Martin Rinckart (1586-1649) was an accomplished musician who studied at the University of Leipzig and then spent most of his career as a musician and archdeacon in the city of Eilenburg. Germany during the Thirty Years’ War. British Hymnologist J.R. Watson accounts that as one of the last surviving ministers in the city, Rinckart had to stretch personal resources to take care of refugees and spend most of his time performing nearly fifty funerals per day at the height of the plague. This experience during the Thirty Years’ War had a profound impact on Rinckart’s poetry, just as it did for his hymnwriter contemporaries. Lutheran scholar Carl Schalk observes that the “cross and comfort” hymnody of the time reflected life situations of the people with greater metrical regularity, smoother language, and a theology relatable to everyday life. For someone in Rinckart’s dire situation, this expression of abundant gratitude is fitting for a man who lived in constant fear of starvation, the plague, and invading armies¹.

Now thank we all our God
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom his world rejoices;
who from our mothers’ arms
has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us,
to keep us in his grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills
of this world in the next.

All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given,
the Son and Spirit blest,
who reign in highest heaven
the one eternal God,
whom heaven and earth adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.

¹umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-now-thank-we-all-our-god

This wonderful hymn was sent through as a suggestion on the contact page, and for good reason. This is My Father’s World” was written by Maltbie Davenport Babcock and was published after his death in 1901. It was originally written as a poem containing sixteen verses of four lines each. Franklin L. Sheppard set the poem to music in 1915 and selected three verses for the final hymn. Babcock, who was a minister from Lockport, New York, would often take walks overlooking a cliff, where he would enjoy the view of beautiful Lake Ontario and the upstate New York scenery. As he prepared to leave for his walks he would often tell his wife that he was “going out to see my Father’s world.”¹ Don’t forgot you too can suggest a hymn for me to post via the “Suggest A Hymn Page”!.

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:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let earth be glad!

¹thetabernaclechoir.org/articles/this-is-my-fathers-world.html#:~:text=Babcock%2C%20who%20was%20a%20minister,to%20see%20my%20Father’s%20world.%E2%80%9D

What better way to start the year than with a hymn of praise? The text, based on Psalm 136, was written by Isaac Watts (1674-1748). It is thought to be the best of his three paraphrases of the Psalm published in his 1719 work The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. Many tunes have been used with it, notably one (Warrington) by Ralph Harrison that in our books is most commonly associated with Henry F. Lyte’s “Sweet Is the Solemn Voice That Calls.” Another one that fits well with it was composed by Herbert Sidney Oakeley, who was born on July 22, 1830, at Ealing in Middlesex, near London, England, the son of a Anglican minister named Herbert Oakeley¹.

Give to our God immortal praise;
mercy and truth are all his ways:
wonders of grace to God belong;
repeat his mercies in your song.

Give to the Lord of lords renown;
the King of kings with glory crown:
his mercies ever shall endure,
when lords and kings are known no more.

He built the earth, he spread the sky,
and fixed the starry lights on high:
wonders of grace to God belong;
repeat his mercies in your song.

He fills the sun with morning light;
he bids the moon direct the night:
his mercies ever shall endure,
when suns and moons shall shine no more.

He sent his Son with pow’r to save
from guilt and darkness and the grave:
wonders of grace to God belong;
repeat his mercies in your song.

Through this vain world he guides our feet,
and leads us to his heav’nly seat:
his mercies ever shall endure,
when this vain world shall be no more.

¹https://hymnstudiesblog.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/quotgive-to-our-god-immortal-praisequot/

The author of this hymn, Joachim Neander, was born in Bremen, Germany in 1650. In his early years, he lived a lusty, immoral life. Then he and a group of friends decided to attend a service conducted by a visiting preacher, Pastor Under-Eyke, and Neander was quickly converted. In his mid-20s, Neander became director of the Latin School of Dusseldorf, where he served for several years. He experienced considerable opposition there because of his pietism, and was eventually dismissed from that position. He then suffered declining health, and died at age 30. Neander’s life was tragic in the classic sense—a life of great potential cut short by an untimely death. However, he wrote 60 hymns—most during his tenure at the Latin School. Most are hymns of joyful praise, even though they were written at a time when Neander was living under considerable stress. “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” is based on Psalms 103 and 150. It was inspired not only by those psalms but also by the beauty of the hills and rivers that Neander experienced on his walks through the German countryside¹. As you can imagine there are lots of versions! Below are some of my favourite.

Praise to the Lord! the Almighty,
The King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him,
For He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear,
Now to His temple draw near,
Join me in glad adoration!

Praise to the Lord! Who o’er
All things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings,
Yea, so gently sustaineth:
Hast thou not seen,
How thy desires have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord! Who doth prosper
Thy work, and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy
Here daily attend thee;
Ponder anew,
What the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee!

Praise to the Lord! Oh let all that is
In me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath,
Come now with praises before Him!
Let the Amen,
Sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him!

