Words: , 1915:

In writ­ing “Her­alds of Christ” for one of the Sum­mer Con­fer­enc­es at which I used to lec­ture, I was moved with a deep sense of un­i­ty with the build­ers of the King’s Hig­hway in far lands, next door to me in Amer­i­ca, and ev­en with those great ones I had known as a child now gone one with the im­mor­tals by way of Af­ri­ca and In­dia…To­day in ev­ery land Christ­ians are unit­ing to build a King­dom which shall have no ge­o­graph­ic­al bounds, no lim­it­a­tions of race, no bar­ri­ers of caste or class.

Music: Na­tion­al Hymn, , 1888. Al­ter­nate tunes:

  • Old 124th, Ge­nev­an Psal­ter, 1551
  • Omaha, (1863-1919)

Heralds of Christ, who bear the King’s commands,
Immortal tidings in your mortal hands,
Pass on and carry swift the news you bring;
Make straight, make straight the highway of the King.

Through desert ways, dark fen and deep morass,
Through jungles, sluggish seas, and mountain pass,
Build now the road, and falter not, nor stay;
Prepare across the earth the King’s highway.

Where once the twisting trail in darkness wound,
Let marching feet and joyous song resound,
Where burn the funeral pyres, and censers swing,
Make straight, make straight the highway of the King.

Lord, give us faith and strength the road to build,
To see the promise of the day fulfilled,
When war shall be no more, and strife shall cease
Upon the highway of the Prince of Peace.