Battle Hymn of the Repubic

I'm backtracking a little bit.  Our choir sang this hymn around the 4th of July, and even though I've always heard it sung around 4th of July, I just didn't really get why it is considered a patriotic song.  I read the words over and over and thought, "This is a great song to sing anytime.  It's a shame we only sing it once a year."


So in case you were wondering why it is classified as a "patriotic song," here's why:  The tune was a very popular tune sung by soldiers fighting in the Civil War.  It had a lot of different words. (In fact, people are still making up words for it today. I sang a version when I was a Beehive at Girls Camp.  "She waded in the water and she got her feet all wet . . ." )  Brother Russell told me that in the armed forces they used to sing it with words that he couldn't tell me in church.  The chorus went something like, "Glory, Glory What a heck-of-a-way to die."  (Except I think most people didn't say "heck.")


Julia Ward Howe, the author of the words wrote the following regarding her inspiration for her famous poem:


"In spite of the excitement of the day I went to bed and slept as usual, but awoke the next morning in the gray of the early dawn, and to my astonishment found that the wished-for lines were arranging themselves in my brain. I lay quite still until the last verse had completed itself in my thoughts, then hastily arose, saying to myself, I shall lose this if I don't write it down immediately. I searched for an old sheet of paper and an old stub of a pen which I had had the night before, and began to scrawl the lines almost without looking, as I learned to do by often scratching down verses in the darkened room when my little children were sleeping. Having completed this, I lay down again and fell asleep, but not before feeling that something of importance had happened to me."



The poem was published in the Atlanta Monthly and the words were quickly put to the tune.  It has since become one of the most well-loved patriotic songs of our nation.


When we were preparing this hymn, I went through all the phrases in this hymn and looked up lots of correlating scriptural references.  There are several.  But since this post is already longer than I anticipated, I won't elaborate on the references.  It makes for a nice scripture study session, though if you feel like delving into this hymn a bit.  It is basically talking about the days before the Lord's 2nd Coming;  The gathering of the elect, and spreading the gospel to all men.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:  (Matthew 24:30)

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; (Revelation 14:19)

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: (Hebrews 4:12)

     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.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; (Matthew 24:31)

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

Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!

     Our God is marching on.

I love the line, "Oh be swift, my soul, to answer Him!  be jubilant my feet!"  I love the idea of not shying away when the Lord needs us, but quickly answering His call, and doing His work jubilantly!

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. 

The original words of this verse are "As he died to  make men holy, let us die to make men free" which was appropriate for the Union soldiers fighting against slavery.  As it was put into hymn books later on, the word "die" was changed to "live."  Let us "live" to make men free, by sharing the gospel the best we can so that all of God's children can partake in the liberating power of Christ's atonement, and be free from sin and death.


     Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!
     Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!
     Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!
     His truth is marching on!

Here is some information about the word, "Hallelujah" that I found on Wikipedia.

"The word hallelujah occurring in Psalms is therefore a request for a congregation to join in praise toward God. It can be translated as "Praise God" or "Praise Yahweh, you people", and is usually worded in English contexts as "Praise the Lord"  In standard modern Hebrew, the word "hallelujah" is the word for requesting a congregation to join in praise. "Hallel" means to recite praise, "hallelu" is the plural form, and "halleluhu" is the imperative form of the verb. The grammatical extension "yah" is a way of expressing magnanimity for many Hebrew words."

I knew that Hallelujah meant to praise God, but I had never thought of it as an invitation for all to praise God.  So we invited the congregation to join us on one of the choruses, and as we sang  and there was a powerful spirit present as we all lifted our voices in praise of our God. I told the choir that as we sang the words of the chorus to truly feel them rather than sing vain repetitions--to keep in their minds all of the tender mercies of the Lord, and to let their whole souls sing those words.  I think when we are truly sincere in our worship through the hymns, the Lord truly pours out His Spirit upon us, and that's when we receive the blessing promised in Doctrine & Covenants 25.