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Show Saturday, December. 14, 1940 r. t : i. v tv ? k inqinq I J I ...Singing CL .Tlational Protect Us By Thy Might . . . Singing the refrain that has been a vital part the founding of the country. , . . . Singing the fervent supplication of young expanding America and of the great expansive America of of American life siig.ce today. Singing in a world mad with greed, hate, and a war, hymn of peaceful dedication to Divine care, to ' nobler ends. , . . . Great God Our King peace-lovin- tion. I I men founded the na, tion. Prayerful men preserved it in its groping infancy. And today the new national anthem, following the tenor of the nations rallying songs, is " God Bless America!" God-feari- - Our Fathers God - red-stai- God Bless America! Lgnd that we love. Stand beside her and guide her, through the night with a light from above. voice of liberty swellThat is America singing--thing in mighty crescendo over a world gone mad, a world which has forsaken the God of Peace for the paganr destructive god of Mars. , When America sings, the song is a prayer set to the great music. For the song springs from the soul . Of God in their lost not who have soul of a people sight climb to wealth and power and prominence among the ,t . . , nations. Humble ' men in humble circumstances colonized tion, They had not forgotten God, Author Of Liberty their Fathers God. Thus they 'addressed Him. Gods role n the this country was not overlooked, not disshaping counted. National heroes fought and died in the struggle for independence. But their glory was not diminished when the nation looked beyond them. They knew and their descendants knew that they were but instruments . , . of the motto suggested in the national anthem u In God Is Our ... To God, America sings No national hero is great enough to merit those anthems of praise, no god of battle, and suppression, no pagan god attractive enough io inspire desertion from that high allegiance. The sons of pilgrims and pioneers were singing. -- 99 Long May Our Land Be Bright With Freedoms Holy Light! That has been Americas song for one hundred and fifty years. That will be Americas song, alone or in uni son with other freed peoples, for years to come. Divine providence has watched over America since its that protective presence is plainly felt in these new hours of crisis. BUst With Victry And Peace , Land May The Heavn-RescuePraise The Powr That Hathl.Made And Preserved Us A Nation. , begin-ning,A- nd d heavn-res-cue- Trust ring today when nations are crumbling, when dearly-wo- n liberties are disappearing, when demott ucies are tottering, and when a wild, terrible spirit wreaks its bloody course over the earth. "In Godjs Our Trust That faith sustained the nation in hours of more real and threatening danger. That faith can sustain the nation today in this and any new crisis. ed That was the earnest prayer of Francis Scott Key when he saw the evidence of Gods protective spirit d watching over the evolving nation, ILwas a since saw he and land the tandl free people of that have never failed to "praise the Powr to which he gave ... In God is our Trust! Those words have a reassuring When the nations liberty hung perilously on the scales of destiny, when the enemy was shelling Fort McHenry, a young patriot wrote, in words of fire, a national anthem. The first concern of the patriot , standing on the deck of an enemy ship, was whether the symbol of his nation, the " Banner," still waved. But his deeper concern, when dawns light disclosed the banner gallantly streaming as at dusk, was for the future of his country- - To whom would the America of the future d proudf established nation,' sing? Star-Spangl- (X Lfirager deference. Not only have they manifested it in song, but also in their public documents and even on their coins. On the face of the coins a grateful nation has engraved To Thee We Sing ' They had not forgotten the religious motives that sent thousands of immigrant ships to the promised land of liberty, the prayerful adoption of the Mayflower Compact, the first feasts of Thanksgiving on bleak New England shores, the fervent prayers of constitutional assemblies where democracy flowered, the unashamed prayers n of their great national leader who knelt in the ed snow of Valle'y Forge', the pleas for divine aid which helped unify the torn, bickering Constitutional Conven- LJs in the hands of Divine Providence. They built the framework, they etched the words, but God was the author Author of Liberty. And upward went the paeans of praise from the founding fathers and their descendants . this country, noio the strongest and richest country in the world. Thankfully, prayerfully they turned the sod of a new land, a land where they could worship God as their conscience dictated. They built churches as they built homes. Their first official holiday was a day of Thanksgiving to God. It was no wonder then that when they sang of their new land, their beloved America, they dedicated their anthem to the Divine Providence that attended the birth of a united nation. . . V That is not feigned allegiance, an emergency cloak in time of stress . The plea comes from the roots of Amena- g rica, from the 'Very heart of a'Christian, Song cJha t Protect Us By Thy Might, Great God Our King. -- That is America singing! That is the voice of hope, of warming sustenance in an enslaved and troubled world. Young America, old America the whole nation must fceep singing and. hope and pray that her songs will not be in vain. ' c ' a |