Those who know me will be aware that I am not a Christian in terms of my religious beliefs, although I would claim to be culturally Christian in that I was raised within a nominally Christian family at a time when that religion had a much more prominent a solid position within our society.
The England of my youth was a country steeped in Christian tradition, and in which almost everyone was at least nominally Christian, if not devoutly so.
Every school day began with assembly at which the whole school, masters and pupils alike were led in Christian worship, reciting the Lord’s Prayer and singing a selection of hymns, the tunes and refrains from which have become indelibly imprinted in my memory.
One such tune was composed by Gustav Holst and features in the ‘Jupiter’ movement of his suite, ‘The Planets’. In 1921 Holst wrote a modified version of that original melody, which he renamed ‘Thaxted’ after the village in which he spent much of his life, so that the tune could be combined with a poem by Sir Cecil Spring-Rice to create the patriotic hymn, ‘I Vow to Thee My Country’.
The following is a seemingly amateur and unpolished version of Holst’s tune, but one that I find engaging in its sincerity and one that reminds me of my old school assemblies with the music mistress doing her best on an old upright piano. I hope it is as evocative for you as it is for me.
Sir Cecil Spring-Rice was born into an aristocratic family during the 1800’s, he joined the Foreign Office in 1882 and spent his career travelling the world as a diplomat during the period the British Empire was at its height, and at a time when devotion to one’s country, one’s nation and one’s people were synonymous in peoples’ minds and when the willingness to sacrifice oneself in battle if necessary, in order to further the greatness of one’s nation was the accepted norm.
When I was conducting some research recently, I rediscovered ‘I vow to Thee My Country’ and also discovered something that I was completely unaware of regarding that familiar hymn.
At school, that hymn was always sung in two verses; the first evoking feelings of patriotism and the willingness to sacrifice oneself; and the second directing those feelings towards Christian devotion and the spiritual struggle to establish the kingdom of God, of gentleness and peace, as follows:
I Vow to Thee My Country:
I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.
And there’s another country, I’ve heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.
-o0o-
What I discovered recently is that the above two verses are in fact the first and third verses of the original hymn and that the second verse is no longer sung because it is regarded as politically incorrect. The second verse reinforces the patriotic feeling aroused by the first verse and both emphatically and unashamedly asserts the warrior tradition that made Britain great.
As I have already stated, I am not a practicing Christian and the third verse of Sir Cecil Spring-Rice’s hymn does not appeal to me. My feeling is that the first two verses of ‘I Vow to Thee My Country’ make a fine patriotic song that is a veritable call to arms and as such I would propose the adoption of the following version of the hymn as an anthem for our movement. Minus the third verse, it has no Christian connotations, and if we interpret the word ‘country’ as was originally intended, as a synonym for ‘nation’ and ‘people’, the song resulting has the potential to stir and be universally accepted by White nationalists of all persuasions.
Please play this video as you read the words below, I guarantee you will be stirred by the experience.
I Vow to Thee My Country:
I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.
I heard my country calling, away across the sea,
Across the waste of waters, she calls and calls to me.
Her sword is girded at her side, her helmet on her head,
And around her feet are lying the dying and the dead;
I hear the noise of battle, the thunder of her guns;
I haste to thee, my mother, a son among thy sons.
-o0o-
By Max Musson © 2016
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Ms Bridgit
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‘I Vow to Thee My Country’.
I vote it as the New National anthem ….
SerpentSlayer
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I have always liked Land of Hope and Glory, heavy christian overtones (“god who made thee mighty…”) but it is in a similar vain to vow to thee my country.
Perhaps we could employ the first two verses of vow to thee my country in future. Personally I don’t see our current nations surviving the coming crisis, I see new tribes forming, new symbols, new songs, new myths, new heroes. I may be wrong.
Max Musson
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I think our current nation will survive in some form or another. What I like about ‘I Vow to Thee, My Country’, is that whether you are Christian, Pagan or Cosmotheist, it suits them all because the two verses that I propose that we use, refer only to our ‘country’, i.e. our nation/people.
jsmithwick
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Well said Max. British Christian, Pagan or Cosmotheist can identify with the song. Personally I’d like a song like Jerusalem retitled/reworded similarly. I’d like the song retitled “London”, and “the feet” could be in reference to anyone the person identifies with i.e. Jesus OR the Norse God Baldr. I’d do the same to every hymn sung in our churches. On the subject of our churches, I’d also remove the crucifixes and replace them with the British flag; I’d supplement the Bible with books on the History of Britain, Asatru, science, philosophy, etc.
jsmithwick
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I just listened to Jerusalem … on second thought I’d want the song retitled Britain, the words “England” and “Jerusalem” within the song replaced with “Britain” and the four syllable words “Valhalla Land” lol … you get the point.
rerevisionist
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With respect, it’s not true that ‘everyone’ went to assembly. I can remember at school being irritated that some people were allowed not to attend, though I had no idea at the time they thought they were ‘Jews’ and were alllowed special privileges.
Max Musson
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At the schools I attended everyone did attend morning assembly irrespective of their religious sensibilities. In those days there were no Hindus or Muslims, but Jews were required to attend and partake of Christian worship. Our Christian culture was far more confident and assertive in those days.
rerevisionist
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Fair enough. However there was a smaller, parallel, unmentioned schools system for ‘Jews’.
Andy B
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It’s my first time on this website and I’m very happy to read that people on this site are awake to the threat of white genocide in Europe and the UK.
This may get a few people being angry with me. I’ve lived in China for the past 8 years and I believe it to be more free than most countries. China only recently declared that where the are mosques in China, no call to prayer would be broadcast because it’s too noisy and China is not a muslim country. They’ve also told all muslim restaurants that they must sell pork, beer and cigarettes or shut their shops/restaurants. I’m no Christian but 10% of the population here are practicing it! that’s 130 million people and are left alone. I really am a true Englishman/Aryan and hate what is going on over there. My friends from all over Europe discuss it openly here but when they are home, especially in Germany they ask me not to send them information for fear of a knock at the door by the cabal controlled government. I pray for a revolution in Britain with the jew royal family gone and the House of Commons and lords replaced by people who actually care about it’s people not just their own interests. I’m originally from Dudley in the West Midlands and write all the time to my local MP Ian Austin who never replies because of the nature of the questions I ask such as why my Grandaughter will be forced to study the holocaust with no choice to opt out. I subsequently learnt Ian Austin is of jewish descent. If the rise up of our race starts to happen, I will be on the first boat or plane back to join in.
Keep up the good work.