by Percy E. Corbett - friendsofsabbath.org

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Jameson Thomson (1700-1748) - We are told that the author of 'Rule Britannia,' Jameson
Thomson, was not a great poet but a great lover of nature. It is surely a fair comment that
those who love nature draw nearer to God than most people and that they can respond more
readily to Divine inspiration. The first verse rings out the theme of divine guidance and freedom
and one wonders whether our young people, who sing this so heartily at the end of a season's
Promenade Concerts at the Albert. Hall, London, do so with an instinctive awareness of their
British heritage.
"When Britain first, at Heavens command,
Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of her land,
And guardian angels sang the strain.
Rule, Britannia ! Britannia rules the waves !
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves,"
This continuing emphasis on freedom is interesting as it is an essential quality for spiritual
growth. The confined spirit is like a bird in a cage but which longs to soar into. the air and sing.
Further extracts are:-
William Cowper - From 'The Task';-
"Slaves cannot breathe in England;
if their lungs receive our air,
that moment they are free;
They touch our country and their,
shackles fall."
Samuel Butler - From 'Erewhon';-
"The wish to spread those opinions that we
hold conducive to our own welfare is so
deeply rooted in the English character
that few of us can escape its influence."
D.H. Lawrence - From 'Dull London':-
"The English people on the whole are surely the
nicest people in the world and everyone makes
everything so easy for everybody else, that
there is almost nothing to resist at all."