Hey, Church! 

Happy 250th Independence Day! I thought this would be an appropriate weekend to share a few origin stories about a few patriotic songs. My thanks to Susan for sharing excerpts about the following hymns from Robert J. Morgan’s collection, Then Sings My Soul. 

America the Beautiful | 1893 

“In 1892, the United States observed the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.” As part of the celebration, a group of teachers from Wellesley College visited a fair in Colorado. “The teachers decided to visit Pike’s Peak, elevation 14,000 feet. One of them, Katharine Lee Bates, later wrote, ‘We hired a prairie wagon. Near the top, we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules. I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy… It was then and there, as I was looking out over the sea-like expanse of fertile country spreading away so far under those ample skies, that the opening lines of the hymn floated into my mind.’”1  

O beautiful for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain
America, America, God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness
America, America, God mend thine ev’ry flaw
Confirm thy soul in self-control
Thy liberty in law

O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life
America, America, may God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And ev’ry gain divine

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears
America, America, God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea

Katharine Lee Bates, Samuel Augustus Ward CCLI Song #33368 © Words: Public Domain; Music: Public Domain CCLI License #692967

My Country, ‘Tis of Thee (America) | 1831

“This patriotic hymn was written by Samuel Francis Smith, a native Bostonian, born on October 21, 1808.” While in seminary, Samuel became fascinated with the works of America’s first missionary, Adoniram Judson, and he developed a passion for evangelism. It was also at the time that he was struck by the words of the German hymn, “Gott segne Sachsenland” (“God Bless our Saxon Land”), set to the tune we know as “America” (used in Great Britain for “God Save the Queen”). 

Smith later said, “I instantly felt the impulse to write a patriotic hymn of my own adapted to this tune… Picking up a scrap of paper which lay near me, I wrote at once, probably within half an hour, the hymn, ‘America’ as it is now known.” 

My country ’tis of thee
Sweet land of liberty
Of thee I sing
Land where my fathers died
Land of the pilgrim’s pride
From ev’ry mountain side
Let freedom ring! 

My native country, thee, 
Land of the noble, free,
Thy name I love
I love Thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze, 
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song
Let mortal tongues awak
Let all that breathe partake
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong

Our fathers’ God, to Thee, 
Author of liberty, 
To Thee we sing
Long may our land be bright 
With freedom’s holy light
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King! 

Henry Carey, Robert W. Thygerson, Samuel Francis Smith CCLI Song #2408121 © Words: Public Domain; Music: 1976 Heritage Music Press CCLI License #692967

The Star-Spangled Banner | 1814

More than 120 years before it was adopted as our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner was written as a hymn of thanks to the saving power of God. American attorney Francis Scott Key was an evangelical Christian. He taught Bible classes, witnessed boldly of the saving power of Christ, and wrote hymns like this one: 

Lord, with glowing hear I’d praise Thee
For the bliss Thy love bestows
For the pardoning grace that saves me
And the peace that from it flows
Help, O God, my weak endeavor;
This dull soul to rapture raise
Thou must light the flame, or never
Can my love be warmed to praise.

In this particular instance, Key was sent by the President to negotiate the release of a physician, Dr. Beanes, held in British captivity. His request was granted, but he and Beane were detained by enemy troops while the British began a massive bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore on September 13, 1814. Having watched the assault from some 8 miles away, Key later described the scene: “It seemed as though Mother Earth had opened and was vomiting shot and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone.” When darkness arrived, he could see only red eruptions in the sky. Given the scale and duration of the attack (25 hours!), Key was certain the British would win. 

But at “dawn’s early light” on September 14, 1814, it was the American star-spangled flag that flew over the Fort, not the British Union Jack, announcing that America had withstood the onslaught and stood in victory. At once, Francis Scott Key scribbled a new hymn, “The Star Spangled Banner,” on the back of an envelope. 

We all know and love the first stanza of the hymn–our national anthem. But have you ever heard the last stanza?  

Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! 
Then conquer we must when our cause it is just.
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

CCLI Song # 93786 Francis Scott Key | John Stafford Smith © Words: Public Domain; Music: Public Domain CCLI license 692967

O God, Our Help in Ages Past | 1719 

English minister and famed hymnwriter Isaac Watts wrote “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” as an adaptation of Psalm 90. 

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations… So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom… Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (Ps. 90:1, 12, 17)

Robert Morgan notes, “It was played on the radio by the BBC as soon as World War II was declared, and was later sung at the funeral service of Winston Churchill. Some of the original verses have fallen into disuse, but as you read them, think of the ailing hymnist, sitting at the desk in his room on the Abney estate, pouring [sic] over Psalm 90 and penning these words: 

Our God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne, Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone, and our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood, or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God, to endless years the same. 

Thy Word commands our flesh to dust, “Return, ye sons of men.”
All nations rose from earth at first, and turn to earth again.

A thousand ages in Thy sight are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood, with all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood, and lost in following years.

Time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream dies at opening day. 

Like flowery fields the nations stand pleased with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower’s hand lie withering ere ‘tis night.

Our God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last, and our eternal home. 

CCLI Song # 43152 Isaac Watts | William Croft © Words: Public Domain; Music: Public Domain CCLI license 692967

I trust you have had a joyous 250th Independence Day weekend. God bless you, Rio! And may God continue to bless the United States of America!