English. The central idea appearing in the refrain at the end of
each stanza is that the nation must recognize the presence of God,
and remember its duties to Him. While the phrases in the poem call
us constantly back to England and English dominions, yet the
sentiment is so universal and so applicable to all nations, that
the hymn is admired everywhere.

The first stanza refers to the conquests of England, whose battle
lines have been flung far over all parts of the world, and to the
fact that under the awful hand of God the British hold dominion
over India and the tropical lands where the palm tree grows, as
well as over the pine-clad hills of Canada and other Northern
regions. It is an appeal to the Almighty to be with the nation, and
to remind the people of their duty to the God of Hosts. The
succeeding stanzas may be paraphrased as follows:

After the tumult and the shouting of the celebration die away, when
the captains and the kings, who have met from all parts of the
world to pay homage to the queen and to the nation, depart, there
still remains as the most acceptable gift to God, the ancient
sacrifice--an humble and a contrite heart.

The British navies, called to far distant climes, separate and melt
away. Sinking below the horizon they see behind them on the dunes
and headlands the smouldering bonfires lit in celebration of the
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The once magnificent cities of
Nineveh and Tyre are now in ruins, perhaps covered by shifting
desert sands. Their pomp and their glory have departed, but no more
completely than the glory and the pomp of yesterday have gone from
the nation. Judge of all Nations, spare the English from
destruction, and keep them in mind of their obligations to Thee.

If, glorying in our power, we talk wildly of what we have done in
words that give no praise to God, and boast as the barbaric races
do, we pray Thee, Lord God of Hosts, to remind us that everything
we possess has come from thy guiding hand.

Show mercy to thy people, Lord, for frantic boasts and foolish
words, for heathen hearts that put their trust in reeking cannon
and the fragments of bursting shells, and to those who, bravely
guarding the wide borders of our land, forget that they are but
valiant dust, and call not