Stand Up! Stand Up For Jesus!
Stand up!—stand up for Jesus! Each soldier to his post; Close up the broken column, And shout through all the host!
Stand Up! Stand Up For Jesus!
Dudley Tyng had not been a pastor for very long. At the age of 29, he took over his father‘s pulpit in an Episcopal church in Philadelphia. He was quite popular, but it was not long before his popularity began to wane. The year was 1856 and Dudley was an abolitionist in a church that wasn’t.
The staid and traditional church turned against him. The more he preached against slavery, the louder the opposition became. After only two years, he was forced to resign.
He did have some followers, though. They began to gather at the YMCA to teach the Bible and the group quickly began to grow. Young men and fathers were drawn to him. They loved the way he challenged them to be better men in following the Lord. In 1858, he held a rally which attracted 5000 men. 1000 of them committed their lives to following Jesus.
In his sermon, he spoke the following words: “I would rather that this right arm were amputated at the trunk than that I should come short of my duty to you in delivering God’s message … Go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord".
Those words would prove to be prophetic. Just a few days later, Tyng was visiting a friend’s farm in the country when he reached out to pat a mule that was hauling a corn-thrashing machine. The thrasher caught his sleeve and his right arm was severed to the shoulder. He died a week later from his injury.
As he died, he said to his father, "Tell my brethren of the ministry, wherever you meet them, to stand up for Jesus."
A close friend, George Duffield, was so taken by his dying words that he wrote a poem and called it “Stand Up! Stand Up For Jesus.” Some churches removed it from their hymnals because it was feared to be offensive to the handicapped. Others have objected to its quasi-militaristic lyrics and others removed a verse that personalized Dudley’s untimely death (posted below). Regardless, the hymn stands as a classic hymn of the faith.
Stand up!—stand up for Jesus! Each soldier to his post;
Close up the broken column, And shout through all the host!
Make good the loss so heavy, In those that still remain,
And prove to all around you That death itself is gain!
