Bear the good tidings all over the world,
Let the bright banner of love be unfurled,
Wherever sorrow and sin shall be found,
There let the news of salvation resound.

Refrain

All over the world,
All over the world,
Let the bright banner of love be unfurled,
All over the world.

Plant in the wilderness Sharon’s sweet rose,
Blessing will follow wherever it goes;
Led, onward led by the Lord’s guiding hand,
Open “fresh springs” in the dry, thirsty land.

Refrain

Think of the millions who never have heard
One precious promise from God’s holy Word;
Think of the lives marred and darkened by sin,
Tell them the story that brings light within.

Refrain

Oh, what a song shall in Heaven be sung!
By every nation and kindred and tongue;
Some may be there through our efforts and prayer,
Joy everlasting together we’ll share.

Refrain

At Thy feet, our God and Father,
Who has blest us all our days,
We with grateful hearts would gather,
To begin this hour with praise:
Praise for light so brightly shining
On our steps from Heaven above;
Praise for mercies daily twining
Round us golden cords of love.

Jesus, for Thy love most tender,
On the cross for sinners shown,
We would praise Thee, and surrender
All our hearts to be Thine own:
With so blest a Friend provided,
We upon our way would go,
Sure of being safely guided,
Guarded well from every foe.

Every day will be the brighter
When Thy gracious face we see;
Every burden will be lighter
When we know it comes from Thee,
Spread Thy love’s broad banner o’er us,
Give us strength to serve and wait,
Till the glory breaks before us
Through the City’s open gate.

Go forward, Christian soldier,
Beneath His banner true:
The Lord Himself, thy Leader,
Shall all thy foes subdue.
His love foretells thy trials;
He knows thine hourly need;
He can with bread of Heaven
Thy fainting spirit feed.

Go forward, Christian soldier,
Fear not the secret foe;
Far more o’er thee are watching
Than human eyes can know:
Trust only Christ, thy Captain;
Cease not to watch and pray;
Heed not the treacherous voices
That lure thy soul astray.

Go forward, Christian soldier,
Nor dream of peaceful rest,
Till Satan’s host is vanquished
And Heav’n is all possessed;
Till Christ Himself shall call thee
To lay thine armor by,
And wear in endless glory
The crown of victory.

Go forward, Christian soldier,
Fear not the gath’ring night:
The Lord has been thy Shelter;
The Lord will be thy Light.
When morn His face revealeth,
Thy dangers are all past:
O pray that faith and virtue
May keep thee to the last!

We are children of the King,
And His praises we will sing,
As we journey to our home above—
His banner over us is love!

Refrain

Marching! Marching!
With happy hearts we onward move;
No foe we fear, with our Captain near—
His banner over us is love!

He, the glorious Son of God,
Hath the way before us trod;
Over every foe we’ll conqu’ror prove—
His banner over us is love!

Refrain

Fearless in our Leader’s might,
Strong to do and dare the right;
We will journey to our home above—
His banner over us is love!

Refrain

Jesus spreads his banner o’er us,
Cheers our famished souls with food;
He the banquet spreads before us,
Of His mystic flesh and blood.
Precious banquet, bread of heaven,
Wine of gladness, flowing free;
May we taste it, kindly given,
In remembrance, Lord, of Thee.

In Thy holy incarnation,
When the angels sang Thy birth;
In Thy fasting and temptation,
In Thy labors on the earth,
In Thy trial and rejection,
In Thy sufferings on the tree,
In Thy glorious resurrection,
May we, Lord, remember Thee.

The usually omitted first verse:

While the sons of earth retiring,
From the sacred temple roam;
Lord, Thy light and love desiring,
To Thine altar fain we come.
Children of our heavenly Father,
Friends and brethren we would be;
While we round Thy table gather,
May our hearts be one in Thee.

O God, whose love is over all
The children of Thy grace,
Whose rich and tender blessings fall
On every age and place,
Hear Thou the songs and prayers we raise
In eager joy to Thee,
And teach us, as we sound Thy praise,
In all things Thee to see.

To see Thee in the sun by day
And in the stars by night,
In waving grass and ocean spray
And leaves and flowers bright;
To hear Thy voice, like spoken word,
In every breeze that blows,
In every song of every bird,
And every brook that flows.

To see Thee in each quiet home
Where faith and love abide,
In school and church, where all may come
To seek Thee side by side;
To see Thee in each human life,
Each struggling human heart,
Each path by which, in eager strife,
Men seek the better part.

Surrounded by unnumbered foes,
Against my soul the battle goes;
Yet though I weary, sore distressed,
I know that I shall reach my rest:
I lift my tearful eyes above—
His banner over me is love.

Its sword my spirit will not yield,
Though flesh may faint upon the field;
He waves before my fading sight
The branch of palm, the crown of light:
I lift my brightening eyes above—
His banner over me is love.

My cloud of battle-dust may dim,
His veil of splendor curtain Him;
And in the midnight of my fear
I may not feel Him standing near:
But, as I lift mine eyes above,
His banner over me is love.

