In the land of Galilee,
Look! what is it that we see?
Surely, something more than common is at hand;
Multitudes of people pass,
’Tis a mighty, moving mass,
Moved by pow’r that’s more than mortal to command.
Refrain:
Forward, forward are they marching,
As the years still come and go;
As they’re marching hear them sing,
“We are following our King,
He’s our Leader and no other will we know.”
Eighteen hundred years and more,
Land to land, from shore to shore,
With the King of glory always in the lead;
Through the fire and through the blood
Persecution’s awful flood
Thins their ranks, but still they onward do proceed.
Through the darkness, through the light,
Through twelve hundred years of night,
But the morning of the day doth now appear;
See the mighty blood-washed throng,
Marching on with shout and song,
The full day of final vict’ry draweth near.
Through the dark and cloudy day
They’re still marching on their way,
See their numbers are increasing more and more;
The three days and half are past,
Light sublime has come at last—
’Tis revealing that the cloudy day is o’er.
Now they’ve reached the evening light,
Clothed in robes of snowy white,
Still they’re marching on to certain victory;
Satan’s hosts they now defy,
“God has conquered!” hear them cry,
As they reach the borders of eternity.