“I must tell my Master’s errand, and 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,” said the 29-year-old Episcopalian clergyman, the Rev Dudley Tyng, who was known as a bold and uncompromising preacher from Philadelphia.1
This was part of a sermon that the Rev Tyng was delivering at a noonday service at the downtown Young Men’s Christian Association in Jayne’s Hall (then at 621 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, USA) on 30 March 1858.2 Five thousand men gathered for that noon mass meeting and when it was over, one thousand men committed their lives to Christ. The entire city was aroused and a great revival swept across Philadelphia.
Nearly two weeks later on 13 April, back home with his family in the country, the Rev Tyng was watching the operation of a corn-threshing machine in his barn. The long sleeve of his shirt was accidentally caught in the mechanism when he raised his arm to place his hand on the head of a mule, which was walking up the inclined plane of the machine.3
His arm was severely lacerated, its main artery severed and the median nerve injured. Two days later, due to the great loss of blood and shock, the Rev Dudley Tyng died. On his deathbed, his last words were: “Tell them to stand up for Jesus!”
On the following Sunday, the Rev George Duffield, Jr., pastor of Temple Presbyterian Church and a close friend of the Rev Tyng, preached a sermon from Ephesians 6:14 – “Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” (Young’s Literal Version). Inspired by the dying words of his co-worker, the Rev Duffield wrote a six-stanza poem as a tribute to his departed friend, which became the hymn text for one of the most rousing hymns of all time.
‘Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus’ has inspired millions through the years in their spiritual walk with Jesus. Let us stand up and obey the “trumpet call” to be “soldiers of the cross”, and engage in the “mighty conflict” not with “arm[s] of flesh” but with the strength of Jesus. Even though we do not always move from “from victory unto victory” in our daily lives, Jesus has assured us of the final victory, when we will acknowledge that “Christ is Lord indeed”.
Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus (The United Methodist Hymnal, #514)
Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
ye soldiers of the cross;
lift high his royal banner,
it must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory
his army he shall lead,
till every foe is vanquished,
and Christ is Lord indeed.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
the trumpet call obey;
forth to the mighty conflict,
in this his glorious day.
Ye that are brave now serve him
against unnumbered foes;
let courage rise with danger,
and strength to strength oppose.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
stand in his strength alone;
the arm of flesh will fail you,
ye dare not trust your own.
Put on the gospel armour,
each piece put on with prayer;
when duty calls or danger,
be never wanting there.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
the strife will not be long;
this day the noise of battle,
the next the victor’s song.
To those who vanquish evil
a crown of life shall be;
they with the King of Glory
shall reign eternally.
Words: George Duffield, Jr., 1858 (Eph. 6:10-17)
Music: George J. Webb, 1830
Dr Yeo Teck Beng –
is Principal of the Methodist School of Music, and a member of Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church.
Picture by PHOTOCREO Michal Bednarek/Bigstock.com
1 Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Grand Rapids, Mich: Kregel Publications, 1990), 298.
2 Frank Colquhoun, A Hymn Companion: Insight into Three Hundred Christian Hymns (Wilton: Morehouse Barlow, 1985), 122.
3 Ibid., 122.