George Duffield Grave

George Duffield Jr., came from a family of preachers. Jr. is a bit of a misnomer – he was the fifth such George Duffield. The first Duffield was a native of Belfast, the second was chaplain to the Continental Congress. The fourth was a Presbyterian minister, as was our subject, Duffield the Fifth. Interestingly he did not pass on his name to any of his sons.

His family was quite educated – the family tombstones nearby are inscribed in three languages, and he himself graduated from Yale.

A church music conference was going on in Detroit so my wife and I went to it. Afterwards they accompanied me on my search for the grave of Mr. Duffield. Unfortunately the cemetery given was incorrect – so we had to go across town to find the actual cemetery, Elmwood. Near to downtown, it is the oldest non-denominational cemetery in Michigan.

Duffield’s fame interestingly comes from a song that he wasn’t even the inspiration for.  His friend Dudley Tyng was kicked out of his Episcopalian church because of his strong abolitionist stance.

On March 30, 1858, with the Philadelphia YMCA, Tyng hosted a rally that over 5,000 people attended. He preached on the text, Ye that are men, and serve the Lord and declared to the assembled fathers and sons, “I would rather this right arm be amputated at the trunk than that I should come short of my duty to you in delivering God’s message.”

A fortnite later, Tyng’s sleeve was caught in the machinery at a farm and it grabbed his arm. The arm had to be amputated, but it was too late. His last words were “Tell my brethren wherever you meet them, to stand up for Jesus!”

Duffield wrote the song that is inscribed on his tombstone:

Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
Ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high his royal banner,
It must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory
His army shall he lead,
Till every foe is vanquished,
And Christ is Lord indeed

From Wikipedia:

“Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus” is an American Christian hymn. It was written by George Duffield, Jr. in 1858 and is based on the dying words of Dudley Atkins Tyng. The traditional tune “Webb” was composed by George James Webb, and the lesser-used tune “Geibel” was composed by Adam Geibel.

History
In 1858, Presbyterian minister George Duffield, Jr. was an associate of Dudley Atkins Tyng who had recently been removed from his local Episcopalian community for speaking against slavery. Duffield assisted Tyng in supporting a revival of evangelicalism in Pennsylvania.[1][2][3] In March 1858, Tyng gave a sermon at a YMCA meeting of over 5,000 men on Exodus 10:11, “Go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord”, converting over 1,000 men listening in the crowd.[3][4] The following month, Tyng was maimed in a farming accident. Before he died a few days after the accident he told his father “Tell my brethren of the ministry, wherever you meet them, to stand up for Jesus.”[2][4] Duffield then wrote the hymn based on those words, and also incorporated the phrase “Ye that are men now serve Him” from Tyng’s memorable sermon the month before he died.[3] At a memorial service for Tyng, Duffield gave a sermon based on Ephesians 6:14, “Stand firm, wearing the whole armour of God”, and ended it by reciting the new hymn he had written as a tribute.[4] The hymn was first brought into public knowledge through leaflets printed by the superintendent of the local Christian school containing the words of the hymn. One of these leaflets ended up being published in a Baptist newspaper,[2][5] and “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus” was published in The Church Psalmist in 1859.[6][7]

After first publication, the hymn was popular and was sung by both the Union and Confederate soldiers in the American Civil War.[1][2] The hymn also became popular among British revivalists,[8] and within public schools in England.[1] As a result of the images of Christian militarism in the hymn, some people object to the hymn, and some people do not stand to sing it.[9][10][11] The hymn was excluded from a more politically correct volume of The Presbyterian Hymnal published in June 1990, in order not to offend handicapped people.[12]