Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal ‎#606

606. Once to Every Man and Nation

1 Once to every man and nation,
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood,
For the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision,
Offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever,
'Twixt that darkness and that light.

2 Then to side with truth is noble,
When we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit,
And ’tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses
While the coward stands aside,
Till the multitude make virtue
Of the faith they had denied.

3 By the light of burning martyrs,
Christ, Thy bleeding feet we track,
Toiling up new Calv’ries ever
With the cross that turns not back;
New occasions teach new duties,
Time makes ancient good uncouth,
They must upward still and onward,
Who would keep abreast of truth.

4 Though the cause of evil prosper,
Yet the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold,
And upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above His own.

Text Information

• First Line: Once to every man and nation
• Title: Once to Every Man and Nation
• Author: James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) (1845; alt.)
• Meter: 8.7.8.7.D.
• Publication Date: 1985
• Topic: Christan Life: Christian Warfare

Tune Information

• Name: TON-Y-BOTEL
• Composer: T. J. Williams (1869-1944) (1890)
• Meter: 8.7.8.7.D.
• Incipit: 11232 12234 3215
• Key: f minor

Tune Information:

Music used by permission of Eluned Jones and Dilys Evans, representatives of the late Gwenlyn Evans.