All Things Bright and Beautiful

Autumn, in much of the United States and Canada, immerses us in brilliantly colored leaves and flowers, cool breezes, and spicy fragrances. The summer haze has given way to stunning sunsets and crystal clear nights, and a new arrangement of stars is unfolding in the sky. Geese begin their annual migration south, while squirrels, deer, and many other animals are moving about, eating all they can, and getting ready for the coming of winter. As in springtime, we thrill again to the wonder and beauty of God's creation.

There are many people who can see and even appreciate this magnificent thing we call Creation, but can't bring themselves to acknowledge that it had a Creator. They believe that it all came from nothing and resulted by pure accident. Could the Pieta have sculpted itself?  Did the Mona Lisa really spring forth from random molecular collisions?  Creation is infinitely more vast, complex, and compelling than these works, as wondrous as they are; how could it have been brought into being without a Mind to so masterfully organize all that matter and space, and the intricate laws that govern them?

Scripture only declares what we should already know by observation and insight: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork."  (Psalm 19:1) As St. Paul observed, "[t]he invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse . . ."  (Romans 1:20)  When we pause to reflect on these profound truths, we're apt to say with the Psalmist: "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (Psalm 8:3)

Children seem to intuitively understand the divine authorship of Creation, and are awed--yet comfortable--with it. Perhaps this was part of the insight behind one of the sweetest Christian hymns, All Things Bright and Beautiful.

THE TEXT AND ITS LEGACY

Cecil Frances Alexander

The text was written in 1848 by English writer and poet Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895), the wife of Anglican clergyman William Alexander, who later became Primate of All Ireland. It has been said that Mrs. Alexander was inspired to write this hymn when trying, with difficulty, to teach a group of children the meaning of the Apostles' Creed. When traditional teaching methods failed, she decided to write a series of hymns based on selected passages in the Creed.  She developed All Things Bright and Beautiful from the phrase, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth."  That may be more abstract than the typical child can appreciate, but the text of the hymn expresses this fundamental truth in terms familiar to a child's (as well as an adult's) experience and interest. Here are the original words (today, due to its seeming endorsement of the class system, the stanza referring to "the rich man in his castle" is generally omitted):

Refrain

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

Refrain

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.

Refrain

The purple headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.

Refrain

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.

Refrain

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day.

Refrain

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

Refrain

This hymn celebrates the wonders of Nature that fascinate children and adults alike: flowers, birds, mountains, rivers, trees, meadows, sunshine, sunsets, wind. But its central teaching is that "The Lord God made them all"--and made them well!

Mrs. Alexander wrote more hymns to illustrate other elements of the Apostles' Creed, including Once in Royal David's City, and There Is a Green Hill Far Away. She published these and others in a collection entitled Hymns for Little Children in 1848.  It was enormously successful and went through 69 editions during her lifetime and 100 editions altogether. Mrs. Alexander donated the profits from Hymns for Little Children to a school for the deaf, adding to her other endeavors supporting a ministry to unwed mothers and establishing a district nursing service.

It has also been suggested that All Things Bright and Beautiful may have been inspired by a verse from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: "He prayeth best, who loveth best; All things great and small; For the dear God who loveth us; He made and loveth all." (the verse appears in the graphic at right)

Llanwenarth House

The place of the hymn's composition also figures in its story. It has been claimed that Mrs. Alexander wrote All Things Bright and Beautiful while staying at Llanwenarth House in Govilon, in the Usk valley of Monmouthshire, Wales.  In this connection, the refrain "the purple headed mountains, the river running by," may refer to the Sugar Loaf and Blorenge mountains and the River Usk (interestingly, Llanwenarth House was sold in 2012). The place of composing the hymn's text has also been attributed to Markree Castle in County Sligo, Ireland, and to Mineheadand the nearby village of Dunster in Somerset, England.

Along the River Usk

While Mrs. Alexander's hymn continued to be widely sung through the years since its publication, it gained greater notoriety when English veterinarian James Herriot, at the suggestion of his young daughter, named his first book All Creatures Great and Small, after a phrase in the hymn's refrain. He later wrote three more books named after the other three lines of the refrain: All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Things Wise and Wonderful, and The Lord God Made Them All. These best-sellers inspired a movie as well as a long-running BBC television series.

THE MUSIC

William H. Monk

All Things Bright and Beautiful has been matched with several melodies over the years. The earliest (1887), and my favorite, is BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL by English organist, church musician, and music editor William Henry Monk (1823–1889) (who also composed the tune "Eventide" used for the hymn "Abide with Me").  This tune is set forth below (only the music to the refrain and first stanza is presented here; I couldn't find a complete rendering of the text and music):

Martin F. Shaw

At least as popular today, especially in Great Britain, is the 17th-century English melody ROYAL OAK as adapted and arranged in 1915 by English composer Martin F. Shaw (1875-1958).  The original tune takes its name from a tree at Boscobel, Shropshire, England, in which King Charles II hid during the Battle of Worcester in 1651), which concluded the English Civil War. Here is the music to Mr. Shaw's arrangement:

Also quite popular today, at least outside church services, is a full choral arrangement by contemporary English composer and conductor John Rutter (b. 1945).

REFLECTIONS ON THE HYMN

While All Things Bright and Beautiful may have been written specifically for children, in a way that appeals to their natural curiosity and sense of wonder, it affirms some of the most profound truths of being--truths that even adults tend to forget, lost as we become in the murk of worldly distraction and self-absorption.

