The Christian — Warfare and Pilgrimage

Cheer up, ye soldiers of the cross

No. 622
Metre 8s & 6s. D.
Tune COURAGE.
Words R. F. Cottrell.
Music Alfred Boynton.
Key E major
Singing key E♭ major
Time 6/8
4 stanzas

Words

Cheer up, ye soldiers of the cross;The moment soon will comeWhen you shall lay your armor off,And reach your blissful home.The pearly gates will wide unfoldBefore our conquering King,And entering hosts, with harps of gold,Triumphantly shall sing.

What though the warfare be severe,And enemies be strong;And painful watchings, dark and drear,The tedious night prolong;Our Captain passed this way before,And felt each cruel sting:Courage! the strife will soon be o'er,And then with joy we 'll sing.

Many a soldier in this strife,Has nobly bled and died,Counting it joy to give his lifeFor Him once crucified.And when our Captain comes again,Those from the dead he 'll bring;And they with us, and we with them,Triumphantly will sing.

O, 't will be joy, but to beholdThat glad immortal throngEnter and walk the streets of gold,And sing the victor's song!To see that host and hear that song,Must joy ecstatic bring;But those who will may join that throng,With them you too may sing.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «THE CHRISTIAN—WARFARE AND PILGRIMAGE.»; hymn number «622» (large), tune name «COURAGE. 8s & 6s. D.» centred over the music (condensed capitals; the «D.» in a smaller size), «ALFRED BOYNTON.» at the right (capitals and small capitals). Stanza 1 is interlinear, one line per system, with «1.» before «Cheer»; system 1 ends inside verse line 3 («When you shall lay your / ar - mor off,»). «soldiers», «Before», «conquering», «entering» and «Triumphantly» are set unbroken under the staves; «mo- ment», «bliss-ful», «pearl - y», «un - fold», «ar - mor» are hyphenated; «gold,Triumphantly» has no space after the comma (a squeeze of the lyric line). No reference line is printed for this hymn. Stanzas 2–4 follow as text, numbered «2», «3», «4» without a full stop (numbered «2.» etc. here like stanza 1); stanza 4 begins at the foot of the left column and ends at the top of the right column, followed by «R. F. Cottrell.» in italics (a manuscript ink stroke of the exemplar's owner runs along its baseline — not printed matter). Lines 2, 4, 6, 8 of each stanza are indented in the print. The print sets a thin space before «;», «:» and «!» («cross ;», «strong ;», «sting :», «Courage !», «song !»); it is closed up here. «we 'll», «he 'll» and «'t will» are printed with a space next to the apostrophe and are kept so. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.