Jan 14, 2023

Foliot Sandford Pierpont

It was a spectacular spring day in 1863. Foliot Sandford Pierpoint (1835-1917) sat on a hillside overlooking his native city of Bath, England. Flowers were in full bloom and the winding Avon River added to the bucolic scene. A poem began to take shape in the mind of this twenty-nine-year-old. By the end of the afternoon, it was fully formed. You may know it by its opening line, “For the beauty of the earth,” a hymn sung today by young and old alike.

Most hymnbooks include five stanzas of his original eight-stanza song. The hymn expresses a litany of thanksgiving for nature (verses 1-2), physical senses (verse 3), human love (verse 4) and God’s gift in Jesus Christ (verse 5). Foliot intended the hymn to accompany the Lord’s Supper, as expressed in the original refrain, “Christ, our God, to thee we raise, this our sacrifice of praise.” “Sacrifice of Praise’ was its initial title in an 1864 hymnbook and plays off a verse from Hebrews 13.5, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” As the hymn became popular, an alternate refrain was substituted for broader use in worship, “Lord, of all, to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise.”

C. S. Lewis had this to say about praise in Reflection on the Psalms, “We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”

What a great prayer hymn to usher us into praise today:

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 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 thyself, best gift divine
to the world 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.

Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.