Oldest Anthems

Are you aware that our national anthem, God Save the King, dates back to 1745? Although we cannot be certain of its authorship, its reference to the king’s safety and pesky Scots locate it firmly in the period of the Jacobite threat. Although this is a good vintage, it is not the oldest. That accolade goes to the Dutch, whose Wilhelmus dates back to 1568 and recalls the Dutch people’s revolt against Spanish Habsburg rule, the subject being Willem van Nassov, or William of Orange, in English.

Spain’s La Marcha Real is third, dating to 1770, known as the Royal March, and Japan’s Kimigayo is dated 1888, though its lyrics may go back, remarkably, to 905, though it was not then set to music. Argentina’s Himno Nacional Argentino comes fourth and dates to 1813 while Brazil’s Hino Nacional Brasileiro was adopted in 1890, though its melody was composed in 1831. The French La Marseillaise dates back to the Revolution in 1792, but it was variously unadopted and readopted depending on the various monarchies and republics with which the French have been pleased to experiment.

Coming second place is no mean feat, especially as the conflict alluded to in God Save the King was finally resolved by joining both kingdoms into a United Kingdom in 1801. Calls are occasionally made to change the anthem, either because it is too royalist, or too old fashioned, or too English. As someone of a conservative disposition, my attitude is keep it unless it is no longer viable to be kept.

We live in a world in which an entire music industry churns out new songs each week. Most are rubbish, but some pf them make some people very rich. In Christendom, too, a whole industry had sprung up in which songs are routinely manufactured. Few can keep abreast of the latest lyric or tune, and like the worldly model upon which it is based, many are garbage and make some people rich, though some are good and will stand time’s test. Yet the best worship song is also one of the oldest, though it may also be described as timeless seeing as it was composed in eternity:

Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth…

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

No copyright, no OHP, no tatty hymnals; just pure, heart-felt, Christ-focussed worship.

A. D