oyful news to Zion bearing,
Zion long in hostile lands;
Mourning captive,
God himself will loose thy bands.

Has the night been long and mournful?
Have thy friends unfaithful proved?
Have thy foes been proud and scornful,
By thy sighs and tears unmoved?
Cease thy mourning;
Zion still is well beloved.

_THE TUNE._

To presume that Kelly made both words and music together is possible,
for he was himself a composer, but no such original tune seems to
survive. In modern use Dr. Hastings' "Zion" is most frequently attached
to the hymn, and was probably written for it.

"YE CHRISTIAN HEROES, WAKE TO GLORY."

This rather crude parody on the "Marseillaise Hymn" (see Chap. 9) is
printed in the _American Vocalist_, among numerous samples of early New
England psalmody of untraced authorship. It might have been sung at
primitive missionary meetings, to spur the zeal and faith of a Francis
Mason or a Harriet Newell. It expresses, at least, the new-kindled
evangelical spirit of the long-ago consecrations in American church life
that first sent the Christian ambassadors to foreign lands, and followed
them with benedictions.

[Illustration: The Right Rev. Reginald Heber, D.D.]

Ye Christian heroes, wake to glory:
Hark, hark! what millions bid you rise!
See heathen nations bow before you,
Behold their tears, and hear their cries.
Shall pagan priest, their errors breeding,
With darkling hosts, and flags unfurled,
Spread their delusions o'er the world,
Though Jesus on the Cross hung bleeding?
To arms! To arms!
Christ's banner fling abroad!
March on! March on! all hearts resolved
To bring the world to God.

O, Truth of God! can man resign thee,
Once having felt thy glorious flame?
Can rolling oceans e'er prevent thee,
Or gold the Christian's spirit tame?
Too long we slight the world's undoing;
The word of God, salvation's plan,
Is yet almost unknown to man,
While millions throng the road to ruin.
To arms! to arms!
The Spirit's sword unsheath:
March on! March on! all hearts resolved,
To victory or death.

"HAIL TO THE LORD'S ANOINTED."

James Montgomery (says Dr. Breed) is "distinguished as the only layman
besides Cowper among hymn-writers of the front rank in the English
language." How many millions have recited and sung his