Once To Every Man And Nation
- Words:
- James Russell Lowell
- Music:
- John Zundel
Sheet music
- 1Once to ev’ry man and nationComes the moment to decide,In the strife of truth with falsehood,For the good or evil side;Some great cause, come great decision,Off’ring each the bloom or blight,And the choice goes by forever,’Twixt that darkness and that light.
- 2Then to side with truth is noble,When we share her wretched crust,Ere her cause bring fame and profit,And ’tis prosperous to be just;Then it is the brave man choosesWhile the coward stands aside,Till the multitude make virtueOf the faith they had denied.
- 3By the light of burning martyrs, Christ,Thy bleeding feet we track,Toiling up new Calv’ries everWith the cross that turns not back;New occasions teach new duties,Ancient values test our youth;They must upward still and onward,Who would keep abreast of truth.
- 4Tho’ the cause of evil prosper,Yet the truth alone is strong;Tho’ her portion be the scaffold,And upon the throne be wrong;Yet that scaffold sways the future,And, behind the dim unknown,Standeth God within the shadow,Keeping watch above His own.
In the hymnals
- Written in 1844, the words are in 224 hymnals indexed by Hymnary.org. Their history →
Words, music and setting are in the public domain. The sheet music and words are from PDHymns.com. The piano is the FluidR3 General MIDI sound font (MIT licence). How many hymnals print a hymn, and when it was written, is from Hymnary.org.