The People’s Anthem

Justice for the poor! This is a theme for the twenty-first century. At a time when while the greed of wealthy bankers is execrated the wretchedness in the third world is only partly relieved; when the rich live in increasing luxury yet many across the world are reduced to conditions of virtually slave labour; when there is traffic in vice; oppression of whole races; and violence resulting from despair, there is an overwhelming need for social justice and a despair for how it may be achieved.

The theme is not new. Old Testament prophets more than two thousand seven hundred years ago had the same complaint. Even among their own people, God's own people, there was greed and oppression. Isaiah foresaw it resulting in the ruin of the nation. "The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: it is you who have devoured the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts." (Isaiah 3.14,15). The perquisites of the rich would be taken away from them as their enemies took them away, captives. "In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands and the crescents; the pendants, the bracelets and the scarfs; ... the perfume boxes... signet rings... festal robes, mantles, the cloaks and the handbags... the garments of gauze.... the veils... Instead of perfume there will be a stench; and instead of a sash, a rope.... instead of well-set hair, baldness.... instead of beauty, shame. Your men shall fall by the sword and your warriors in battle." (3.18-25).

And while Isaiah spoke judgment in the city, Amos in the agricultural economy had a similar complaint. "They sell the righteous for silver... the needy for a pair of sandals... they trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth..." prostitution, drunkenness, oppression (Amos 2.6-8) "Because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine." (5.11) "You that trample on the needy and bring to ruin the poor of the land.... practise deceit with false balances...selling the sweepings of the wheat" (8.4-6). All this, said Amos, would result in national ruin and desolation. In our time, could the prophets of climate change say more?

It might be argued that Our Lord had a different perspective. Speaking to the rich, He warned them how foolish it is to rely on riches (parable of the rich fool). He said that the poor were blessed, but the rich already had their reward (Luke 6.24). But to such as the Rich Young Ruler or the tax-farmer Zaccheus He gave a personal opportunity to repent. Yet for all this, we find a little later that James in his epistle declaims: "Come now, you rich men, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted; and their rust shall be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you." (James 5.1-6)

It is in the context of such human behaviour which has persisted through the centuries, that we find a poet in early-Victorian Britain writing his 'people's anthem'.

Ebenezer Elliott lived near Sheffield. He was the son of an iron founder who in his chapel preached vehemently. Ebenezer became a self-taught poet, in the age of Southey and Byron. He loved the natural world. As a business man in the iron trade he failed, twice. His greatest concern was the Corn Laws, which over a period of thirty years created wealth for landowners by keeping grain prices high, and in so doing increased the misery of the poor. In his old age he wrote a parody of the national anthem. It was not 'God save the Queen' (who stood for the establishment and the rule of the wealthy) but 'God save the people' - the needy, the disregarded.

When wilt Thou save the people?
O God of mercy, when?
Not kings alone, but nations!
Not thrones and crowns, but men!
Flowers of Thy heart, O God, are they;
Let them not pass, like weeds, away -
Their heritage a sunless day,
God save the people!

Shall crime bring crime for ever,
Strength aiding still the strong?
Is it Thy will, O Father,
That man shall toil for wrong?
"No," say Thy mountains; "No," Thy skies;
Man's clouded sun shall brightly rise,
And songs ascend instead of sighs.
God save the people!

When wilt Thou save the people?
O God of mercy, when?
The people, Lord, the people,
Not thrones and crowns, but men;
God save the people; Thine they are,
Thy children, as Thine angels fair;
From vice, oppression, and despair,
God save the people!

All men, we know, are like grass, and eventually perish like grass (Isaiah 40.6), but Elliott's plea was that the common people should not be treated like weeds. His vision was the same as the Old Testament prophets, that God would 'do something' - "give them songs for sighing, their darkness turn to light." (James Montgomery was writing these words at about the same time in his hymn 'Hail to the Lord's Anointed'.) Each man would live under his own vine and his own fig tree - not toil in dark factories or mines. He looked for the time when death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away (Revelation 21.4).

There were some Christians after Elliott's death who would not accept 'The People's Anthem' as a hymn (even though Booth wrote a fine tune for it). They said it blamed God. 'When will you save the people?' implied that God ought to be getting on with it! Elliott in fact believed that salvation for the people would come through giving them the vote - democracy.

It is true that this anthem raises up questions of why and for how long does God permit evil? Should people - with His help - make efforts to improve the state of the world? We expect it, don't we, of our statesmen. Or wait for Him to act? Or do we act as we are able, as for example CART does, to give the poor, if not justice, at least help? When, and in what manner, will God's kingdom come? What makes it possible for His will to be done on earth as in heaven? If we find it difficult to provide perfect answers to these questions, we can only pray for the Lord Jesus to settle all questions as He will in His good time.