His voice, as the sound of the dulcimer sweet, is heard through the shadows of death;
The cedars of Lebanon bow at His feet, the air is perfumed with His breath.
His lips as the fountain of righteousness flow, that waters the garden of grace,
From which their salvation the Gentiles shall know, and bask in the smiles of His face.

O! Thou in Whose presence my soul takes delight, on Whom in affliction I call;
My Comfort by day, and my Song in the night, my Hope, my Salvation, my All—
Where dost Thou at noontide resort with Thy sheep, to feed on the pastures of love?
Say, why in the valley of death should I weep, or ’lone in the wilderness rove?

O! why should I wander an alien from thee, and cry in the desert for bread?
Thy foes will rejoice when my sorrows they see, and smile at the tears I have shed.
Ye daughters of Zion, declare, have you seen the Star that on Israel shone?
Say if in your tents my Belovèd hath been, and where, with His flock, is He gone?

“What is thy Belovèd, thou dignified fair? What excellent beauties hath He?
His charms and perfections be pleased to declare, that we may embrace Him with thee.”
This is my Belovèd, His form is divine; His vestments shed odor around;
The locks on His head are as grapes on the vine, when autumn with plenty is crowned.

The roses of Sharon, the lilies that grow in the vales, on the banks of the streams
On His cheeks in the beauty of excellence blow; His eyes are as quivers of beams.
His voice as the sound of the dulcimer sweet is heard through the shadows of death;
The cedars of Lebanon bow at His feet, the air is perfumed with His breath.

There’s a light upon the mountains,
And the day is at the spring,
When our eyes shall see the beauty
And the glory of the King:
Weary was our heart with waiting,
And the night watch seemed so long,
But His triumph day is breaking
And we hail it with a song.

In the fading of the starlight
We may see the coming morn;
And the lights of men are paling
In the splendors of the dawn;
For the eastern skies are glowing
As with light of hidden fire,
And the hearts of men are stirring
With the throbs of deep desire.

There’s a hush of expectation
And a quiet in the air
And the breath of God is moving
In the fervent breath of prayer;
For the suffering, dying Jesus
Is the Christ upon the throne,
And the travail of our spirit
Is the travail of His own.

He is breaking down the barriers,
He is casting up the way;
He is calling for His angels
To build up the gates of day:
But His angels here are human,
Not the shining hosts above;
For the drum beats of His army
Are the heartbeats of our love.

Hark! we hear a distant music
And it comes with fuller swell;
’Tis the triumph song of Jesus,
Of our King, Immanuel!
Go ye forth with joy to meet Him!
And, my soul, be swift to bring
All thy sweetest and thy dearest
For the triumph of our King!

Come away to the skies, my belovèd, arise
And rejoice in the day thou wast born;
On this festival day, come exulting away,
And with singing to Zion return.

We have laid up our love and our treasure above,
Though our bodies continue below.
The redeemed of the Lord will remember His Word,
And with singing to paradise go.

Now with singing and praise let us spend all the days
By our heavenly Father bestowed,
While His grace we receive from His bounty, and live
To the honor and glory of God!

For the glory we were first created to share,
Both the nature and kingdom divine,
Now created again that our lives may remain
Throughout time and eternity Thine.

We with thanks do approve the design
Of that love that hath joined us to Jesus’ Name;
Now united in heart, let us never more part,
Till we meet at the feast of the Lamb.

There, Oh! there at His feet, we shall all likewise meet,
And be parted in body no more;
We shall sing to our lyres, with the heavenly choirs,
And our Savior in glory adore.

Hallelujah! we sing to our Father and King,
And His rapturous praises repeat:
To the Lamb that was slain, Hallelujah again!
Sing all Heaven and fall at His feet!

O voice of the Belovèd!
Thy bride hath heard Thee say,
“Rise up, My love, My fair one,
Arise and come away.
For lo, ’tis past, the winter,
The winter of thy year;
The rain is past and over,
The flowers on earth appear.

“And now the time of singing
Is come for every bird;
And over all the country
The turtle dove is heard;
The fig her green fruit ripens,
The vines are in their bloom;
Arise and smell their fragrance;
My love, My fair one, come!”

Yea, Lord! Thy Passion over,
We know this life of ours
Hath passed from death and winter
To leaves and budding flowers;
No more Thy rain of weeping
In drear Gethsemane;
No more the clouds and darkness,
That veiled Thy bitter Tree.

Our Easter Sun is risen!
And yet we slumber long,
And need Thy Dove’s sweet pleading
To waken prayer and song.
Oh breathe upon our deadness,
Oh shine upon our gloom;
Lord, let us feel Thy presence
And rise and live and bloom.

When spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil;
When summer’s balmy showers refresh the mower’s toil;
When winter binds in frosty chains the fallow and the flood;
In God the earth rejoiceth still and owns his Maker good.

The birds that wake the morning and those that love the shade;
The winds that sweep the mountain or lull the drowsy glade;
The sun that from his amber bower rejoiceth on his way,
The moon and stars their Master’s Name in silent pomp display.

