Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) is a name well-known to most Americans. He is the author of the words to our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.” In 2007, The “Smithsonian” magazine published this history of its composition.
On a rainy September 13, 1814, British warships sent a downpour of shells and rockets onto Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor, relentlessly pounding the American fort for 25 hours. The bombardment, known as the Battle of Baltimore, came only weeks after the British had attacked Washington, D.C., burning the Capitol, the Treasury and the President’s house. It was another chapter in the ongoing War of 1812.
A week earlier, Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old American lawyer, had boarded the flagship of the British fleet on the Chesapeake Bay in hopes of persuading the British to release a friend who had recently been arrested. Key’s tactics were successful, but because he and his companions had gained knowledge of the impending attack on Baltimore, the British did not let them go. They allowed the Americans to return to their own vessel but continued guarding them. Under their scrutiny, Key watched on September 13 as the barrage of Fort McHenry began eight miles away.
“It seemed as though mother earth had opened and was vomiting shot and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone,” Key wrote later. But when darkness arrived, Key saw only red erupting in the night sky. Given the scale of the attack, he was certain the British would win. The hours passed slowly, but in the clearing smoke of “the dawn’s early light” on September 14, he saw the American flag—not the British Union Jack—flying over the fort, announcing an American victory.
Key put his thoughts on paper while still on board the ship, setting his words to the tune of a popular English song. His brother-in-law, commander of a militia at Fort McHenry, read Key’s work and had it distributed under the name “Defence of Fort M’Henry.” The Baltimore Patriot newspaper soon printed it, and within weeks, Key’s poem, now called “The Star-Spangled Banner,” appeared in print across the country, immortalizing his words—and forever naming the flag it celebrated.
Nearly two centuries later, the flag that inspired Key still survives, though fragile and worn by the years.
That song is regularly sung in patriotic occasions and at the start of professional sporting events events. Three years later, in 1817, Francis Scott Key wrote a poem that would become a hymn and would be on the lips of countless believers in their corporate worship. “Lord, with Glowing Heart I’d Praise Thee” is one of several hymns that he composed. He is one of thousands of influential Christians who brighten our history with their lives and testimonies. Francis Scott Key was no nominal Christian. An Episcopalian Sunday school teacher in the days when that denomination was much more biblically oriented on the whole than today, he went on to become the Secretary of the American Sunday School Union. He was born in Frederick County, MD, and educated at St. John’s College, Annapolis, MD, and practiced law in Washington, DC for four decades. He was U.S. District Attorney for the District of Columbia until his death. He argued some of his cases at the Supreme Court. Key served briefly in a Georgetown militia unit. He married Mary Taylor Lloyd in 1802, and they had eleven children.
Major George Armistead, Commander of Ft. McHenry, had asked that a large flag be made so that British vessels could see it over the fort from a great distance. The flag made of cotton bunting was 24 x 30 feet in size, and when hoisted, looked huge. Detained, and watching from a ship about eight miles away, Key saw the British fail to destroy the Fort, or even the flag flying over it. The British could not move in closer with their ships, as close-range bombardment from Americans had already sunk 22 vessels. After firing 1500 bomb shells, each weighing as much as 220 lbs. from a distance of several miles out, the British gave up trying. Key penned his famous lines about the incident, then finished the poem in a hotel room later. The poem was printed in newspapers, and soon a popular drinking tune, “Anacreon in Heaven”, by John Stafford Smith, was chosen to accompany it, and people began referring to the song as “the star-spangled banner”. Four stanzas were written, but usually only one verse, the first, is sung. Key’s brother-in-law, Joseph Nicholson, noted that Key’s words fit the song, so he took the poem to a printer in Baltimore and had it printed. Two known copies of the printing have survived.
His famous song was sung in 1897 at baseball opening day ceremonies in Philadelphia. In 1899 the U.S. Navy adopted the song. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson announced that it should be played at all official events. In 1918 it was sung during the 7th inning of the World Series. It was adopted as the National Anthem in March 1931. During WW II it was sung at every baseball game. Key was a slave owner for years, but an opponent of slave trafficking. He eventually became a leader of the American Colonization Society which sent freed slaves to Africa, and he freed his slaves, even giving free legal representation to some seeking their freedom. He also represented owners of run-away slaves.
