Bible Songs — Missionary Songs

Words of cheer from the battle-field of life

No. 1247
Tune TIDINGS FROM THE BATTLE.
Words F. E. B.
Music F. E. Belden.
Key A-flat major
Singing key G♭ major
Time 4/4
4 stanzas

Words

Words of cheer from the battle-field of life,Welcome tidings from the war;Glorious news from the grand and holy strife,—Soon the conflict will be o'er.

Chorus.

Words of battle cheer! tidings from the war!"How has gone the conflict?" Vict'ry's near;Words of battle cheer! tidings from the war!Glorious news of vict'ry! Words of cheer.

Fierce and long has the struggle been with sin,Still the church moves on below;War without, and temptation from within,Vainly seek her overthrow.

Stand like men! there's a battle to be fought;Persecution's pow'r will rage;Trust in God! he deliverance has wroughtFor his saints in ev'ry age.

Who so strong as to trust in self alone'Gainst a foe so swift and sure?Who so weak that he cannot grasp the throneAnd the promised help secure?

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1247» (large, left), title «TIDINGS FROM THE BATTLE.» centred (condensed capitals with larger initials); under it the epigraph in one line, «"Through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is that treadeth down our enemies."—Ps. 60 : 12.» (old-style figures); «F. E. B.» at the left (words) and «F. E. BELDEN.» at the right (music, capitals and small capitals); «With Energy.» in bold italic over the start of the music. 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 1–2; «CHORUS.» (bold capitals) stands over system 3, and the chorus words are printed once, under systems 3–4; the chorus is sung after every stanza. In the chorus the words «"How has gone the con-flict?" Vic-t'ry's near;» and the closing «Words of cheer.» are set in a condensed heavy face, different from the roman of the rest of the line. Under the music, centred: «Copyrighted 1886 by F. E. Belden.» Each printed line of words carries two verse lines; they are given here one verse line per line, each beginning with a capital as printed. The print sets a thin space before «!», «?», «;» and «:» («men !», «God !», «war ;», «sure ?», «60 : 12»); it is closed up here; curly quotes and apostrophes are written straight. Words divided under the notes are joined («bat-tle», «tid-ings», «be-low», «Per-se-cu-tion's», «a-lone», «Glo-rious», «ho-ly», «with-out», «temp-ta-tion», «with-in», «o-ver-throw», «de-liv-er-ance», «ev-'ry», «can-not», «se-cure», «con-flict», «vic-t'ry», «Vic-t'ry's» → «battle», «tidings», «below», «Persecution's», «alone», «Glorious», «holy», «without», «temptation», «within», «overthrow», «deliverance», «ev'ry», «cannot», «secure», «conflict», «vict'ry», «Vict'ry's»); «bat - tle-field» keeps the hyphen of the compound («battle-field»). The tight setting of some words in the print («likemen!», «there'sa», «thechurch», «haswrought», «saintsin», «graspthe») is not reproduced. Spelling and punctuation are the print's («pow'r», «'Gainst», «ev'ry», «vict'ry», «o'er», «strife,—»).