TH E K I N G ’ S' B U S I N E S S
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Significance of the News By DAN GILBERT San Diego, Calif.
“ BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC”
for a football game. But it contains little to stir the heart and search the soul with“ a realization of the mean*, ing of a struggle for liberty and right eousness which costs the lives of thousands of American boys. "GOD BLESS AMERICA": • While written before the war, the song, “God Bless America,” is per haps the nearest approach to a worth while “religious-patriotic” song, to be produced }n the twentieth century. But, judged fay any Scriptural standard, it falls the distance from heaven to earth short of the mark, for it leaves out Christ. It leaves out Christian theology. It contains no Biblical prin ciple. It expresses no Christian con viction. Rather, it sets forth merely a fond hope and empty prayer: that God will bless America. (All prayers are empty which- leave out the Lord Jesus Christ.) The Japanese'believe in God. They could change the words to make them read, “God Bless Japan.” The general theme could be left as' it is, even for their purposes. ( To be truly great, truly American, a song must express something more than a pious appeal to an unknown God. It must be addressed, not to an unknown God, but to “ our fathers’ God,” the God of the Bible. It must establish' the Biblical basis of rela tionship'between God and man, be tween God and nations. A truly great American war song must affirm the righteousness of God. It must affirm the conviction that God is working out His great principles of righteousness, even in war time. It must express our unyielding faith in the final and inevitable -victory of God’s righteousness. It must give cour age, conviction, and consecration to those, who are about to risk death itself upon the battlefield for their country. It must give meaning to the crusade for national victory. .It must convey a deep heartfelt understand ing of what patriots should fight for, live for, and die for. THE "BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC": • The song which most completely contains all these elements is the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” , Only a true Bible-believing Christian of conviction and consecration, like Julia Ward Howe, could give words to such a song, in a time of great stress such as the War Between the States sup plied.
MUSIC IN WAR TIME: • Specialists in the subject of “build ing morale’’ have lamented that the war has brought forth no great song, which fully and deeply expresses the patriotic fervor and devotion of our people struggling to keep liberty and democracy alive. A well-known philanthropist has of fered a prize of $50,000 to any one who will compose a “truly great war song.” Unfortunately, a great song cannot be ordered, constructed according to spec ifications,, bought and paid for, as can a bombing plane or a warship. It is reported from Washington that various “morale-building agencies” of the government are concerned to “ef- fectualize measures” to subsidize and stimulate song writers to produce the much needed, highly desired “ great war song.” But this is one activity that lies beyond the power. of the whole array of alphabetical agencies. No great song was ever composed by a committee of experts, by the offering of prizes, or by the edict of governmental bureaucracies. A great song comes out of the depths of a heart filled with love and devotion to a high ideal. ' Almost without exception, great songs, great poems, great 'works of art and literature, have not been pro duced in the twentieth century. Noth ing else more completely disproves „the theory of evolution, and estab lishes the fact that degeneration is the law of nature. Degeneration is the principle which controls human life and history, when humanity directs its course contrary to the Word of God. The Bible teaches that “in the lat ter days,” man and his civilization shall become corrupt, superficial, ster ile of cultural achievement. The de generation of the mind of man is as much in evidence as the debasement of his heart. Possibly the most popular song to come out of the war was the now almost forgotten, “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.” As rendered by “swing bands” and “hot music art ists,” the song was grossly sacrile gious; but, more than that, it is pathetically puerile in its “message,” if it indeed has a message. The last war was as unproductive as this one in the matter of bringing forth a great song. The most popular one was, perhaps, “Oyer There.” The childish sentiment of that song—“the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming”—might serve as the equiva lent of, a rallying cry, or school yell,
By Julia Ward Howe
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 light ning 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. 1 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 trum pet that shall never call re treat; 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. 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. Chorus: Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glbry, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
[From The New Blue Book of Favorite Songs, published by Hall & McCreary Co., Chicago, III.] .
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