Round the Sacred City Gather

Round the sac­red ci­ty ga­ther

Egypt

Ed­om

Ba­by­lon;

All the war­ring hosts of er­ror

Sworn against her

move as one:

Vain the leag­uer! her foun­da­tions

Are upon the ho­ly hills

And the love of the Eter­nal

All her state­ly tem­ple fills.

Get thee

watch­man

to the ram­part!

Gird thee

war­ri­or

with thy sword!

Be ye strong as ye re­mem­ber

That amidst you is the Lord:

Like the night mists from the val­ley

These shall van­ish one by one

Egypt’s mal­ice

Ed­om’s en­vy

And the hate of Ba­by­lon.

But be true

ye sons and daugh­ters

Lest the per­il be with­in:

Watch to pray­er

lest

while ye slum­ber

Stealthy foe­men en­ter in:

Safe the mo­ther and the child­ren

In their will and love be strong

While their loy­al hearts go sing­ing

Prayer and praise for bat­tle song.

Church of God! if we for­get thee

Let His bless­ings fail our hand

When our love shall not pre­fer thee

Let His love for­get our land—

Nay! to thee shall we be stead­fast

Though the world’s foun­da­tions shake

Love of thee is love for ev­er

Love of thee for Je­sus’ sake.

Church of Christ! up­on thy ban­ner

Lo

His pas­sion’s aw­ful sign;

By that seal of His re­demp­tion

Thou art His

and He is thine:

From the depth of His atone­ment

Flows thy sac­ra­ment­al tide:

From the height of His as­cen­sion

Flows the grace which is thy guide.

God the Spir­it dwells with­in thee

His so­ci­ety di­vine

His the liv­ing Word thou keep­est

His thy apos­tol­ic line.

Ancient pray­er and song li­tur­gics

Creeds that change not to the end

As His gift we have re­ceived them

As His charge we will de­fend.

Alleluia

al­le­lu­ia

To the Fa­ther

Spir­it

Son

In whose will the Church at war­fare

With the Church at rest is one;

So to Thee we sing in un­ion

God in earth and Heav’n ad­ored

Alleluia

al­le­lu­ia

Holy

ho­ly

ho­ly Lord.