Stand, soldier of the cross

Stand, soldier of the cross. Edward Henry Bickersteth* (1825-1906). This hymn for adult baptism was first published in Bickersteth’s Hymnal Companion to the Book of Common Prayer (1870), and re-published in his The Two Brothers and other poems (1871). It had six stanzas:   Stand, soldier of the cross,  Thy high allegiance claim,And vow to hold the world but loss  For Thy Redeemer’s name.   Arise, and be baptized,  And wash thy sins away;The league with God be solemnized,  Thy faith avouch’d to-day. Our heavenly country now, Our Lord and Master, thine, Receive imprinted on thy brow His passion’s awful sign.   No more thine own, but Christ’s, -  With all the saints of old,Apostles,...