In 1841 Key became a member of President Andrew Jackson’s “kitchen cabinet” a group of informal close advisors that did not hold public office, but met with the president from time to time. In 1823 Key helped found the Virginia Theological Seminary. He supported the Episcopal Church for decades, taking an active role in Christ Church and St. John’s Church in Georgetown, and Trinity Church in Washington, DC. He served as a lay rector for many years, leading services and visiting the sick. Of his many poems, religious themes were frequent, and most of his works were printed, collected and published in New York as “Poems” in 1857.
Key died in Baltimore, MD, of pleurisy. Honors include: two bridges names after him (in Arlington, VA & Baltimore, MD), St. John’s College auditorium, Inducted in Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, Key Hall at University of MD, a residence hall at George Washington U, a high school in rural MD, a middle school in Houston, TX, elementary schools in several states, a mall in MD, a Baltimore minor league baseball team, A San Francisco monument (torn down in 2020 by a radical group after a $140,000 renovation), a WW II Liberty ship, and a U.S. Navy submarine. It is worth noting that in 2001, after the 9/11 catastrophe in New York, Queen Elizabeth II allowed her guards at Buckingham Palace to play the song, and the next day, at St. Paul’s Cathedral, she joined in the singing of it at a memorial service.
Key’s hymn, “Lord, with Glowing Heart I’d Praise Thee,” points not only to the praise-worthiness of the Lord, but also to the condition of the heart that should praise Him. It should be a “glowing heart.” That glowing heart in Key’s first stanza might have a connection with the glow he saw from his temporary confinement during that night of bombardment in Baltimore, but with a far different nuance. Our God is not simply seeking the rituals of worship. He wants the heart of the worshipper. It is not enough that we perform the work unless we do so with the right attitude. It must be with genuine devotion to the Lord, in acts of obedience, worshipping Him in the manner He has prescribed. This is enshrined in Reformed circles as “The Regulative Principle of Worship.” The Westminster Confession warns of the offense to God when this is not observed.
There are numerous classic examples of this in the Bible. When Satan tempted the Lord Jesus, he offered Him dominion over all the kingdoms of the earth, if only He’d bow down and worship him (Matt. 4:8-9). It was a valid goal, and we know that Christ will indeed reign one day as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16). However, bowing to the evil one was not the right way to achieve that. Only God is to be worshipped (vs. 10). And it’s God the Father who will give His Son dominion over the kingdoms of men (Ps. 2:7-9; Dan. 7:13-14).
Another critically important example of this is found in Leviticus chapter 10. Two priests named Nadab and Abihu came to burn incense in the tabernacle of worship. The smoke of burning incense was a ceremonial picture of praise and prayer ascending to the Lord (cf. Lk. 1:9-10). But something was terribly wrong. It may seem like a small thing, but it wasn’t insignificant to God. The Bible tells us that Nadab and Abihu “offered profane (unauthorized) fire before the Lord” (Lev. 10:1) and it cost them their lives (vs. 2). It seems that the burning coals to ignite the incense were to come from the altar of sacrifice, out in the tabernacle courtyard (cf. Lev. 16:11-12). But what’s the difference? Fire is fire, isn’t it? No, not in God’s sight. With their disobedience, the two men had spoiled an important biblical symbol.
Our right to come before God to offer our praise and prayer is based on our cleansing from sin through the shed blood of the Christ’s sacrifice. Then it’s the indwelling Holy Spirit who “ignites” our prayer and praise. Those Old Testament tabernacle ceremonies were simply a foreshadowing of what was to come. In the New Testament, we learn that final and ultimate sacrifice was offered by Christ on the cross. It is through Christ that we may approach the throne of God in prayer.
There is what may be a revealing postscript to the account in Leviticus, perhaps shedding light on a mitigating problem. After Nadab and Abihu were slain by God, the Lord told Aaron, “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting … that you may distinguish between holy and unholy” (Lev. 10:9-10). When judgment is fogged by drugs or alcohol, serious misjudgments can be made. The lighting of the flame within the hearts of God’s people is accomplished by the Holy Spirit. Through Him, we are equipped and empowered to approach God.
The opening phrase of Key’s hymn is one of the most memorable lines of the whole text: “Lord, with Glowing Heart I’d Praise Thee.” What is a “glowing heart?” It brings two passages especially to mind. One is in Philippians 1:6, where Paul wrote, “Fan into flame the gift of God in you.” The other is in Luke 24:32 where the disciples on the road to Emmaus recalled Jesus’ time with them in these words: “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?” It is the presence of the Lord Jesus in the heart that creates a passion for the Savior and His glory. It is a warm, inviting glow that brings joy as it dispels sadness and fear, that heals and comforts, that attracts others, and most wonderfully that brings satisfaction to the heart of God.
