Thanks, Joe Offer, for your comments. I realize now that my comments of 12:00 AM were unclear in a critical area. I was writing of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE song "We Gather Together". I did not make that clear at all and I apologize for that. "We Gather Together" appears to be a very loose translation of the Dutch original. (I do not know any Dutch, and my conclusion that the translation is loose is based on the great differences between the translation posted by Mysha on 20 Nov 08, and the usual English words.)

What I SHOULD have written, with clarifications capitalized is:

"that tune has never, as far as I know, been used (IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE HYMNODY) for a "self-congratulatory song about winning a battle". REGARDLESS OF HOW IT MAY HAVE BEEN USED IN THE NETHERLANDS, IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD, it is usually used for a song that instead explicitly rejects self-congratulations, stating rather that all congratulations are to be given, not to oneself, but to GOD: "Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be thine!"

SIMILARLY, AS THE SONG IS USUALLY SUNG IN THE U.S., the battle is the spiritual battle against Satan. This is shown by the statement that God was "maintaining His kingdom divine".

That is also why the prayer is not for God's protection of the nation, or of the regiment, but for the CONGREGATION: "pray that Thou still our Defender will be. Let Thy congregation escape tribulation..."

I hope this is clearer and more accurate.

Kent