Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?

Subject: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: Joe_F
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 08:57 PM

A correspondent has sent me the following unusual addition to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic":

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, he is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be his footstool, and the soul of wrong his slave.
Our God is marching on.

He adds:

"(I have no idea of the provenance or authorship; the music
and lyrics were distributed in the form of a two-sided Xerox
copy which appears to be from some uncredited hymnal in which
tBHotR is hymn 717--but, unhymnalistically, there are no
visible page numbers [possibly an effect of cropping] and
no indication of the lyricist, the tune-writer, or the
meter.)"

Of course, anyone could have written it, but it seems just possible to me that Julia Ward Howe did & then thought better of including it. [The original sheet music (1862, reproduced in _Popular Songs of Nineteenth-Century America_) has only the familiar five stanzas.] Has anyone else seen this?

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 09:18 PM

Hi, Joe. I'm familiar with this extra stanza. It was indeed written by Julia Ward Howe, but she deleted it before publication. Perhaps she thought twice about giving God the soul of wrong as "his slave."

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 09:54 PM

As Lighter says, that verse (with some differences) was contained in Howe's manuscript. See Battle Hymn of the Republic Manuscript.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, he is sucour to the brave,
So the world shall be his footstool, and the soul of Time his slave,
Our God is marching on.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 23 Oct 04 - 12:27 AM

From here:

Most commonly, the line referring to the commitment of soldiers in the Civil War "As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free" has been changed to "As he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free."

In this example, some hymnals use a verse from Howe's original manuscript which was not in the first published version. The word "sucour" has been changed to "honor" in a verse from her original. The "soul of Time" has been changed to "soul of wrong." Pronouns used for God have been capitalized.

Later version:

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.

As first written:

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, he is sucour to the brave,
So the world shall be his footstool, and the soul of Time his slave,
Our God is marching on.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 23 Oct 04 - 01:53 AM

The hymnal in question may be The United Methodist Hymnal, where "The Battle Hymn" is numbered 717 and stz. 5 ("He is coming like the glory...") is "anon." [sic].

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: Joe_F
Date: 23 Oct 04 - 09:19 PM

Thanks very much for the definitive replies. It is nice to know that my guess was right.

I think all her revisions were improvements, including the deletion of the extra stanza.

Subject: DT Corr: BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC (original)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 24 Oct 04 - 06:39 AM

Of course, BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC is in the DT. However, the 4th stanza is mistakenly repeated, and there're some differences with the Atlantic Monthly (vol. IX, February, 1862, no. LII, p. 10) version (with no author's name; chorus not given), which has long been said to be the first printing of Howe's words:


BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC
(Julia Ward Howe)

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword
          His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
l can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
          His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
          Since God is marching on."

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
          Our God is marching on.

ln the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
          While God is marching on.

@American @Civil @war @hymn
filename[ GLORYHAL
TUNE FILE: JOHNBRWN
CLICK TO PLAY
RG

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 01:39 AM

From Howe's Battle Hymn. The First Draft, The Final Version:

6. "He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave...." - Julia eliminated this verse from her poem because she felt it detracted from the drama of the fifth verse. It has since been restored in some versions of the song, such as that in the Methodist hymnals. To my knowledge, no one has ever tried to analyze it before. The verse continues the "second advent" theme started in the first verse. Although I cannot speak with certainty about the possible source of inspiration for the first two lines of this verse, they seem to be an outgrowth of Revelation 5:12-13: "Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." The third line is more easily identified. The first part comes from Isaiah 66:1: "The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool." The second part, and here I am less certain, suggests Revelation 18:11-17 which speaks of the merchants of the earth who lament the destruction of a great city. Among other things, these merchants traffic in "slaves, and [the] souls of men." Howe seems to have turned this material inside out and invoked the lex taliones a second time, saying that the slave merchants, who are to her the "soul of wrong," will now be God's slaves. This, in turn, suggests the old Roman festival called "Saturnalia" during which masters became servants and servants ruled the household for the day. Such reversals of fortune are not unknown in the teachings of Jesus. In Mark 11:31, Jesus is reported as saying "But many that are first shall be last; and the last first."

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 07:01 AM

This is The United Methodist Hymnal version (717. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory (The Battle Hymn of the Republic)).

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 10:28 AM

We sang this recently at my brother-in-law's funeral. Not only was "die to make men free" changed to "live to make men free", but "with a glory in His bosom that transfigures" had been changed to
"a glory in His being". Apparently references to Christ's bosom were considered too racy for this particular evangelical church. I was shocked, since I have always regard bosoms as sources of comfort and generosity not tittilation (if you'll pardon the pun).

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: GUEST,Guest: KateG
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 05:26 PM

Oops, that last guest was me. My computer has been acting up and I gave it a Norton wash & brush, which ate all my cookies...trick or treat!

KateG

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: Joe_F
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 09:47 PM

I will concede that the use of the word "slave" in the extra stanza is rather provocative in the context. However, I doubt if she meant the soul of time or of wrong (whatever they may be) to refer to slaveholders. The tone of the song as a whole, it seems to me, is not vengeful. In particular, I interpret the line

As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal

as alluding the parable of the sheep & goats (my contemners = the least of [my brothers]) and perhaps anticipating the peroration of Lincoln's second inaugural.

As for changing "die" to "live", that is no doubt more uplifting for present-day congregations, but it yanks the song out of its context, which is, after all, a war. The line after that one,

Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,

identifies Christ & the Union soldiers, and (I hope) the serpent with slavery, not the slaveholders -- it is the institution that tempts us to evil.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 05:38 AM

From Florence Howe Hall, The Story of the Battle Hymn of the Republic (Harper & Brothers, 1916, p. 54). Florence is Julia Ward Howe's daughter.

    Before publishing the poem the author made a number of changes, all of which, as I think, improvements. The last verse, which is an anticlimax, was cut out altogether.
    We find from her letters that she hesitated to allow the publication of the original draft of the "Battle Hymn" because it contained this final verse. She did not consider it equal to the rest of the poem. After consulting other literary people, in her usual painstaking way, she decided to have the first draft published.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 10:14 PM

"He is coming like the glory..." is contained in the Songs of Praise (Oxford University Press, 1931) version as stanza 6.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Battle Hymn of Republic': addl. stanza?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 11:31 PM

Also in BBC Songs of Praise (Oxford, 1997, no. 156).