¹sermonwriter.com/hymns/hymn-stories/praise-lordthe-almighty/

[I’m aware of a formatting issue when reading the posts via email. This is a bug on WordPress’ end and we’re working to get this fixed. Hopefully it doesn’t stop you enjoying these wonderful hymns!]

I discovered this hymn through Sovereign Grace’s recording during the T4G conference. The original hymn was written by Venantius Fortunatus, who in 599, became the bishop of Abbey of St. Croix in Poitiers, France. It was then paraphrased by Anglican minister Richard Mant in 1837, then updated and popularised by modern hymn writer Matt Merker in 2014.

See the destined day arise!
See a willing sacrifice!
Jesus, to redeem our loss,
Hangs upon the shameful cross;
Jesus, who but You could bear
Wrath so great and justice fair?
Every pang and bitter throe,
Finishing Your life of woe?

Refrain
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Lamb of God for sinners slain!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Jesus Christ, we praise Your name!

Who but Christ had dared to drain,
Steeped in gall, the cup of pain
And with tender body bear
Thorns and nails and piercing spear?
Slain for us, the water flowed,
Mingled from Your side with blood;
Sign to all attesting eyes
Of the finished sacrifice.

Refrain

Holy Jesus, grant us grace
In that sacrifice to place
All our trust for life renewed,
Pardoned sin, and promised good.
Grant us grace to sing Your praise
‘Round Your throne through endless days,
Ever with the sons of light:
“Blessing, honour, glory, might!”

Refrain

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” was written as a loose summary of Psalms 103 and 150 by Joachim Neander in 1680. He became the first significant hymn-writer in the German Reformed Church, writing 60 hymns. Most of his hymns were written during his time as a hermit living in the Neander Valley. “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” was published the same year in which he died of tuberculosis at the young age of 30¹. This hymn is one I often find myself humming and is one of my favourites.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,
the King of creation;
O my soul, praise Him,
For He is thy health and salvation.
All ye who hear,
Now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord,
Who o’er all things
So wondrously reigneth;
Shelters thee under His wings,
Yea, so gently sustaineth.
Hast thou not seen,
How thy desires have been,
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord,
Who doth prosper
Thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy
Here daily attend thee;
Ponder anew,
What the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord,
O let all that is in me adore Him;
All that hath life and breath,
Come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen
Sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him

¹christcovenant.church/thecovenanterblog/2019/3/11/praise-to-the-lord-the-almighty

Philip Bliss was born in 1838 to a father who loved both God and music. At the age of 22 he became an itinerant music teacher and travelled from community to community on horse back carrying a small accordion. When he was 29 he met evangelist D.L. Moody who encouraged him to become a music evangelist. He wrote dozens of hymns, including “It Is Well With My Soul”. Him and his wife tragically died when their train was crossing a bridge and collapsed, plunging the train into the river. Of this hymn, Iras Sankey, soloist of the Moody Crusades, wrote: “A few weeks before his death, Mr Bliss visited the Station prison in Michigan where after a very touching address on “The Man of Sorrows” he sung this hymn. Many prisoners dated their conversion to that day. Later, when Mr Moody and I were in Paris holding meetings, I frequently sang this hymn solo, asking the congregation to join in the single phrase “Hallelujah, what a Saviour” as “Hallelujah” is the same in all languages”¹.

Man of sorrows, what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim
Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude
In my place condemned he stood
Sealed my pardon with his blood
Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

Guilty, helpless, lost were we
Blameless Lamb of God was he
Sacrificed to set us free
Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

He was lifted up to die
“It is finished” was his cry
Now in heaven exalted high
Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

When he comes, our glorious King
All his ransomed home to bring
Then anew this song we’ll sing
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah

¹ page 70 – Leeman, D. and Leeman, B., 2022. Our Hymns, Our Heritage: A Student Guide to Songs of the Church

An original 16th Century Scottish tune during the time of the scattering of the Scots to American colonies, Dustine Kensrue wrote the words whilst flying to Seattle from Orange County. The idea is that—especially at the beginning of the new year—we would dedicate all our efforts to bringing glory to Jesus Christ, to acknowledge that anything else would be of no value, and to celebrate our redemption in him¹.

Should nothing of our efforts stand
No legacy survive
Unless the Lord does raise the house
In vain its builders striveTo you who boast tomorrow’s gain
Tell me what is your life
A mist that vanishes at dawn
All glory be to Christ!

Refrain
All glory be to Christ our king!
All glory be to Christ!
His rule and reign we’ll ever sing,
All glory be to Christ!

His will be done
His kingdom come
On earth as is above
Who is Himself our daily bread
Praise Him the Lord of love

Let living water satisfy
The thirsty without price
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet
All glory be to Christ!

Refrain

When on the day the great I Am
The faithful and the true
The Lamb who was for sinners slain
Is making all things new.

Behold our God shall live with us
And be our steadfast light
And we shall ere his people be
All glory be to Christ!

Refrain

¹genius.com/Kings-mhm-all-glory-be-to-christ-lyrics