From Conservative Woman-The original words, based on references in the New Testament such as ‘Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ’ (2 Timothy 2:3, King James Bible) were written by an Anglican clergyman and scholar, Sabine Baring-Gould. He must have been superhuman. Standing at an upright desk and working far into the night, he wrote at least 248 books, including 35 novels which were popular in their day, and 1,000 or more other publications on subjects as diverse as saints, antiquities and folk songs. He also had 16 children, 15 of whom lived to adulthood.
He was born in 1834 into the landed gentry. At the age of 30, in 1864, he took holy orders, and became curate at Horbury Bridge, near Wakefield. One of the big events was the Whit Monday procession when the parish children marched to the next village, headed by a cross and banners. The year after taking up his post, Baring-Gould decided to write a hymn for the occasion, and came up with Onward, Christian Soldiers. He later said it took about 15 minutes, apologising, ‘It was written in great haste, and I am afraid that some of the lines are faulty.’ The same year he wrote the other hymn for which he is remembered, Now the Day is Over, performed here by the choir of Hastings College in Nebraska.
More here-
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/the-midweek-hymn-onward-christian-soldiers/
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