In considering God’s grace in the salvation of sinful man, one is likely first to focus on the cross-work of Christ in paying the penalty our sin deserves, and on the fact that we become beneficiaries of that payment when we look to Christ in simple faith, apart from any work or merit of our own. This seems to be what Francis Scott Key has in mind in the first stanza’s phrase, “…the pard’ning grace that saves me,” and the third stanza’s, “Held a blood-sealed pardon to thee, Bade thee look to Him and live.” However, the hymn also focuses, in the second and third stanzas, on God’s gracious initiative in seeking us out and drawing us to become recipients of His grace. Romans 5:8 comes to mind: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
In stanza 1, our glowing hearts praise God for the salvation He gives to us. A divinely given “bliss” fills our hearts as His “pard’ning grace” saves us from His wrath and gives us “peace.” We sing rightly that this flame could never spring up spontaneously within our “dull” souls. Only He is able to “light the flame,” or else our love for Him could never “be warmed to praise” Him.
Lord, with glowing heart I’d praise Thee for the bliss Thy love bestows,
for the pard’ning grace that saves me, and the peace that from it flows.
Help, O God, my weak endeavor; this dull soul to rapture raise;
Thou must light the flame, or never can my love be warmed to praise.
In stanza 2, our glowing hearts praise God for the hope He brings to us. We did not seek for Him; He soul sought us. As Isaiah 53:6 reminds us, all we like “wretched” sheep had wandered far astray. Our glowing hearts now love Him with “devoutest feeling,” knowing how He has taken away our guilt, drawn us to Himself and revealed to us “the light of hope” by His “blood-stained cross.”
Praise, my soul, the God that sought thee, wretched wand’rer far astray;
found thee lost, and kindly brought thee from the paths of death away.
Praise, with love’s devoutest feeling, Him who saw thy guilt-born fear,
and, the light of hope revealing, bade the blood-stained cross appear.
In stanza 3, our glowing hearts praise God for the grace He extends to us. Again we sing of that divine initiative that “drew thee to that cross.” Left in the deadness of our sin, we would never “look to Him” for pardon and new life. And it was not granted merely out of mercy, but out of justice as His atoning “blood sealed pardon” to us. In four magnificent phrases, we sing that it was His grace “whose threats alarmed thee, roused thee from thy fatal ease,” “whose promise warmed thee,” and whose “grace whispered peace.” All glory we give to Him now and forever for what He has done!
Praise thy Savior God that drew thee to that cross, new life to give,
held a blood sealed pardon to thee, bade thee look to Him and live.
Praise the grace whose threats alarmed thee, roused thee from thy fatal ease;
praise the grace whose promise warmed thee, praise the grace that whispered peace.
In stanza 4, our glowing hearts praise God for the love He shows to us. We return to the theme of a “glowing heart” in singing of “this bosom’s ardent feeling,” even as we realize that we could never have sufficient feeling to adequately express the worship He deserves. Such love for sinful souls as ours calls for greater praise than we are able to render, and so we find ourselves “low before Thy footstool kneeling,” asking Him to bless our feeble prayer. And we conclude by asking that His love, “my soul’s chief treasure,” would raise “love’s pure flame” within our glowing hearts.
Lord, this bosom’s ardent feeling vainly would my lips express:
low before Thy footstool kneeling, deign Thy suppliant’s pray’r to bless.
Let Thy love, my soul’s chief treasure, love’s pure flame within me raise;
and, since words can never measure, let my life show forth Thy praise.
We sing this text to the tune RIPLEY, one of the 1600 hymns that have been arranged by Lowell Mason (1792-1872) based on ancient Gregorian chant. Mason was choir director and organist at Savannah’s Independent Presbyterian Church before moving to Boston, where for a time he served at the famous Park Street Church. He established singing schools that have made him famous as “the father of music education” in America. He was co-founder of the Boston Academy of Music. After studying for a time in Europe, in 1853 he became music director at New York’s Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. He vigorously promoted congregational singing, and in contrast to the prevailing pattern of the day, eliminated all professional church musicians except the organist. Many churches hired a professional quartet of singers, which often dominated the singing in public worship. While countless thousands sing his hymn tunes to this day, few realize that he was the one who wrote the music for “Mary Had a Little Lamb!”
Here is a beautiful solo performance of the first three stanzas.