Reward of Saints

Whence came the armies of the sky

No. 995
Metre C. M.
Tune REMEMBER ME.
Words Anon.
Music Asa Hull.
Key F major
Time 3/4
5 stanzas

Words

Whence came the armies of the sky,John saw in vision bright?Whence came their crowns, their robes, their palms,Too pure for mortal sight?

Cho.—They looked like men in uniform,They looked like men of war;They all were clad in armor bright,And conquering palms they bore

Were these tried soldiers of the crossVictorious in the fight?Were these the trophies they had won,Reserved in worlds of light?

Once they were mourners here below,And poured out cries and tears;They wrestled hard, as we do now,With sins, and doubts, and fears.

They saw the star of BethlehemArise in splendor bright;They followed long its guiding ray,Till beamed a clearer light.

From desert waste, and cities full,From dungeons dark, they 've come,And now they claim their mansion fair,They 've found their long-sought home

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «995» (large), tune name «REMEMBER ME. C. M.» centred over the music (condensed capitals and small capitals), «ASA HULL.» at the right (capitals and small capitals); printed vertically in the right margin beside the system, reading downward, a note cut by the edge of the scan (lower halves of the letters only: «Copyrighted 18.. by .... .....»), which fits «Copyrighted 1867 by Asa Hull.», the note printed in full with the same tune at hymn 322. Stanza 1 is printed between the staves in one long line, in a small condensed bold face, after «1.», with no hyphens. The chorus is printed UNDER the bass staff in the same upright face, headed «Cho.—», and is sung to the same music on the repeat (the whole tune is enclosed in repeat signs); it is printed once and is not repeated after stanzas 2–5. Stanzas 2–5 are printed as text in two columns below the music, with no reference line, followed by «Anon.» in italics. The tight setting of the music lines runs some words together («1.Whence», «sky,John», «sawin», «bright?Whence», «robes ,their», «palms,Too», «purefor», «uniform,They»); they are spaced normally here. The chorus line ends «bore» with no period (a faint speck after it, at mid x-height, is not a period), and stanza 5 ends «home» with no period; both are kept as printed. «they 've» / «They 've» keep the print's space before the apostrophe (as «We 've» in earlier deliveries); apostrophes are written straight. The print sets a thin space before «?» and «;» («fight ?», «light ?», «war ;», «tears ;», «bright ;»); it is closed up here. The faint dots after «Bethlehem» (stanza 4) are show-through, not punctuation. Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are indented in the print. Spelling («armor», «splendor»), punctuation and capitals are the print's.