The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-08-07

We now have the whole of it, and it
is hymn, as we'll as a poem, fit to
sing in the hottest moments of a ma
tion's approach and prayer to God.
1t reads as follows:
occasional"
| "God of our fathers, known of DID,
Lord of our far flung battle line,
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine;
Lord God of hosts, be with us yet,
| Lest we forget-lest we forget!
The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart;
Still stands Thine ancient Sacrifice,
An humble and contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget!
"Far-called our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire;
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare US yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget!
''If drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in
awe;
Such boasting as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law;
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget-lest we forget!
For heather heart that puts her trust
In reeklng tube and iron shard,
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard !;
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord.
''Amen
There is a noble spirit, because
humble and contrite spirit, true
lesson in goodness that pervades
every line. We might spare the
fourth verse; if it we're omitted there
would be scarce flaw of art in what
remains. 1t is high art and exalted
sentiment, fit expression of Chris
tian people.
We, too, are nation that is in
great danger of arrogant conceit.
Less than month ago we were thun-
dering our frantic elf-confdence and
praise, and too much forgetting it is
the God of nations from whom we
have received peculiar mercies.
A people is safe in it's success and
glory only as it keeps in mind its
dependence on God, and its duty to
him. Let the people be proud of
their native country; let them say
and boast that it is the best country,
with the dearest freedom the world
ever saw; let them give their day to
blare of guns and show of ships; let
them tell of their fathers greatness
| and of the extent of states or colo
MES; but woe to the land and it's
people if, under the froth and vanity
of noise and pride, there is not an
abiding sense that all our national
blessings are the gift of God, and
that they only impose upon us duties
to the peoples of the nation or the
empire, and of the world. For
"The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart;
Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and contrite heart"
1t is not the pride before man, but
the humility before God that will as
sure permanent success and glory to
a nation. Soldiers and ships are not
nations best defense. The great
Babylon is persisted with its boast
full king. Only in God will Britain
or America be strong. The miles OF
the armored feet and the thousands
of fire-throated guns were put on
proud exhibition, and the nations
were hidden to wonder at the unap-
proachable might of the island that
rules the seas. In long procession
the premiers and the sol iiers of
score of colonies paraded before the
Empress Queen; and the greatness
of the British Empire and the good
ness of its Queen were told and sung
by millions of voices in all the hun
dred tongues of the Empire, till
there was danger that men would
forget that only God is great, that
there is none good but one, that is
God. Now that the pageant ends it
is we'll that one who has also sung
the soldiers songs should remind the
people of the vanity of all that does
not rest in God.
"Far-called our navies melt away
On dune and headland sinks the fire;
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre"
To us Americans is the lesson, to
France, to Germany, as well as to
England. Will we not remember it I
"For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy mercy on thy people, Lord"'
Independent.