From foes that would the land devour

From foes that would the land devour

Author: Reginald Heber
Published in 29 hymnals

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Representative Text

From foes that would our land devour;
From guilty pride and lust of power;
From wild sedition’s lawless hour;
From yoke of slavery;

From blinded zeal, by faction led;
From giddy change, by fancy bred;
From poisoned error’s serpent head;
Good Lord, preserve us free!



Source: A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (15th ed.) #434

Author: Reginald Heber

Reginald Heber was born in 1783 into a wealthy, educated family. He was a bright youth, translating a Latin classic into English verse by the time he was seven, entering Oxford at 17, and winning two awards for his poetry during his time there. After his graduation he became rector of his father's church in the village of Hodnet near Shrewsbury in the west of England where he remained for 16 years. He was appointed Bishop of Calcutta in 1823 and worked tirelessly for three years until the weather and travel took its toll on his health and he died of a stroke. Most of his 57 hymns, which include "Holy, Holy, Holy," are still in use today. -- Greg Scheer, 1995… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: From foes that would the land devour
Author: Reginald Heber
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

From foes that would the land devour. Bishop R. Heber. [National Hymn.] Appeared in his posthumous Hymns, &c. 1827, for the 23rd Sun. after Trinity, in 2 stanzas of 8 lines. Although not usually used as such it is well adapted as a national hymn. Dr. Kennedy gives it in his Hymnologia Christiana, 1863, No. 735, in an unaltered form, as one of a group of national hymns, under "Easter." Although but little used in Great Britain, it is given in several American hymnals.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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The Cyber Hymnal #1512
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The Cyber Hymnal #1512

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