[Music]
I've listed in the holy war,
Content to suffer soldier's fare,
_Natural key Chorus_
And we'll all shout for joy,
And we'll give God the glory,
And I hope to join the army by and by.
I've fought through many a battle sore,
And I must fight through many more;
And we'll _etc._
I take my breastplate, sword and shield,
And boldly march into the field.
The banner o'er my head is love,
I draw my rations from above.
The world, the flesh and Satan too
Unite and strive what they can do.
On thee, O Lord, I humbly call,
Uphold me, or my soul must fall.
I've listed and I mean to fight,
Till all my foes are put to flight.
And when the victory I have won,
I'll give the praise to God alone.
Come, fellow-Christians, join with me,
Come, face the foe and never flee.
The heavenly battle is begun,
Come, take the field and win the crown.
With listing orders I have come;
Come rich, come poor, come old or young.
Here's grace's bounty Christ has given,
And glorious crowns laid up in heaven.
But if you will not list and fight,
You'll sink into eternal night.
The tune as it stands is heptatonic dorian. And that is probably a
correct notation. The interesting thing is the device employed to
legitimize the dorian raised sixth, namely, the device of modulation.
The writer of the tune, knowing presumably nothing about the old
modes, set his first melodic phrase in _g_-major with a semi-cadence
on two of the scale. All went well because the _f_-sharp of _that_ key
was not represented. But in the second part of the tune the actual
_f_-natural appeared; and the only way he saw of handling it was to
change the signature to a "natural key chorus" as he specifically
calls it. And the final note in the tune agreed with the key which he
took to be _a_-minor.
No. 213
O GOD WHAT SHALL I SAY or ALVERSON, REV 181