“My feet stand on level ground; in the great assembly I will praise the LORD.” – Psalm 26:12
In the year 1858, a great citywide revival swept across the city of Philadelphia. It was called “The Work of God in Philadelphia”. Of the participating ministers, none was more powerful than the twenty-nine-year-old Episcopalian, Dudley Tyng. Dudley succeeded his father as the pastor of the large Episcopalian Church of the Epiphany in Philadelphia. Some of the more fashionable members soon became upset with their young preacher because of his straightforward doctrinal preaching and his strong stand against slavery. He resigned this pulpit and with a group of faithful followers organized The Church of the Covenant.
In addition to his duties as pastor of the new and growing congregation, Tyng began holding noonday services at the downtown Y.M.C.A. Great crowds were attracted to hear this dynamic young preacher. On Tuesday, March 30, 1858, over 5,000 men gathered for a noon mass meeting to hear young Tyng preach from Exodus 10:11 - "Go now ye that are men and serve the Lord."
During the sermon, the young preacher remarked, "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." The next week, while visiting in the country and watching the operation of a corn thrasher in a barn, he accidentally caught his loose sleeve between the cogs; the arm was lacerated severely, the main artery was severed and the median nerve was injured. Four days later infection developed. As a result of shock and a great loss of blood, Dudley Tyng died, on April 19, 1858.
On his deathbed, when asked by a group of sorrowful friends and ministers for a final statement, he whispered, "Let us all stand up for Jesus." The next Sunday Tyng's close friend and fellow worker, the Reverend George Duffield, pastor of the Temple Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, preached his morning sermon as a tribute to his departed friend, choosing as his text Ephesians 6:14: "Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness." He closed his sermon by reading a poem of six stanzas that he had written, inspired, as he told his people, by the dying words of his esteemed friend. The poem, “Stand Up For Jesus” was eventually set to music by George J. Webb and has become a favorite hymn of the church.
Both inside and outside of Sunday morning, Stand Up For Jesus, for He is worthy of our praise. Today in prayer, give praise to the Lord in all that you do.
“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 him that overcometh
a crown of life shall be;
he with the King of glory
shall reign eternally.” – George Duffield
God’s Word: “Praise the LORD. I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.” – Psalm 111:1
Overcast, 59°