Shall man, the lord of nature, expectant of the sky,
Shall man alone, unthankful, his little praise deny?
No; let the year forsake his course, the seasons cease to be,
Thee, Master, must we always love, and Savior, honor Thee.

The flowers of spring may wither, the hope of summer fade,
The autumn droop in winter, the birds forsake the shade;
The winds be lulled, the sun and moon forget their old decree;
But we, in nature’s latest hour, O Lord, will cling to Thee!

Speak, I pray Thee, gentle Jesus!
O, how passing sweet Thy words,
Breathing o’er my troubled spirit
Peace which never earth affords.
All the world’s distracting voices,
All th’enticing tones of ill,
At Thy accents mild, melodious,
Are subdued, and all is still.

Tell me Thou art mine, O Savior,
Grant me an assurance clear;
Banish all my dark misgivings,
Still my doubting, calm my fear.
O, my soul within me yearneth
Now to hear Thy voice divine;
So shall grief be gone for ever,
And despair no more be mine.

Christ will me His aid afford,
Never to fall, never to fall,
While I find my precious Lord,
Sweeter than all, sweeter than all.

Refrain

Jesus is now, and ever will be,
Sweeter than all the world to me,
Since I heard His loving call,
Sweeter than all, sweeter than all.

I will follow all the way,
Hearing Him call, hearing Him call,
Finding Him, from day to day,
Sweeter than all, sweeter than all.

Refrain

Tho’ a vessel I may be,
Broken and small, broken and small,
Yet His blessings fall on me,
Sweeter than all, sweeter than all.

Refrain

When I reach the crystal sea,
Voices will call, voices will call,
But my Savior’s voice will be
Sweeter than all, sweeter than all.

Refrain

A long time I wandered in darkness and sin,
And wondered if ever the light would shine in;
I heard Christian friends speak of raptures divine,
And I wished—how I wished—that their Savior were mine.
I wished He were mine, yes, I wished He were mine;
I wished—how I wished—that their Savior were mine.

I heard the glad Gospel of “good will to men”;
I read “whosoever” again and again;
I said to my soul, “Can that promise be thine?”
And then began hoping that Jesus was mine.
I hoped He was mine, yes, I hoped He was mine,
And then began hoping that Jesus was mine.

Oh, mercy surprising! He saves even me!
“Thy portion forever,” He says, “will I be”;
On His Word I am resting—assurance divine:
I am “hoping” no longer, I know He is mine.
I know He is mine, yes, I know He is mine,
I’m hoping no longer—I know He is mine.

I lift my heart to Thee, Savior divine;
For Thou art all to me, and I am Thine;
Is there on earth a closer bond than this,
That my Belovèd’s mine, and I am His?

Thine am I by all ties; but chiefly Thine,
That through Thy sacrifice Thou, Lord, art mine.
By thine own cords of love, so sweetly wound,
Around me, I to Thee am closely bound.

To Thee, Thou bleeding Lamb, I all things owe—
All that I have, and am, and all I know.
All that I have is now no longer mine,
And I am not mine own; Lord, I am Thine.

How can I, Lord, withhold life’s brightest hour
From Thee; or gathered gold, or any power?
Why should I keep one precious thing from Thee;
When Thou hast giv’n Thine own dear self for me?

I pray Thee, Savior, keep me in Thy love,
Until death’s holy sleep shall me remove
To that fair realm where, sin and sorrow o’er,
Thou and Thine own are one forevermore.

O Lamb of God, whose love divine
Draws virgin souls to follow Thee;
And bids them earthly joys resign
If so they may Thy beauty see;

The saint of whom we sing today
Was faithful to Thy loving call,
And, casting other hopes away,
Took Thee to be her God, her all.

To Thee she yielded up her will,
Her heart was drawn to Thine above;
Content if Thou wouldst deign to fill
Thine handmaid with Thy perfect love.

Beneath Thy cross she loved to stand,
Like Mary in Thy dying hour,
That blessings from Thy piercèd hand
Might clothe her with undying power;

With power to win the crown of light
For virgin souls laid up on high,
And ready keep her lamp at night
To hail the Bridegroom drawing nigh.

And surely Thou at last didst come
To end the sorrows of Thy bride,
And bear her to Thy peaceful home
With Thee for ever to abide.

All glory, Jesu, for the grace
That drew Thy saint to follow Thee;
Grant us too in Thy love a place
Both now and through eternity.

’Tis night—but O the joyful morn
Will soon our waiting spirits cheer;
Yon gleams of coming glory warn
Thy saints, O Lord, that Thou art near.

Lord of our hearts, beloved of Thee,
Weary of earth, we sigh to rest,
Supremely happy, safe and free,
For ever on Thy tender breast.

To see Thee, love Thee, feel Thee near,
Nor dread, as now, Thy transient stay;
To dwell beyond the reach of fear
Lest joy should wane or pass away.

Children of hope, belovèd Lord!
In Thee we live, we glory now;
Our joy, our rest, our great reward,
Our diadem of beauty, Thou!

And when exalted, Lord, with Thee,
Thy royal throne at length we share;
To everlasting Thou shalt be
Our diadem, our glory there!