LYRICS
| Meter: |
| | Writer(s): | W. P. Rivers
| | Transl/Adapt: |
| | Dates: | pre 1929
| | Bible Refs: | Ac 16:9
|
| 1. Ye Christian men of every nation,
Hark, hark what cries salute your ears!
The heathen in their degradation
They call for help with sighs and tears,
They call for help with sighs and tears;
Shall souls immortal
languish bleeding?
Oppressed by Satan’s slavish chains,
In superstition’s woes and pains,
While Christian hearts
are dead, unheeding?
Refrain.
Arise, O Church of God!
Awake for Jesus’ sake!
March on, march on, all hearts aflame,
For Christ the world to take.
2. By thousands, hopeless,
they are falling,
And ne’er have heard
their Savior’s Name;
For life and liberty they’re calling,
But perish in their guilt and shame,
But perish in their guilt and shame;
Too long have Christians
heard their wailing,
Their death cries out of pagan night;
Their prayers in vain for Gospel light;
Oh, shall their cries be unavailing?
Refrain.
Arise, O Church of God!
Awake for Jesus’ sake!
March on, march on, all hearts aflame,
For Christ the world to take.
3.
Oh, ye who serve the King of glory,
In lands where heaven’s
blessings glow,
Can ye withhold salvation’s story,
From myriads sunk in heathen woe?
From myriads sunk in heathen woe?
Nay, by the blood
that makes men brothers,
The bannered cross must be unfurled;
The kingdom is for all the world,
And men redeemed must uplift others.
Refrain.
Arise, O Church of God!
Awake for Jesus’ sake!
March on, march on, all hearts aflame,
For Christ the world to take.
4. Shall Christians hoard
their golden treasure?
And pile their stores
with miser’s greed,
Or spend for fashion,
pride and pleasures,
While empires for the Gospel plead?
While empires for the Gospel plead?
Can men of soul, their God adoring,
For heaven’s crowning glories hope?
While millions in
their blindness grope,
And die, the light of life imploring?
Refrain.
Arise, O Church of God!
Awake for Jesus’ sake!
March on, march on, all hearts aflame,
For Christ the world to take.
5. See, heaven lends cooperation!
For conquests grand and manifold;
And calls the Church to consecration,
Of life and strength and precious gold;
Of life and strength and precious gold;
While with God’s power
the world is shaking,
O’erturning systems, creeds and caste,
And working changes worldwide vast,
’Tis time dead Christian souls
were waking.
Refrain.
Arise, O Church of God!
Awake for Jesus’ sake!
March on, march on, all hearts aflame,
For Christ the world to take.
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