A Thanksgiving Gift from The Netherlands
Dutch settlers arrived in America and founded New Amsterdam, later New York City, in 1625.
At almost the same time that Dutch settlers arrived in New Amsterdam, “Wilt Heden Nu Treden,” a poem by Dutchman Adrianus Valerius, was published in The Netherlands. The poem was set to the music of a popular Dutch tune. Its first line in Dutch is “Wilt heden Nu treden Voor God den Heere,” which is translated “We will now today step before God the Lord.” It became a popular hymn of Thanksgiving in The Netherlands. The song also inspired Dutch citizens as they resisted the Nazis during World War II.*
Dutch immigrants brought the poem to America, where it became the traditional hymn of Thanksgiving Day.
We Gather Together**
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He fails not His own.
Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!
We all do extol Thee, Thou King of the Nation,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be.
May Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you,
with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another
with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16
* The National and Religious Song Reader: Patriotic, Traditional and Sacred Songs from Around the World by William Emmett Studwell, p. 51.
** Written by Dutch poet Adrianus Valerius in 1597, published c. 1626, and translated into English by American musicologist Theodore Baker in 1894.