This blog was written by our youngest daughter Macie. Thank you to Macie for her willingness to share her thoughts regarding this hymn. To God be the glory!
In 1861, Julia Ward Howe wrote The Battle Hymn Of The Republic. She fought against slavery and for women’s rights. During the Civil War, Julia and her family visited an army camp in Virginia. They heard soldiers singing about freedom. She liked the music but not the words. Her pastor said she should write her own words to the song. She lay in her bed as words came to her, and after she was satisfied with the song, she wrote the words on paper so she wouldn’t forget them. The Atlantic Monthly magazine published her poem.
The first verse of the Hymn:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
This verse means that God’s glory will come to the earth again, and that His glory is everlasting.
The second verse of the Hymn:
I have seen Him in the watch-fires 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.
This verse means, The soldiers focused on praising God in the time of war because they know He is coming soon.
The third verse of the Hymn:
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him; be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
This verse means, that when Jesus’ trumpet blows that we can’t run from it and we will have to stand before His judgment.
The last verse of the Hymn:
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.
This last verse means, when Jesus was born He was full of glory and that changes the hearts of men. He died on the cross it made us holy and we should tell others about Him.
-Macie
Corby Shuey 