O God, our fathers have told us, what work Thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
Psalm 44:1
Words: Charles B. Botsford, 1888. Appeared in The Morning Hour, by Irving Emerson, O. B. Brown & George E. Gay (Boston, Massachusetts: Ginn, 1891), number 88.
Music: Missionary Chant Heinrich C. Zeuner, 1832 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good picture of Botsford or Zeuner (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
Illustrious sires! Undaunted seers!
Their lives illume succeeding years,
They heard the call divine and knew,
As Abram did, the summons true.
No parted floods entice their feet;
No pillared clouds their vision greet;
In faith sublime they cross the sea,
For Christ’s dear sake and liberty.
This land they seek—theirs to subdue;
In laws, religion, life make new;
They plant the Church, the state, the school,
Enthrone the people’s right to rule.
Departed heroes! sainted, they
Behold the homage now we pay,
Rejoice the glorious fruit to see
From freedom’s Plymouth planted tree.
The children true, till latest sun,
Shall share the faith their fathers won;
To other lands their message bear,
And in the final triumph share.
Our God, the Pilgrims’ guide, we seek
To know Thy will; within us speak;
That word, a light, shall guidance give,
And in Thy precepts we shall live.