Just prior to the Civil War, music in America was at an all time high. Band concerts performed by local communities were extremely popular, pianos graced the parlor of many homes, schools of music were popping up everywhere, and the sales of sheet music was extremely profitable. When the war broke out in 1861, Northern and Southern soldiers alike took this love of music with them. Those soldiers, along with civilians, wrote and sang numerous songs about the Civil War. Music helped the soldiers pass the time, entertained them, brought back memories of home, and strengthened the bonds of comrades. The most popular song of the south was “Dixie,” better known as “I Wish I Were In Dixie,” which became the battle cry of the Confederacy. For a short time, the battle cry of the Union Army was “John Brown’s Body.” However, that quickly changed in November 1861 when Julia Ward Howe, along with her husband and the Reverend James Clarke, toured Union Camps near Washington D.C. During that visit the group repeatedly heard Union soldiers singing “John Brown’s Body.” As they closed out their visit, Reverend Clarke suggested that Julia write a more appropriate song for the Northern armies. That evening and the next morning, surrounded by the campfires of Union solders, Julia penned these words:
“I have seen Him in the watchfires 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.”
“The Battle Hymn of The Republic” was written and quickly became the theme song of The Union. The third and fourth verses of that great song reads as follows.
“He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His Judgement 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.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Our God is marching on.”
Many soldiers have died in numerous wars since the Civil War in an effort to free men and women from the oppression and bondage of evil dictators and governments.
God has “sounded forth the trumpet”, calling men and women to the battle for lost souls. Men, women, and children in our families, our community, our country, and across the world are dying daily, lost without the saving blood of Jesus Christ, doomed to an eternity in the flames of Hell. We must rally quickly, time is short, another trumpet will soon sound out, Christians will be taken up to Heaven, and lost souls will have no hope. We must see and feel the urgency, we must pray for the lost, tell others about Jesus, hand out a tract, and give money to support missionaries.
“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light.” (Romans 13:11-12)
“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” (John 9:4)
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)
Are you in the battle for lost souls?