1 My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From ev'ry mountainside
Let freedom ring!
2 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.
3 Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
4 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.
Samuel F. Smith
Hymns for the Family of God
<idle musing>
OK, some sing this as a patriotic song of victory, but if you look at the words, it's really a prayer—especially after verse 1. Of course, most people don't know any verse except the first one, so I guess it makes sense to see it as a country-praising call to arms. I'll take it as a prayer, though. And we certainly need it to be answered in today's world!
That's the final hymn in this hymnbook. And this is the final hymnbook currently in my collection (I've owned many more in the past), so any future hymns I post will be ones I come across in other books. I hope you've enjoyed the three-plus years as I've wandered through three Methodist hymnals and one generic evangelical one.
</idle musing>
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