The Book of Genesis in the Old Testament teaches that God created the heavens and the stars, sun and moon; the seas with all its creatures; the earth and all its flora and fruit; the birds and animals; and finally, the pinnacle of His Creation, Man (and Woman!). He saw that they were all very good, and enjoined them to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." (Genesis 1:1-1:31)  That God created this magnificent universe is declared joyfully in the New Testament as well as the Old (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11).  We learn that He cares for us and for all creatures and elements of His Creation, the small and the great--and especially for us, His children: "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26)

Attitudes of wonder, humility, thankfulness, and joy need to be cultivated from the earliest age, if children are to grow into spiritually healthy and happy adults. Appealing, instructive hymns like All Things Bright and Beautiful serve that purpose well.

VIDEO PRESENTATIONS

The following rendition of All Things Bright and Beautiful is by an unidentified chorus singing William H. Monk's tune "Bright and Beautiful," accompanied by a charming video.



Martin F. Shaw's arrangement of "Royal Oak" is the tune sung by another unidentified choir in the following video; both the visual and musical experiences here are matchless:



Featured in the following video--another gem--is John Rutter's arrangement of All Things Bright and Beautiful. The choir is not identified, but I believe it is The Cambridge Singers:

* * * * *

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them. ~ Isaiah 11:6

This Is My Father's World

It's mid-October here in western New York, All around us abound the wonder, glory, and bounty of God's creation. Reveling in its beauty is a special privilege of living here, for the countryside and forest are never very far away.

So it was for a young Presbyterian minister in the 1880s named Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858 – 1901). While pastoring at a church in Lockport, New York, a small town on the Erie Canal a few miles northeast of Niagara Falls, Babcock liked to hike along the Niagara Escarpment, an ancient ridge in the vicinity that had (and still has) a marvelous view of farms, orchards, and Lake Ontario in the far distance. He would tell his wife as he left home that he was "going out to see the Father's world."

Niagara Escarpment in New York

Born and raised in Syracuse, New York, graduated in 1879 from Syracuse University and in 1882 from Auburn Theological Seminary with a degree in divinity, Maltbie Babcock went on to see much more of the Father's world than the environs of Lockport. He served from 1887 to 1900 as senior minister of the prestigious Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland, attaining great distinction there, and was then called to the Brick Church of New York City in 1900. Later that year Babcock went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land by ship, a special gift presented by his church. While en route back to Italy, he contracted a fever and died at the International Hospital in Naples in May, 1901. He is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse.

Shortly after his death Babcock's wife published a compilation of his writings entitled Thoughts for Every-Day Living that contained the poem "My Father's World." This became the basis for one of the sweetest pieces in hymnody, This Is My Father's World. The tune for the text was arranged from an old English melody by one of Babcock's close friends, Franklin L. Sheppard, an accomplished musician. It was first included in Alleluia, a Presbyterian Sunday School book published in 1915. The tune name, "Terra Beata," means "blessed earth" in Latin.

No tune has ever been more aptly married to text. This Is My Father's World is a joyous musical expression of the marvelous truth that "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." (Psalms 19:1) And again: "Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains." (Psalms 147:7,8) And especially: "The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them." (Psalms 89:11)

The hymn was originally published in six stanzas, but today only first three are usually sung. Here are the simple, inspiring words:

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

This is my Father’s world, dreaming, I see His face.
I ope my eyes, and in glad surprise cry, “The Lord is in this place.”
This is my Father’s world, from the shining courts above,
The Beloved One, His Only Son,
Came—a pledge of deathless love.

This is my Father’s world, should my heart be ever sad?
The lord is King—let the heavens ring. God reigns—let the earth be glad.
This is my Father’s world. Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.
No place but is holy ground.

This is my Father’s world. I walk a desert lone.
In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze God makes His glory known.
This is my Father’s world, a wanderer I may roam
Whate’er my lot, it matters not,
My heart is still at home.

This hymn means much to me, not only because of its many connections to the area where I grew up and now live (Lockport is about 15 miles from my childhood home and about 35 from where I live now), but because of the precious truths which it affirms. The worldly "wisdom" of today tells us that there was no divine Hand behind the wonder of Creation; that it, and we, are nothing but the accidental products of random molecular collisions and combinations, the sum total of which, across the ages and the far reaches of space, have no meaning or purpose. No explanation is offered for how all the intricate, elegant laws governing the universe and everything in it, from galaxies to subatomic particles--and which we are still only beginning to discover--came to be. We hear that random change, environmental adaptation, and some inchoate urge to survive, the underpinnings of the theory of evolution, govern all nature. But no satisfactory accounting is given for the phenomena of laughter, delight, remorse, or selfless devotion. We are invited to celebrate the marvelous works of the human mind, ingenuity, and labor, but the rubble of the last few centuries alone teach us what happens when man usurps and exploits God's place in the world for his own selfish ends, or tries to banish Him from the world altogether.

The Holy Spirit and the scriptures tell the believer a different and far more hopeful story: that there is an all-powerful yet loving God, who is deeply involved in His Creation and with every creature in it:

Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.

He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.

He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works. He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 104)

Perhaps with this beautiful passage resonating in his mind, it's no wonder that Maltbie Babcock was moved to celebrate the wonder of our Father's World!

Here is a moving solo rendition of This Is My Father's World, sung by the outstanding Christian musician Fernando Ortega:



With its simple phraseology and affecting tune, the hymn is also ideal for singing by children:



As life's great and small trials test our faith, let us remember the loving Lord who is dramatically alive in this world, and that it is His, always!