Pilgrims, we are marching home

The song And Live Through Endless Day appears in The Sacred Harp, 2012 Revised Cooper Edition, on pages 552 and 553a. George L. Beck wrote the very nice minor fuging tune, and it was added to the book in 1927.

The words are as follows:

Should earth against my soul engage, 
And fiery darts be hurled, (original = “hellish darts”)
Then I can smile at Satan’s rage, 
And face a frowning world.

So pilgrims, we are marching home
On earth no more to stay,
Long for the welcome call to come,
And live thro’ endless day.

Isaac Watts wrote the first four lines of the Common Meter hymn. These words are the second stanza of his well-known hymn “The Hopes of Heaven our Support under Trials on Earth” (“When I can read my title clear”). It first appeared in Watts’s Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1707. The Christian can face a frowning world, bid farewell to every fear, and wipe tears from weeping eyes – knowing of a clear title to a future home in heaven.

The author of the second four lines of the Common Meter hymn is unknown. They seem to appear mysteriously – and only – in connection with Beck’s song. The words are not part of the other hymn (“The Hopes of Heaven our Support under Trials on Earth”). I have not found them in any of Watts’s material that I can access. I have not found them anywhere – other than in this particular Sacred Harp book. It may be that G. L. Beck wrote them for his tune, or found them somewhere and used them with the tune. These words complement the Watts stanza, recognizing that we through God’s grace can face a frowning world, and also that we are pilgrims on a journey home. For that reason, we long for God’s call to that time when we will “live through endless day.”