Friday, December 2, 2011

St. Paul's Cathedral Choir


St. Paul's Cathedral Choir


 I hope you will be as blessed by these words and this music as much as I am. Praise God for music, which, like all things, He created to bring glory to Himself!

St. Paul's Cathedral Choir
For the Beauty of the Earth, arr. by John Rutter
Source: YouTube, of course.



For the Beauty of the Earth -
by Folliott S. Pierpoint, 1864

 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 wonder of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind's delight;
For the mystic harmony,
Linking sense to sound and sight;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

 For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child;
Friends on earth and friends above;
For all gentle thoughts and mild;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

 For Thy Church that evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

 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:
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.



Folliot Sandford Pierpoint, author of "For the Beauty of the Earth" was born in 1835 in Bath, England. He graduated from Queen's College, Cambridge University in 1857. He spent many years at Somersetshire College as a classics master. After retiring he lived in various places in the West Country. - from Songs and Hymns website.

Have a great weekend, everyone.


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12 comments:

Marti said...

Love these old hymns. They truly are a blessing.

Cranberry Morning said...

I do too, Marti, but there's something about the Rutter arrangement and those beautiful choir boy voices that makes me hear the message like it was brand new.

Under Her Wings said...

That's such a beautiful acknowledgment of our beautiful God's creation and sustaining power. And you're right; it does go right along with my post today! Love the song, the choir, and your encouragement through your blog and your long distance friendship. I thank God for you!

Denise said...

Very touching, thanks for sharing.

Heide at ApronHistory said...

Love the song. Those ruffles are too cute!

I saw The Queen's Gaurd in the back, does that mean the Queen was there somewhere?!

Joyce said...

So beautiful...we spent a Christmas Eve in St. Paul's one year. I love the cathedral choirs all around the UK.

Stacy said...

Just finished a book on Celtic spirituality in my spiritual formation class...For the Beauty of the Earth echoes that mind set and is absolutely lovely.

debbie bailey said...

This is one of my favorite songs in the world. I've had the privilege of singing it in a choir as have several of my children. We were listening to a Christmas CD sometime later, and my 13-year-old daughter said, "Is that the St. Paul choir?" I looked, and sure enough, it was! Does a mother's heart good! Thanks for spreading the beauty.

Ruth Kelly said...

I love that hymn. We sing it in our church too.

Judy S. said...

Love John Rutter's music, and this one especially. We stumbled into a vespers service at Westminster Abbey once and actually got to sit in the choir to listen. It was wonderful!

Rachel said...

Amen! Love it! I wish we sang it at my church!
:)

J_on_tour said...

Thanks for reminding us to thank God for everything that we have been given, so many natural things that we take for granted at various levels.

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