Lyrics
Forward! be our watchword,
Steps and voices joined;
Seek the things before us,
Not a look behind;
Burns the fiery pillar
At our army's head;
Who shall dream of shrinking,
By our Captain led?
Forward through the desert,
Through the toil and fight;
Jordan flows before us;
Zion beams with light!
Forward! flock of Jesus,
Salt of all the earth,
Till each yearning purpose
Springs to glorious birth;
Sick, they ask for healing;
Blind, they grope for day;
Pour upon the nations
Wisdom's loving ray.
Forward, out of error,
Leave behind the night;
Forward through the darkness,
Forward into light!
Glories upon glories
Hath our God prepared,
By the souls that love Him
One day to be shared!
Eye hath not beheld them,
Ear hath never heard;
Nor of these hath uttered
Thought or speech a word.
Forward, marching eastward
Where the heaven is bright,
Till the veil be lifted,
Till our faith be sight!
Far o'er yon horizon
Rise the city towers,
Where our God abideth;
That fair home is ours;
Flash the streets with jasper,
Shine the gates with gold;
Flows the gladdening river
Shedding joys untold.
Thither, onward thither,
In the Spirit's might;
Pilgrims to your country,
Forward into light!
Public domain hymn text (1871). Words by Henry Alford.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Henry Alford, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, wrote 'Forward! Be Our Watchword' in 1871, the same year as his death, drawing its central image from the pillar of fire that led the Israelites through the wilderness by night in Exodus 13.
Its opening command, explicitly forbidding 'a look behind,' echoes Jesus's own warning in Luke 9 against looking back once one has put a hand to the plow, treating sustained forward attention as the posture required of genuine discipleship.
The hymn's second stanza broadens its focus from the individual believer to the church's mission outward, picturing the 'flock of Jesus' as 'salt of all the earth,' called to bring healing and light to a needy world rather than only to press forward for their own sake.
Its third stanza turns to what lies ahead entirely beyond present description, borrowing Paul's language from 1 Corinthians 2 that 'eye hath not beheld' nor 'ear… heard' what has been prepared for those who love God.
The closing stanza pictures the destination directly, a city with 'streets… with jasper' and 'gates… with gold,' drawing on Revelation 21's description of the New Jerusalem, before ending on the same repeated command that opened the hymn: forward.
Written in the final months of his own life, the hymn's insistence on forward motion without backward glance carries particular resonance, composed by a man nearing the end of his own earthly journey while still writing confidently about pressing onward.
The hymn remained a favorite for occasions emphasizing collective Christian perseverance and mission, its military cadence and communal 'steps and voices joined' making it especially suited to large gatherings moving, and singing, together toward a shared goal.
