Soldiers of the Cross, Arise!

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Soldiers of the cross, arise! Gird you with your armor bright

Author: William Walsham How (1854)
Tune: ORIENTIS PARTIBUS
Published in 90 hymnals

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Representative Text

1 Soldiers of the cross, arise,
Gird you with your armour bright;
Mighty are your enemies,
Hard the battle ye must fight.

2 O’er a faithless, fallen world
Raise your banner in the sky;
Let it float there wide unfurled;
Bear it onward; lift it high.

3 ‘Mid the homes of want and woe,
Strangers to the living word,
Let the Saviour’s herald go,
Let the voice of hope be heard.

4 Where the shadows deepest lie,
Carry truth’s unsullied ray;
Where are crimes of blackest dye,
There the saving sign display.

5 To the weary and the worn
Tell of realms where sorrows cease;
To the outcast and forlorn
Speak of mercy and of peace.

6 Be the banner still unfurled,
Still unsheathed the Spirit’s sword,
Till the kingdoms of the world
Are the Kingdom of the Lord.

Source: The Song Book of the Salvation Army #697

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Author: William Walsham How

William W. How (b. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, 1823; d. Leenane, County Mayo, Ireland, 1897) studied at Wadham College, Oxford, and Durham University and was ordained in the Church of England in 1847. He served various congregations and became Suffragan Bishop in east London in 1879 and Bishop of Wakefield in 1888. Called both the "poor man's bishop" and "the children's bishop," How was known for his work among the destitute in the London slums and among the factory workers in west Yorkshire. He wrote a number of theological works about controversies surrounding the Oxford Movement and attempted to reconcile biblical creation with the theory of evolution. He was joint editor of Psalms and Hymns (1854) and Church Hymns (1871). While rec… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Soldiers of the cross, arise! Gird you with your armor bright
Title:	Soldiers of the Cross, Arise!
Author:	William Walsham How (1854)
Meter:	7.7.7.7
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Soldiers of the Cross, arise. Bishop W. W. How. [Home Missions.] First published in Morrell and How's Psalms & Hymns, 1854, in 7 stanzas of 4 lines. When included in the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Church Hymns, 1871, slight changes were made by Bishop How, in the text of stanzas vi. and vii. This form of the hymn is authorized.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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