Onward, Christian Soldiers” was written in 1865 with no intention of ever being published, especially in adult hymn books. Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, its author, was at that time the curate of a parish in Yorkshire county in the north of England, and he recounts how and why he wrote it:

It was written in a very simple fashion … Whitmonday is a great day for school festivals in Yorkshire, and one Whitmonday it was arranged that our school should join its forces with that of a neighboring village. I wanted the children to sing when marching from one village to the other, but couldn’t think of anything quite suitable, so I sat up at night resolved to write something myself. “Onward, Christian Soldiers” was the result. It was written in great haste, and I am afraid some of the rhymes are faulty. Certainly nothing has surprised me more than its great popularity.

Though it was never meant for publication, it was nevertheless found its way into a periodical later that year, and soon it became included in English hymnals around the world. Louis Benson suspects that it caught on in the United States, at least in part, because it tapped into the “soldier-spirit left in the hearts of young and old Americans by the four years of the Civil War” which had just ended.

In 1871 Arthur Sullivan wrote the tune “St. Gertrude” for the hymn, which further popularized the hymn and has ever since been its standard melody.

Due to its militaristic theme and martial melody, the hymn has encountered some resistance in recent years, and some church denominations have removed it from their hymn books entirely. However, it is appropriate to remember that Paul commands Timothy to “share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3), and that he instructs the church to “put on the whole armor of God” because we wrestle against the spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6).

The words of the hymn make it clear that the focus is on this spiritual battle—that our foe is Satan, not men, and that our King and Commander in Chief is the eternal, omnipotent Christ whose kingdom cannot fail.

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;
Forward into battle see His banners go!

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before.

At the sign of triumph Satan's host doth flee;
On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!
Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise;
Brothers lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.

Like a mighty army moves the church of God;
Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod.
We are not divided, all one body we,
One in hope and doctrine, one in charity.

What the saints established that I hold for true.
What the saints believd, that I believe too.
Long as earth endureth, men the faith will hold,
Kingdoms, nations, empires, in destruction rolled.

Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane,
But the church of Jesus constant will remain.
Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail;
We have Christ's own promise, and that cannot fail.

Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng,
Blend with ours your voices in the triumph song.
Glory, laud and honor unto Christ the King,
This through countless ages men and angels sing.

This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by Reformation Heritage Books. They’ve put together five prize packages, each of which consists of five new books. Each of this week’s five winners will receive:

• A Faith Worth Teaching, edited by Jon D. Payne and Sebastian Heck. “In A Faith Worth Teaching, edited by Jon Payne and Sebastian Heck, an array of faithful pastor-scholars celebrate the Heidelberg Catechism on its 450th anniversary with a collection of essays on its dynamic history, rich theology, and fruit-bearing practice that will be an encouragement to pastors and laypersons alike.”
• Prepared by Grace, for Grace by Joel R. Beeke & Paul M. Smalley “Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley make careful analysis of the Puritan understanding of preparatory grace, demonstrate its fundamental continuity with the Reformed tradition, and identify matters where even the Puritans disagreed among themselves. Clearing away the many misconceptions and associated accusations of preparationism, this study is sure to be the standard work on how the Puritans understood the ordinary way God leads sinners to Christ.”
• The Life and Times of Arthur Hildersham by Lesley Rowe. “Arthur Hildersham is, to a large extent, a forgotten Puritan. Since Samuel Clarke compiled a thirteen-page account of his life in the seventeenth century, there has been no biography of Hildersham. But during his lifetime, Hildersham was one of the most revered and prominent Puritan figures.”
• The Best Method of Preaching by Petrus van Mastricht. “Dividing the task of preaching into four basic aspects (planning, arrangement, parts of a sermon, and delivery), he gives analysis to show how each is meant to work, gives rules for working through each one, and discusses how each part is to aim at and interact with the affections of the hearers.”
• Contentment, Prosperity and God’s Glory by Jeremiah Burroughs. “On the surface, it seems unnecessary to instruct someone to be content in times of prosperity. However, times of prosperity and abundance provide some of the strongest temptations to pull our hearts away from God. Jeremiah Burroughs was keenly aware that the riches of this world compete for our affections and challenge our contentment in Christ.”

Giveaway Rules: You may enter one time. As soon as the winners have been chosen, all names and addresses will be immediately and permanently erased. Winners will be notified by email. The giveaway closes Saturday at noon.

The Genius of Tyndale - From The Telegraph: “William Tyndale was burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English. He loaded our language with more phrases than any other writer before or since, says Melvyn Bragg.”

Realistic Lincoln - “Hollywood special effects artist Kazuhiro Tsuji has made ‘Portrait of Lincoln, ‘a hyper-realistic bust of the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln.” It’s an incredible work.

Idle, Lustful Babbling - Jared Wilson says that confession can at times be nothing more significant than idle, lustful babbling. “The greatest temptation in Christian communities is to avoid confession altogether, to maintain the facade, the uneasy stasis of staying right near the surface and never getting too deep, too real, too honest with each other. But on the other side, another temptation, perhaps not as great but just as real, is what often happens in place of real confession. ”

Weakness Is an Advantage - J.D. Greear explains that “if dependence is the objective, weakness is an advantage.”

Linguistic Conflicts - Here is a series of maps that show America’s deepest linguistic conflicts.

A Gospel that Fits All People - “Perhaps you read the news that trendy clothier Abercrombie & Fitch wants only the thin to wear their clothes.  For a long time retailers have included only the thin, thinner and thinnest models in their advertising visuals, but now A&F has gone several steps further and decided they will not even make clothes for people who are XL or XXL.”

Material prosperity and physical health do not invariably accompany faithfulness to God. But spiritual health and prosperity do. —William Greathouse

Every time I begin to read a new Puritan work I find myself wondering why I don't read more Puritan works. I always focus on the classics, which means the process of elimination through the centuries has determined that this one book stands above hundreds or thousands of others as one of the few to stand the test of time. I am always blessed by them.

Thomas Brooks' Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices is a study on the subtle ways Satan does battle against God by doing battle against God's people. Over the next couple of months I'll be offering weekly reflections on some of book's highlights.

Brooks begins by saying "Christ, the Scripture, your own hearts, and Satan’s devices, are the four prime things that should be first and most studied and searched. If any cast off the study of these, they cannot be safe here, nor happy hereafter." It has been his job in preparing this book to do his best "to discover the fullness of Christ, the emptiness of the creature, and the snares of the great deceiver."

Satan is the great enemy of the Christian and he is "so full of malice and envy that he will leave no means unattempted, whereby he may make all others eternally miserable with himself. [He] "makes use of all his power and skill to bring all the sons of men into the same condition and condemnation with himself." His desire is our destruction and he will do whatever is necessary to bring it about:

Satan loves to sail with the wind, and to suit men’s temptations to their conditions and inclinations. If they be in prosperity, he will tempt them to deny God (Proverbs 30:9); if they be in adversity, he will tempt them to distrust God; if their knowledge be weak, he will tempt them to have low thoughts of God; if their conscience be tender, he will tempt to scrupulosity; if large, to carnal security; if bold-spirited, he will tempt to presumption; if timorous, to desperation; if flexible, to inconstancy; if stiff, to impenitency.