Columbia! Columbia! to glory arise

Columbia! Columbia! to glory arise

Author: Timothy Dwight
Tune: STAR OF COLUMBIA
Published in 6 hymnals

Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1.
Columbia! Columbia! to glory arise,
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies,
Thy genius commands thee, with raptures behold,
While ages on ages thy splendors unfold:
Thy reign is the last and the noblest of time,
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Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy clime;
Let crimes of the east ne'er encrimson thy name,
Be freedom, and science, and virtue thy fame.

2.
To conquest and slaughter let Europe aspire,
Whelm nations in blood, or wrap cities in fire;
Thy heroes the rights of mankind shall defend,
And triumph pursue them and glory attend.
A world is thy realm, for a world be thy laws,
Enlarged as thy empire, and just as thy cause;
On freedom's broad basis that empire shall rise,
Extend with the main, and dissolve with the skies.

3.
Fair science her gate to thy sons shall unbar,
And the east see thy morn hide the beams of her star;
New bards and new sages unrivalled shall soar
To fame unextinguished, when time is no more.
To the last refuge of virtue designed,
Shall fly from all nations, the best of mankind,
There, grateful to heaven, with transport shall bring
Their incense, more fragrant than odors of spring.

4.
Nor less shall thy fair ones to glory ascend,
And genius and beauty in harmony blend;
Their graces of form shall awake pure desire,
And the charms of the soul still enliven the fire:
Their sweetness unmingled, their manners refined,
And virtue's bright image enstamped on the mind;
With peace and sweet rapture shall teach life to glow
And light up a smile in the aspect of woe.

5.
Thy fleets to all regions thy power shall display
The nations admire, and the ocean obey;
Each shore to thy glory its tribute unfold,
And the east and the south yield their spices and gold,
As the day-spring unbounded thy splendors shall flow,
And earth's little kingdoms before thee shall bow,
While the ensigns of union in triumph unfurled,
Hush anarchy's sway, and give peace to the world.

6.
Thus down a lone valley with cedars o'erspread,
From the noise of the town I pensively strayed,
The bloom from the face of fair heaven retired,
The wind ceased to murmur, the thunders expired
Perfumes, as of Eden, flowed sweetly along,
And a voice, as of angels, enchantingly sung,
Columbia! Columbia! to glory arise,
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies.



Source: The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion (New ed. thoroughly rev. and much enl.) #260

Author: Timothy Dwight

Timothy Dwight (b. Northampton, MA, 1752; d. Philadelphia, PA, 1817) was a grandson of Jonathan Edwards who became a Congregationalist pastor, a Revolutionary War army chaplain, a tutor and professor at Yale College, and president of Yale from 1795 to 1817. As president he continued to teach and serve as chaplain and was instrumental in improving both the academic and the spiritual life of the college. Bert Polman… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Columbia! Columbia! to glory arise
Author: Timothy Dwight
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

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Instances (1 - 6 of 6)
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The American Musical Miscellany #81

The Sacred Harp. New ed. #d11

The Social Harp #63

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The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion (New ed. thoroughly rev. and much enl.) #260

The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion. New ed. #d13

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