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These things shall be, a loftier race

Representative Text

1 These things shall be: a loftier race
Than e'er the world hath known shall rise
With flame of freedom in their souls,
And light of knowledge in their eyes.

2 They shall be gentle, brave, and strong,
To spill no drop of blood, but dare
All that may plant man's lordship firm
On earth, and fire, and sea, and air.

3 Nation with nation, land with land,
Inarmed shall live as comrades free;
In every heart and brain shall throb
The pulse of one fraternity.

4 New arts shall bloom of loftier mould,
And mightier music thrill the skies,
And every life shall be a song,
When all the earth is paradise.


Source: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #560

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Author: John Addington Symonds

Symonds, John Addington, M.A., s. of J. A. Symonds, b. at Bristol, Oct. 5, 1840; educated at Harrow, and Balliol College, Oxford, B.A. (double first) 1862, and Fellow of Magdalen 1862. Wrote extensively, especially on the History of the Italian Renaissance, and also published various volumes of verse. Died at home, April 19, 1893. His Life, by Horatio Brown, was published in 1895. His hymn: "These things shall be! a loftier race" (A Regenerated World), in The Methodist Hymn Book, 1901, is from his New and Old, a volume of verse by John Addington Symonds, 1880, p. 225. It begins with st. iv. of "Sad heart, what will the future bring?" a poem entitled "A Vista." [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplem… Go to person page >

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Text Information

First Line: These things shall be, a loftier race
Author: John Addington Symonds (1880)
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain
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Notes

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Tune

TRURO (Williams)

TRURO is an anonymous tune, first published in Thomas Williams's Psalmodia Evangelica, (second vol., 1789) as a setting for Isaac Watts' "Now to the Lord a noble song." Virtually nothing is known about this eighteenth-century British editor of the two-volume Psalmodia Evangelica, a collection of thr…

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MENDON (17151)


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Timeline

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Instances in all hymnals

Instances (1 - 4 of 4)
TextPage Scan

African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #560

African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #560

Hymns of the Saints #323

Hymns of the Saints #323
TextPage Scan

Singing the Living Tradition #138

Singing the Living Tradition #138

Welsh and English Hymns and Anthems #55b

Welsh and English Hymns and Anthems #55b
Include 139 pre-1979 instances
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