This Quaker discussion at beliefnet.com has a discussion of the song - although more from a Unitarian perspective. The Digital Tradition (DT) version of the song has the version of the song that's in the 1993 edition of the Unitarian Universalist (UU) hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition. There are typos in the Digital Tradition, so here are the UU lyrics, with differences with the DT text noted:

My Life Flows On in Endless Song

My life flows on in endless song
Above earth's lamentation.
I hear the real though far-off hymn
That hails a new creation.
Through all* the tumult and the strife,
I hear the music ringing.
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?

What though the tempest 'round me** roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
What though the darkness 'round me close,
Songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love prevails in heaven and earth+
How can I keep from singing?

When tyrants tremble as they hear
the bells of freedom ringing,++
When friends rejoice both far and near,
How can I keep from singing!
To+++ prison cell and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging.
When friends by shame are undefiled,
How can I keep from singing?


*DT has "above the tumult"
** DT has "loudly"
+ DT has "Since love is lord of Heaven and earth"
++ DT has

When tyrants tremble, sick with fear,
And hear their death-knell ringing

+++DT has "In"

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Click to play (UU Version)

Personally, I like Unitarians - but why do they do what they do to hymns? I have to admit that my fellow Catholic musicians can sometimes be almost as bad at bowdlerizing, as can the Quakers. I don't mind removing "Christ" for people who don't believe in Christ, but why insert the "bells of freedom" bit? I guess that outside of church, I would prefer to sing a "secular" version of this song, but not one that feels like it has been sanitized for the sake of political correctness.
-Joe Offer-