This Is My Father's World

"This is My Father's World" is to the tune of an old English Melody known as "Terra Beata" which means "Blessed Earth" or "Happy Earth." The tune was written and the hymn arranged by Franklin L. Sheppard for his "Alleluia" back in 1915.

The lyrics were written by Maltbie D. Babcock, a New York Minister back in 1901. Babcock at­tend­ed Syr­a­cuse Un­i­ver­si­ty and Au­burn The­o­log­ic­al Sem­in­ary. He ranked high as a stu­dent and par­ti­ci­pat­ed in both ath­let­ic and mu­sic­al ac­ti­vi­ties. Tall, broad shoul­dered, and mus­cu­lar, he was pre­s­ident of the base­ball team, an ex­pert pitch­er, and a good swim­mer. He played sev­er­al mu­si­cal in­stru­ments, di­rect­ed the school or­ches­tra, and played the or­gan and com­posed for it. He was a sing­er and lead­er of the glee club. He could do im­per­so­na­tions, was clev­er at draw­ing, and had a knack with tools. He was al­so an av­id fish­er­man. He might have become a pro­fes­sion­al mu­si­cian had he not chos­en the min­is­try.

His first pas­to­rate was at the First Pres­by­te­r­ian Church, Lock­port, New York. In 1886, he was called to Brown Me­mor­i­al Church, Bal­ti­more, Mar­y­land, where he of­ten coun­seled stu­dents at Johns Hop­kins Un­i­ver­si­ty. As his fame spread, he was asked to preach at col­leg­es all over Amer­i­ca. Bab­cock was not a great the­o­lo­gian or deep think­er, but had a tal­ent for pre­sent­ing spir­it­ua­l and eth­ic­al truths with fresh­ness and ef­fect. In do­ing this, he was aid­ed by his agile mind, wide range of knowledge, dra­ma­tic abil­i­ty, speech flu­en­cy, and mag­ne­tic per­son­al­i­ty.

While a pas­tor in Lock­port, New York, Bab­cock liked to hike in an ar­ea called the es­carp­ment, an an­cient up­thrust ledge near Lock­port. It has a mar­vel­ous view of farms, or­chards, and Lake On­tar­io, about 15 miles dis­tant. It is said those walks in the woods in­spired these lyr­ics. The ti­tle re­calls an ex­press­ion Bab­cock used when start­ing a walk: Im go­ing out to see my Fa­thers world.

Af­ter al­most 14 years in Bal­ti­more, Bab­cock was called to the pres­ti­gious pas­tor­ate of the Brick Pres­by­ter­i­an Church in New York Ci­ty, to fill the va­can­cy left by the re­tire­ment of Hen­ry Van Dyke. Babcock had been there on­ly 18 months when he made a trip to the Ho­ly Land. While over­seas, he died of bru­cel­losis.

Though Bab­cock pub­lished no­thing dur­ing his life, his wife Cath­er­ine col­lect­ed and pub­lished ma­ny of his writ­ings af­ter his un­time­ly death. A vol­ume of his po­ems con­tained This Is My Fathers World. Bab­cock, of course, nev­er heard his fa­mous hymn sung.

"This is My Father's World" was liberally borrowed from for the theatrical version of The Lord Of The Rings. Particularly the Shire themes that focused on a peaceful countryside land of the Hobbits. It's no wonder though. The land of Halflings and the lyrics of this remarkable hymn draw striking parallels.

Soli Deo Gloria

Lyrics:

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

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

This is my Fathers world. O let me neer forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Fathers world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heavn be one.

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

This is my Fathers 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 Fathers world. Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.
No place but is holy ground.

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

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[jimandmarsha]

God bless you, brother. In the rustling grass I hear Him pass. He speaks to me everywhere. I love this hymn. It reminds us of God's glorious creation. Men are so foolish when they allow their minds to believe that the universe and all of its wonder have come to be by accident. How can you look at the beauty and complexity of every living creature and not know that there is a Creator? This IS my Father's world... and I know it's YOUR Father's world too. In Christ's love, pastor Jim.

[WarrenTheApeFTW]

A like, for the poster to the left of your head(:

[12twilightismylife]

Wonderful

[brianswifejamie]

Just wanted to let you know that I've been blessed by this song and the way that you sing it is just wonderful!!!! Thank you for sharing it with me and the world. Blessings to you and your family!!!