The Taking of Jericho

Arise

ye men of war

Prevent the morn­ing ray

Prepare

your cap­tain cries

pre­pare

Your cap­tain leads the way:

He calls you forth to fight

Where yon­der ram­parts rise

Ramparts of a stu­pen­dous height

Ramparts that touch the skies.

Who dares ap­proach those tow­ers?

Who can those walls o’er­turn?

The ci­ty braves all hu­man pow­ers

And laughs a siege to scorn.

Who shall the ci­ty take

The Je­ri­cho within?

Not all the pow­ers of earth can shake

The strength of in­bred sin.

Impregnable it stands

Strong

and walled up to Heav­en;

But God in­to our Jo­shua’s hands

The ci­ta­del hath giv­en;

The fort­ress and its king

And all his val­iant men

Our cap­tain to the ground shall bring

And on their ruins reign.

All pow­er He hath to quell

And con­quer and o’er­throw

All pow­er in Heav­en

and earth

and hell

To root out ev­ery foe;

Through Him di­vine­ly bold

Let all His sol­diers fight

Now of your cap­tain’s strength take hold

And con­quer in His might.

Ye peo­ple all pass on;

Ye men of war sur­round

The ci­ty by your cap­tain won;

Attend the trum­pet’s sound:

The priests whom He hath chose

Pass on be­fore the Lord

And each a ram’s-horn trum­pet blows

The trum­pet of the Word.

The ho­ly ark they bear

The co­ve­nant of His grace

And tid­ings of great joy de­clare

To all the fall­en race:

They make His mer­cies known

His pro­mis­es they show:

Go in the track your guides have shown

To cer­tain con­quest go.

In sight of God pro­ceed

Follow the ark di­vine

In all the ways and stat­utes tread

Which He hath pleased to en­join:

Pray al­ways

fast

and pray

And watch to do His will;

All His com­mands with joy ob­ey

All right­eous­ness ful­fill.

With pa­tience per­sev­ere

Still in His ways be found

Still to the ci­ty walls draw near

And day by day sur­round;

Continue in His Word

On all His means at­tend

Bearing the bur­den of the Lord

And hop­ing to the end.

Arise

your strength re­new

Your glo­ri­ous toil re­peat

Follow the ark

your Lord pur­sue

And for His pro­mise wait;

In deep­est si­lence go;

Your Jo­shua cries

Be still

Assured His truth and pow­er to know

And prove His per­fect will.

Tried to the ut­ter­most

His faith­ful Word shall be

Who in the strength of Je­sus trust

Shall gain the vic­to­ry:

But wait for your re­ward

And give your cla­mors o’er

Tarry the lei­sure of your Lord

Nor ever mur­mur more.

The so­lemn day draws nigh

When sin shall have its doom

Faith sees it with an eagle’s eye

And cries

The day is come;

The se­venth morn I see

And hast­en to be blest

Enjoy an in­stant vic­to­ry

An an­te­dat­ed rest.

The walls are com­passed round

This cir­cuit is the last:

The ark stands still: the trum­pets sound

A long con­tin­ued blast:

The peo­ple turn their eyes

On the de­vot­ed walls;

And Shout

the migh­ty Jo­shua cries

And lo! the ci­ty falls.

Its proud as­pir­ing brow

Lies le­vel with the ground;

It lies

and not one stone is now

Upon ano­ther found.

The walls are flat

the deep

Foundations are o’er­thrown;

The lof­ty fortress is a heap

And sin is trod­den down.

The strength of sin is lost

And Ba­by­lon the great

Is fall­en

fall­en to the dust

Has found its fin­al fate.

Partakers of our hope

We seize what God hath giv’n

And tramp­ling down all sin go up

And straight as­cend to Heav­en.

But shall not sin re­main

And in its ru­ins live?

No

Lord

we trust

and not in vain

Thy full­ness to re­ceive;

Thy strength and sav­ing grace

Thou shalt for us em­ploy

The be­ing of all sin erase

And ut­ter­ly de­stroy.

Actual and in­bred sin

Shall feel Thy two-edged sword:

The city is

with all there­in

Devoted to the Lord:

Thy Word can­not be broke

Thou wilt Thine arm dis­play

Thou wilt with one con­tin­ual stroke

Our sin for ev­er slay.

Woman

and man

and beast

And ox

and ass

and sheep

All

all at once shall be op­pressed

By death’s eter­nal sleep;

Never to rise again

Both young and old shall fall;

Not one shall ’scape

not one re­main

But die and per­ish all.

The hu­man beast and fiend

Thou

Lord

shall take away

And make the old trans­gress­ion end

And all its rel­ics slay;

The proud and car­nal will

The self­ish vain de­sire

Thou all our sins at once shalt kill

And burn them all with fire.