Bible Songs — Missionary Songs

O Christian, Awake!

O Christian, awake! 'tis the Master's command;

No. 1240
Tune O CHRISTIAN, AWAKE!
Music Philip Phillips
Key B-flat major
Singing key A♭ major
Time 3/4
4 stanzas

Words

O Christian, awake! 'tis the Master's command;With helmet and shield, and a sword in thy hand;To meet the bold tempter, go, fearlessly go,And stand like the brave, with thy face to the foe.

Chorus.

Stand like the brave, stand like the brave,Stand like the brave, with thy face to the foe.

Whatever thy danger, take heed and beware,And turn not thy back, for no armor is there;The legions of darkness, if thou wouldst o'erthrow,Then stand like the brave, with thy face to the foe.

The cause of thy Master with vigor defend;Be watchful, be zealous, and fight to the end;Wherever he leads thee, go, valiantly go,And stand like the brave, with thy face to the foe.

Press on, never doubting, thy Captain is near,With grace to supply, and with comfort to cheer;His love, like a stream in the desert will flow,Then stand like the brave, with thy face to the foe.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1240» (large, left), title «O CHRISTIAN, AWAKE!» centred (condensed capitals with larger initials); under it, centred, the epigraph «"It is high time to awake * * let us therefore * * put on the armor of light."—Rom. 13 : 11, 12.» (old-style figures; the asterisks are the print's marks of omission); on the next line, at the right, «PHILIP PHILLIPS, by per.» (music; capitals and small capitals). No author of the words is printed. In this copy the name «Fanny J. Crosby» is written by hand in ink at the top left, over the start of the epigraph line — a manuscript note of a former owner, not print; it is not part of the hymn. No meter, no tune name other than the title, no reference line, no running head. All four stanzas are interlinear, numbered «1.»–«4.», between the staves of systems 1–3; «CHORUS.» (bold capitals) stands over the treble in the middle of system 3, after a heavy bar; the chorus words begin on the level of the stanza-2 line («Stand like the brave,») and continue as one line under system 4; the chorus is sung after every stanza. Each printed line of words carries two verse lines; they are given here one verse line per line. Words divided under the notes are joined («Chris-tian», «a - wake», «What-ev - er», «dan - ger», «be - ware», «Mas - ter», «vig - or», «de - fend», «nev - er», «doubt-ing», «Cap - tain», «sup- / ply», «ar - mor», «zeal - ous», «com-fort», «temp-», «fear-less - ly», «le-gions», «Wherev - er», «val - iant - ly», «des - ert», «o'er-throw» → «Christian», «awake», «Whatever», «danger», «beware», «Master», «vigor», «defend», «never», «doubting», «Captain», «supply», «armor», «zealous», «comfort», «tempter», «fearlessly», «legions», «Wherever», «valiantly», «desert», «o'erthrow»). In stanza 2 the words «wouldst o'er-throw,» are printed in a smaller type. The print sets a thin space before some «;» («the end ;», «to cheer ;»); it is closed up here; curly apostrophes are written straight («'tis», «Master's», «o'erthrow»). Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's («armor», «vigor», «he leads thee»).