O hear them marching, marching

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O hear them marching, marching

Author: Marion Franklin Ham (1939)
Tune: GREENLAND (Haydn)
Published in 4 hymnals

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Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1. O hear them marching, marching,
The legions of good will,
The men of peace who seek not
To bomb and maim and kill;
They march not to their conquest
With battle flags unfurled;
But with their gentle spirit
They shall subdue the world.

2. Through all the bloodstained ages
Their numbers have increased,
The spirit struggling upward
To overcome the beast;
The meek who shall inherit
And rule the warring earth,
With patient faith are bringing
The new regime to birth.

3. The men of war oppose them,
And seek to bar the way,
The powers of darkness striving
To thwart the coming day;
But, led by unseen forces,
Their hosts are marching still,
To build for future ages
The kingdom of good will.

4. A mighty captain leads them,
The valiant Prince of Peace;
They shall possess the future,
And ancient wrongs shall cease;
O men of good will, marching
To bloodless victory,
We join your hosts in building
The kingdom that shall be.

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #4994

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Author: Marion Franklin Ham

Born: February 18, 1867, Harveysburg, Ohio. Died: July 23, 1956, Arlington, Massachusetts. Buried: Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ham began his career as a journalist and bank clerk in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Ordained a Unitarian minister in 1898, he pastored in Chattanooga (1898-1904); at the First Church in Dallas, Texas (1904-09); and in Reading (1909-34), Waverly (1934-42), and Gardner, Massachusetts (1943-45). The Meadville Theological School in Chicago, Illinois, awarded him a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1942, the year he retired. Ham’s works include: The Golden Shuttle, 1896 The Kinchin Stories, 1914 Songs of the Spirit, 1932 Songs of Faith and Hope, 1940 O Mother-Heart, 1941… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	O hear them marching, marching
Author:	Marion Franklin Ham (1939)
Language:	English

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Tune

GREENLAND (Haydn)

GREENLAND, an example of the popular nineteenth-century practice of creating hymn tunes from the works of classical composers, is thought to be originally from one of J. Michael Haydn's (PHH 67) "Deutschen Kirchen Messen." The tune acquired its title from its occasional association with the text "Fr…

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