DEERFIELD — With the approach of Independence Day, faith leaders and historians have been honoring an almost 200-year-old hymn and the reverend who wrote it.
In 1826, the Rev. Samuel Willard penned “For Fourth July,” a hymn that not only celebrated America’s 50th anniversary, but called on the nation to fully embrace freedom by breaking “the cruel chains, of Africa’s suffering race ….”
The hymn held further significance because Willard was born in 1776, the year of America’s birth.
“(Willard) was an agent of change and an all-around reformer,” said Timothy Neumann, executive director of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, which now owns the hymn. “He even planted trees. He was the one that lined the streets of Deerfield with trees.”
Neumann also said that members of Willard’s family later helped start the memorial association, which is how the organization came into possession of the hymn.
Willard, who graduated from Harvard, led the First Church of Deerfield for more than 20 years. The current building in Old Deerfield was erected in 1824 under his leadership. He was also a strong supporter of the abolitionist movement.
“In the second stanza he links freedom with strength, wealth and fame,” Neumann said. “People who are extremely poor and in debt are not free, he was aware of that.”
In stanza six of the hymn, Willard wrote: “Then shall we break the cruel chains, of Africa’s suffering race: Spurning our gains, feel for their pains, and sooth their deep distress.”
Neumann said that when the hymn was written, Willard’s perspective wasn’t mainstream. “His adding verse six is ‘black lives matter,’ and not everyone was saying that at the time,” Neumann said. “In his day, those were revolutionary thoughts.”
Almost 200 years later, the current interim pastor of the church in Old Deerfield, the Rev. Winston Baldwin, said that Willard understood freedom better than most because of his involvement in the abolitionist movement and his profession as a clergyman.
In addition, according to a research document produced by the association, Willard went blind in 1819, a little more than 10 years after he shouldered pastoral responsibility.
As the region celebrates Independence Day, Baldwin said that today, the spirit of Willard’s hymn rings true more than ever.
“It’s an opportunity to ask questions about freedom,” he said, “what it takes to maintain it, and the cost of freedom — and I’m not just talking about soldiers.”
The hymn offered thanks for independence and recognized the high price of freedom.
“Long may we guard each sacred right,” Willard wrote, “for which our fathers bled; long as the light gleams on our sight, the paths of freedom tread.”
Baldwin said that achieving freedom can be a pretty frightening task that goes against the innate human need for security and certainty.
“The signers of the Declaration of Independence were not seeking certainty or security,” he said. “They knew that, and made choices.”
In today’s world of uncertainty, Baldwin continued, many people gravitate toward certainty and security, without realizing that both come at a price: freedom, paid for by either themselves or others.
FOR FOURTH JULY – 1826.
Tune-Arundel
1.THEE, we approach, Almighty King,
To thee our voices raise;
Homage we bring, glory we sing,
Great God, accept our praise.
2. Freedom and strength, and wealth and fame,
Our youthful States enjoy;
Thanks to thy name, Father supreme,
Let all our tongues employ.
3. Thou art our God, our earliest friend,
Our father’s guard and guide;
Still condescend, time without end,
Among their sons t’abide.
4. Long may we guard each sacred right
For which our fathers bled;
Long as the light gleams on our sight,
The paths of freedom tread.
5. O, may we fight the fight of faith,
O’ercome in virtue’s field;
Fir’d by thy breath, fearless of death,
Our arms we’ll never yield.
6. Then shall we break the cruel chains
Of Afric’s suffering race:
Spurning our gains, feel for their pains,
And sooth their deep distress.
7. Widely display thy power abroad,
And make oppression cease;
Break, mighty God, tyranny’s rod,
And hush the world to peace.