The lyrics come from a poem by Cecil Spring-Rice that he wrote in 1908 when he was working at the British Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden. At first called "Urbs Dei", or "The Two Fatherlands", the poem is about how a Christian owes his loyalties to both his homeland and the Kingdom of Heaven. The first verse, as written, had a very direct and heated patriotism that has become less popular since the First World War.