This time last year there was some controversy in the national press about the hymn ‘Onward Christian Soldiers.’ It was reported that a Vicar in the Diocese of Leicester had refused to permit ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ to be sung at a Remembrance Service. According to a report in the Daily Telegraph the reason was that not everyone at the service would be a Christian. This had apparently angered the local Legion Club who argued that the hymn had been sung in Remembrance services in that church for years.
I am always rather skeptical about the reliability of what I read in the national press, it seems to me that their concern to sell newspapers at times overwhelms any residual sense of duty they have to report all the facts as they find them, so who knows what actually occurred? I can comment only on what I read; I think Church services can be clearly Christian and still welcome and include people of other faiths and of no apparent faith, so I disagree with the Vicar, but I also think that doing things on the basis that they have always been done is an excuse for not thinking, so I found I also disagreed with the local Legion Club.
I have to say on any issue of controversy after a moment’s thought I usually find I disagree with absolutely everyone including myself.
The reporting of this local dispute sparked a nationwide debate about the hymn ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’, it seems the hymn rather divides opinions.
Onward Christian Soldiers was once a very popular hymn which in recent times has fallen out of favour. In many people’s mind’s it has became associated with the values of Empire and the kind of Christian militarism which enthusiastically encouraged young men in World War One to fight for ‘God, King and Country’. This view seems to have carried the day and consequently ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ is not to be found in most modern hymn books.
I remember as a child I sang ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ in school with some enthusiasm despite the fact I had a father who was a Pacifist and had been a Conscientious Objector in World War Two, and I am happy to report that ‘Singing ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ did not spark within me a desire for Imperial conquest.
To my surprise a search On Line proved that sadly ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ is taken by some people to be a call to arms against people of other faiths and lands. There are some rather alarming videos set to the words and music of the hymn that show Crusaders marching off to war. It seems to me quite a basic Christian principle that as God lets us make up our own mind about our faith so we should let others make up their own minds. Whilst God can presumably make up people’s minds for them we cannot, whacking people with a sword is a wholly ineffectual way to change someone’s religious or ideological beliefs.
Christians have to live by the teaching of Jesus,
‘Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.’
‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’
War should be a last resort and should never be glorified. If you don’t believe the words of a Priest on armed conflict then listen to the words of a soldier, perhaps our nation’s greatest, the Duke of Wellington, who wrote after victory at Waterloo, ‘Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.’ In the same letter he writes, ‘My heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers.’
Those who decry ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ as war mongering and those who hear a blood stirring call to arms both miss that the hymn isn’t actually about going to war. The line is,
‘Onward, Christian soldiers! Marching as to war.’
Not ‘off to war’ but ‘as to war’.
The hymn compares the Christian life to a battle, drawing inspiration perhaps from New Testament passages such as those in Philippians, 2 Timothy, 1 Corinthians and Ephesians that use military imagery to describe Christian life. However, the only weapons mentioned in the hymn are voices raised in praise, and we sing that this is an army bound together in charity.
The hymn was written by the splendidly named Rev Sabine Baring-Gould, he wrote it for school children to sing as they processed from Horbury Bridge, where he was curate, to Horbury St Peter's Church near Wakefield, at Whitsuntide 1865. It was originally sung to the tune of the second movement Haydn’s 15th Symphony until Arthur Sullivan, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, wrote the tune we know today which marched the hymn into the popular consciousness.
The Rev Sabine Baring-Gould was for a time Vicar of Dalton just the other side of Topcliffe, so he would surely have known our parish of Wath.
So what are we to make of this?
Perhaps firstly, a good principle is ‘pay attention to the text not the rhetoric’, meaning both the words and the context in which the words were written should be considered, which is as serviceable for the understanding of hymns as it is for good biblical scholarship and good journalism.
Secondly, the Christian life is a battle. Christians are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven yet live in the Kingdom of this World, do not be surprised if you find it a struggle to live by the teachings of Jesus amongst people who disregard them.
Thirdly, I think even though it is often misunderstood ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ can be sung at Remembrance Day Services to honour all who have suffered in the fight against evil and to remind us that we too must serve Christ our King who is the Prince of Peace.
Amen.
Onward, Christian soldiers,
marching as to war,
with the cross of Jesus
going on before!
Christ, the royal Master,
leads against the foe;
forward into battle,
see, his banners go.
Refrain:
Onward, Christian soldiers,
marching as to war,
with the cross of Jesus
going on before!
At the sign of triumph
Satan's host doth flee;
on then, Christian soldiers,
on to victory!
Hell's foundations quiver
at the shout of praise;
Brothers, lift your voices,
loud your anthems raise.
Refrain:
Like a mighty army
moves the Church of God;
Brothers, we are treading
where the saints have trod;
we are not divided,
all one body we,
one in hope and doctrine,
one in charity.
Refrain:
Crown and thrones may perish,
kingdoms rise and wane,
but the Church of Jesus
constant will remain;
gates of hell can never
'gainst that Church prevail;
we have Christ's own promise,
and that cannot fail.
Refrain:
Onward, then, ye people,
join our happy throng;
blend with ours your voices
in the triumph song:
glory, laud, and honour,
unto Christ the King;
this through countless ages
men and angels sing.
Refrain:
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