This hymn is widely considered the anthem of the Church of God. It harkens back to a time when we were living in the purity of our doctrine. The poetry of this hymn elucidates the fact that we were a movement not a sect or denomination. As a movement we had a unifying message: “The day of sects and creeds for us forevermore is past, Our brotherhood are all the saints upon the world so vast; We reach our hands in fellowship to every blood-washed one, While love entwines about each heart in which God’s will is done.”
The light of eventide now shines the darkness to dispel,
The glories of fair Zion’s state ten thousand voices tell;
For out of Babel God doth call His scattered saints in one,
Together all one church compose, the body of His Son.
Refrain:
O church of God, the day of jubilee
Has dawned so bright and glorious for thee;
Rejoice, be glad! Thy Shepherd has begun
His long-divided flock again to gather into one.
The Bible is our rule of faith, and Christ alone is Lord,
All we are equal in His sight when we obey His word;
No earthly master do we know, to man-rule will not bow,
But to each other and to God eternal trueness vow.
The day of sects and creeds for us forevermore is past,
Our brotherhood are all the saints upon the world so vast;
We reach our hands in fellowship to every blood-washed one,
While love entwines about each heart in which God’s will is done.
Oh, blessed truth that broke our bands! In it we now rejoice,
While in the holy church of God we hear our Savior’s voice;
And gladly to His blessed will submissive we shall be,
And from the yokes of Babel’s lords from henceforth we are free.C.W. Naylor
Love, 
The Downing Family
