Francis Scott Key--Christian

In late August of 1814 British forces captured and burned Washington D.C. The major buildings of the city, including the capitol building and the White House, were burned before the British withdrew. As the soldiers returned to their ships they took Dr. William Beanes prisoner. The British Navy then sailed north to the nearby city of Baltimore.

British ships were off the coast of Baltimore getting ready to attack the city. It was then that Francis Scott Key and John S. Skinner boarded one of the British ships seeking the release of Dr. Beanes. Francis Scott Key, while on board the British vessel, watched as the British bombarded Fort McHenry which protected the city of Baltimore. The bombardment took place on September 13-14, 1814, and lasted for twenty-five hours. When the bombardment stopped Francis Scott Key saw that the flag of the American Union still stood over the fort. The British attempt to take the fort and Baltimore had failed. That is when he wrote the Star Spangled Banner, a poem that would later become the American national anthem.

Most Americans only know the first verse the national anthem, but there are actually four verses. My favourite verse is the last one. It says:

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Key was a lawyer, a poet and a Christian. Besides the Star Spangled Banner he also wrote hymns; here is part of one of his hymns.

Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise thee For the bliss thy love be-stows,
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 warned to praise.

Key's view of man was biblical. He understood that salvation was from the Lord and it was His work in us that brings us to repentence and salvation. In his hymn titled “Before the Lord We Bow” he wrote:

Earth, hear thy Maker’s voice, thy great Redeemer own;
Believe, obey, rejoice, and worship Him alone.
Cast down thy pride, thy sin deplore and bow before
The Crucified.

Francis Scott Key knew that all people are in need of salvation, and salvation was to be found only in Jesus Christ “The Crucified.” The modern idea that there are many paths to God, and we may each choose our on path, was a foreign concept to Francis Scott Key. This is why he wrote “Believe, obey, rejoice, and worship Him alone.” The modern idea of “many paths to god” is alien to the Bible as well. If the view that there are many roads to God is true, than the Bible must be lie, and Christianity a false religion.

Christ is the one and ONLY means of salvation, or he is a fake; there is no other viable option. Jesus and the writers of the Bible declare this to be so. The earliest Christian writers say the same, as do those the Christians that came later. Christian's must maintain this position. To deny this is to abandon the historic faith. It’s vital that we love all others enough to tell the them this essential truth in love.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Kenith