The minister
wanted to give his young charges a sense of the great task they were entering
that Monday, so he thought a marching song was appropriate. An army leapt to
Sabine Baring-Gould’s mind as he considered the poetry for “Onward Christian
Soldiers” in 1864. The images he paints are vivid and exciting, spurring mental
reminders from war pictures that stir one’s spirit. This was the period before
moving picture shows, so Baring-Gould must have been drawing upon other resources
to compose the lines that he says he dashed off rather hurriedly. His words
were meant to mold young children, but they still ring in the ears of adults…we
all must feel that conflict is still a reality, huh?
The
31-year-old minister Sabine Baring Gould was trying to inject some discipline,
some stability, into the children as he thought about the marching they’d be
doing, and perhaps it was something he wished had been a bit more true in his
own upbringing. His childhood found him travelling throughout Europe with his
family, though England was home, making his education by private tutors necessary.
His father’s and maternal grandfather’s military backgrounds must have provided
some of the foundation for “Onward…”, as Baring-Gould considered how his own
childhood experience might be translatable for the children he was teaching in
Horbury in northern England that day in the mid-19th Century. Banners
(v.1) whipping in the wind, soldiers in tight rows in lock-step, perhaps
singing a martial song in unison – these were memories perhaps from stories his
father and grandfather might have told, which stayed with Sabine. And so, when
gathering the children for Monday’s march to a nearby village, Sabine thought
for a while the previous evening about how he could get his classroom kids to
participate in the spirit of the occasion. He says he wrote hastily, and some three
decades later was still unconvinced its rhymes were adequate. But, perhaps the
aim of its inception was the hymn’s operative factor. Intended to teach and shape
its vocalists, “Onward Christian Soldiers” communicates not only the gravity of
the believer’s devotion, but the comradeship acquired in a group of followers,
too. After all, it’d be tough to fight all by oneself.
That companionship
is celebrated weekly in most believers’ lives. Sunday, resurrection, is no
small deal. It deserves a shout! But, I must admit that most of my marching by
Monday afternoon, and especially by the time I reach Friday, seems a little
weak-spirited by comparison. Think Sabine thought the same thing, or saw it in
the faces of those children? A song helps me remember – and it’s why I try to ‘scoop’
a helping of song each Friday or Saturday too. With this techno-age, I don’t
need to rely on my flawed memory. I can call other believer-friends, or send
them a text, or I can punch a disk into an electronic device to waft that marching
scent through my nose and ears once more. Play it again, Sam -- or rather,
Sabine!
See more
information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of
Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J.
Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing
Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck,
Kregel Publications, 1990; 101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck,
Kregel Publications, 1982; and Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s
Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.
Also see these links: This one shows all six original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/o/n/w/onwardcs.htm
Read about the town in northern England where
composer was in 1865: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horbury
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