of living flame
His Spirit of heroic love,
That one redemptive purpose through this age may move!

2. Awake, O sons of privilege and power,
For the dispossessed of earth to God for justice cry!
Let eager hands restore their rightful dower,
Lest the clamour of our greed His providence deny.
The last, the least, the lost are ours;
To their emancipation we devote our ardent powers.
While they are bound can we be free?
The knights of service choose the nobler liberty.

3. Though ruthless power may wield its weapons gory
We hold ourselves for Thee all loyalties above.
Though storms of hate may rage in empty glory
In the splendour of the Dawn we see Thy cross of love.
With healing rays it gleams afar,
And radiates its deathless hope from star to flaming star.
We march with Thee where martyrs trod,
Till all the sons of men become the sons of God.

Source: Christian Worship: a hymnal #487

Author: Jay Holmes Smith

Jay Holmes Smith went to India as an educational Methodist missionary in 1930. He was one of the founders and acting head of the Lucknow Ashram in India until 1940, when he had to return to the US because he joined 3 other american missionaries in a protest against British Imperialism. He returned to the US and founded and directed the Harlem Ashram in NYC- This Ashram advocated Ghandian non violent protest, and was visited by several early "pre-civil rights" era leaders among whom were Bayard Rustin. Rustin quotes my Smith in his documents regarding the use of non violent passive resistance as a means of protest. Rustin carried his ideas to the south to Martin Luther King, Jr. who adopted this method in his strategies to fight racial inju… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Come forth, ye men of every race and nation
Title: Come Forth, Ye Men
Author: Jay Holmes Smith
Language: English

Tune

CREATION (Haydn)

The tune CREATION is taken from the chorus “The Heavens Are Telling” from the well known oratorio The Creation (1798) by Franz Joseph Haydn (b. Rohrau, Austria, 1732; d. Vienna, Austria, 1809). Haydn's life was relatively uneventful, but his artistic legacy was truly astounding. He began his mus…

Go to tune page >


Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 3 of 3)

Songs for Worship and Fellowship #d21

The Churches of God Hymnal. #d79

Text

Christian Worship #487

Suggestions or corrections? Contact us