Fling out the banner! let it float

Skyward and seaward, high and wide;

The sun that lights its shining folds,

The cross, on which the Savior died.

Fling out the banner! angels bend

In anxious silence o'er the sign;

And vainly seek to comprehend

The wonder of the love divine.

Fling out the banner! heathen lands

Shall see from far the glorious sight,

And nations, crowding to be born,

Baptize their spirits in its light.

Fling out the banner! sin-sick souls

That sink and perish in the strife,

Shall touch in faith its radiant hem,

And spring immortal into life.

Fling out the banner! let it float

Skyward and seaward, high and wide,

Our glory, only in the cross;

Our only hope, the Crucified!

Fling out the banner! wide and high,

Seaward and skyward, let it shine:

Nor skill, nor might, nor merit ours;

We conquer only in that sign.