For The Beauty Of The Earth

For the beauty of the earth,

For the glory of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies:

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flower,

Sun and moon, and stars of light:

For the joy of ear and eye,

For the heart and mind’s delight,

For the mystic harmony

Linking sense to sound and sight:

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth, and friends above;

For all gentle thoughts and mild:

For Thy church, that evermore

Lifteth holy hands above,

Offering up on every shore

Her pure sacrifice of love:

For Thyself, best Gift Divine!

To our race so freely given;

For that great, great love of Thine,

Peace on earth, and joy in heaven:

FOLLIOT SANFORD PIERPOINT (1835–1917)

SINCE ROMAN TIMES the town of Bath, on the banks of the Avon River in England, has been considered one of the most beautiful spots on the British Isles. Enclosed by an amphitheater of hills and blessed with warm springs, it has been both a pleasure resort and a health spa for the ailing.

Folliot Pierpoint was born in Bath but went away to attend Cambridge University, where he became a classical scholar and taught. But when he was twenty-nine years old he returned to his hometown of Bath. The beauty of the countryside in the late spring caused his heart to well up with emotion and inspired this hymn.

Each stanza thanks God for a different kind of beauty. In its original form it was a Communion hymn of eight stanzas. Each stanza concluded with the words “Christ our God, to thee we raise this our sacrifice of praise,” alluding to Hebrews 13:15.

Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.

Hebrews 13:15