God of Our Fathers -- Daniel Crane Roberts

This fellow was a patriot, and proved it in two significant ways that survive over a century later. As an Ohioan, Daniel Crane Roberts volunteered to serve in the army during the mid-19^th Century’s American Civil War, and perhaps that episode stuck with him over a decade later when he penned “God of Our Fathers” to commemorate the nation’s centennial. By 1876 Daniel was in Brandon, Vermont (see map here) and was serving in a very different way, as a man of peace and of the cloth in a Presbyterian church in the northeastern part of America. What was it he remembered as he cast his vision backward, and was it only about what had already happened? Was there something else he entreated his God to do, upon the occasion of the 4^th of July celebration in Brandon? Daniel could say his two gifts of devotion to his country – his military service to preserve the Union, and this song-poem he authored over 10 years later -- merged with his allegiance to God.

 Daniel Roberts was 34 years old in the months leading up to the July 4^th that would mark the nation’s 100^th birthday, no small feat considering the war that had threatened the Union in the previous decade. His time among the 84^th Ohio Volunteers as a young man in his 20s undoubtedly must have been on his mind as he pondered that cataclysmic event, yet he dwelt not on the past exclusively as he called out to God in this hymn. Daniel looked ahead, too. He recalls the war’s imagery (verses 2 and 3) with a recognition that God’s protection was evident then ‘…in the past’ (v.2), amid all of ‘…war’s alarms and deadly pestilence’ (v.3). There must have been times that Daniel was overwhelmed with the experience, which was a far cry from Kenyon College in Gambier in central Ohio where he had been in the few years before the war commenced. Had Daniel thought about serving God in professional ministry while at Kenyon College, or otherwise before 1861 arrived and altered his life forever? History does not record what his life objectives were as a 20-year old, someone who threw caution to the wind and put his life at risk, along with many others. But, we do know that by 1865 he had been ordained as a deacon in the church in which he chose to devote the remainder of his life. His broader perspective on mortal -- and immortal life, especially – emerges from his inner thoughts, a window that tells us he knew God would guide his and his country’s future. Is it much of a leap to suspect that this viewpoint developed in his spirit as he marched into and out of battlefields? He could see and write about ‘…shining worlds in splendor’ (v.1), and implore God to ‘Refresh thy people…lead us from night to never ending day’ (v.4), hopeful visions that Daniel Roberts could imagine and call others to dream with him on July 4^th, 1876.

Did Daniel Roberts experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the way many other warriors, even to the present day, find it difficult to escape? His ministerial life, and at least to a small extent this hymn, may have been therapy that Daniel needed to overcome the war. Did his fellow Brandon, Vermont citizens wonder about this as they sang his words for the first time on that 1876 Independence Day? Daniel probably didn’t want them to focus on that, however, but on the One who he must have felt saved him over 10 years earlier. He’s still in that saving business, by the way.   

   

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; and 101 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985.

Also see this link, showing all four original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/g/o/d/o/godofath.htm

Also see this link for author’s biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/r/o/b/e/roberts_dc.htm

Also see this site for song information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_Our_Fathers