The Christian — Warfare and Pilgrimage

Breast the wave, Christian, when it is strongest;

No. 617
Metre 10s & 11s.
Tune LONDON.
Words Joseph Stammers.
Music Edwin Barnes.
Key G major
Singing key F major
Time 4/4
3 stanzas

Words

Breast the wave, Christian, when it is strongest;Watch for day, Christian, when night is longest;Onward and upward still be thine endeavor;The rest that remaineth endureth forever.

Fight the fight, Christian, Jesus is o'er thee;Run the race, Christian, heaven is before thee;He who hath promised will falter, no, never;O trust in the love that endureth forever.

Lift the eye, Christian, just as it closeth;Raise the heart, Christian, ere it reposeth:Nothing thy soul from the Saviour can sever;And soon shalt thou see him and praise him forever.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «617» (large), tune name «LONDON. 10s & 11s.» centred over the music (condensed capitals and small capitals), «EDWIN BARNES.» at the right (capitals and small capitals); in the left margin, printed vertically and reading upward, «Copyrighted 1886» beside system 2 and «by Edwin Barnes.» beside system 1. Stanza 1 is interlinear, one text line per system, with «1.» before «Breast»: «1. Breast the wave, Chris-tian, when it is strongest; Watch for day, Christian, when night is longest;» / «Onward and upward still be thine en-deav-or; The rest that re-main-eth en - dur-eth for-ev-er.». No reference line. Stanzas 2 and 3 follow as text in two columns, numbered «2» and «3» without a full stop (numbered «2.» and «3.» here like stanza 1); «Joseph Stammers.» in italics after stanza 3. The long lines are turned over where the column is too narrow (stanza 2: «before / thee;»; stanza 3: «can / sever;» and «praise / him forever.»); each verse is one line here. Stanza 2, lines 1 and 3, are set without word spaces in places («Fightthefight, Christian,Jesus is o'erthee ;», «Hewhohathpromised will falter»); the word spaces are restored here. The print sets a thin space before «;» and «:» («thee ;», «never ;», «closeth ;», «reposeth :», «sever ;»); it is closed up here. Spelling («Saviour», «endureth», «closeth»), punctuation and capitals are the print's.