Let
us now our voices raise,
Wake
the day with gladness;
God
Himself to joy and praise
Turns
our human sadness;
Joy
that martyrs won their crown,
Opened
heav’ns bright portal,
When
they laid the mortal down
For
the life immortal.
Never
flinched they from the flame,
From
the torment never;
Vain
the tyrant’s sharpest aim,
Vain
each fierce endeavor:
For
by faith they saw the land
Decked
in all its glory,
Where
triumphant now they stand
With
the victor’s story.
Up
and follow, Christian men!
Press
through toil and sorrow;
Spurn
the night of fear, and then,
O
the glorious morrow!
Who
will venture on the strife;
Who
will first begin it?
Who
will grasp the land of life?
Warriors,
up and win it!
--
Saint Joseph the Hymnographer from
his hymn “Let Us Now Our Voices Raise”
