BATTLE HYMN

Battle Hymn of the Republic

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.

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.

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.

"He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;

He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment-seat:

O, be swift, my soul, to answer him! be jubilant, my feet!

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.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,

He is wisdom to the mighty, he is honor to the brave,

So the world shall be his footstool,

the soul of wrong his slave

Our God is marching on!

One of my favorite songs. It was written early in the Civil War by Julia Ward Howe after riding through Washington D.C. and seeing the camps of scores of Union soldiers. This song inspired the nation during this great struggle. Even though it was written for specific war time and place it has contiuned to do so for generations of Americans ever since. It was even played at Winston Churchill's funeral because he loved the song so much. So let this inspire you as it does me on this 4th of July Eve. MAY GOD'S BLESSINGS BE WITH YOU 'TILL NEXT TIME.-

THE GREAT ONE