A solemn march we make

This hymn was first printed in A Collection of Spiritual Songs and Hymns (Philadelphia: John Ormrod, 1801 | Fig. 1), compiled by Richard Allen (1760–1831). At the time, Allen was pastor of the Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He later founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church denomination in 1816 and served as its first bishop. Although this hymn was unattributed in this and other collections, the hymn is probably by Allen, based on its first appearance in his collection and its continued usage in hymnals produced by the A.M.E.C. denomination in 1818 and 1836.

The original form of the hymn spanned eight stanzas of four lines, and it was without music, unattributed. The hymn was written from the perspective of an unbeliever facing the prospect of a “dreadful ghastly death,” who then desires to reconcile with Jesus, formerly a “despised friend”; the speaker asks the Savior to send his spirit. The unbeliever then envisions a better ending, worshiping and singing at the feet of Jesus. The text is characteristic of Allen’s collection, including hymns like “Behold the awful trumpet sounds” and “See! how the nations rage together,” with their strong emphasis on impending judgment at the Second Coming of Christ.

A title was added when the hymn appeared in The African Methodist Pocket Hymn Book (1818), “Parting for Eternity,” and a Scripture reference, Ecclesiastes 12:5–7, was added in The African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymn Book (1836). This Scripture says:

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

The proliferation of the hymn has been limited. This and several of Allen’s other hymns were adopted into Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Use of Christians (Baltimore: Samuel Sower, 1802) and continued in subsequent versions of that hymnal through the ninth edition (1812). It was also picked up by Allen’s counterparts in the A.M.E. Zion tradition, appearing in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America (1839) and Hymns for the Use of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (1858).

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
19 January 2021

“A solemn march we make,” Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/text/a_solemn_march_we_make