Rocks, Trees, Skies, Seas
If you attended the May 22nd service, you heard Sarah introduce a character with the extraordinary name of Maltbie Davenport Babcock.
For those who missed it, Babcock was a noted minister and author of the 19th century. Born in 1858 in Syracuse, New York, he received his degree in theology in 1882. He was described by contemporaries as having "an unusually brilliant intellect and stirring oratorical powers that commanded admiration, [and] won for him a foremost place among the favorites of his denomination".
While pastoring at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland, he was acclaimed for his oratory and use of colorful metaphors in his sermons. He also led a fund-raising effort to assist Jewish refugees from Russia who were victims of an anti-Jewish pogrom in the 1880s. Babcock was honored by a Doctor of Divinity degree from Syracuse University in 1896. (Source: Wikipedia)
Throughout his life, Babcock would go out for walks in nature, telling his wife he was "going out to see the Father's world" – and now we come to the reason his name came up during the SouthWest service. Babcock wrote several poems and hymns, which were only published after his death. The most well-known is titled, This is My Father’s World.
In the present day United church, we know it under a slightly different title, This is God’s Wondrous World. Otherwise, the words, full of images of the natural world, are the same. Sarah submitted that there was nothing wrong with the original first line and proceeded to lead the choir and congregation in singing them as Maltbie Davenport Babcock intended!
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 the earth be glad!
Incidentally, these original lyrics appear in the old Crawford Park hymnary which we mentioned two weeks ago.
Maltbie Davenport Babcock died in Naples in 1901 at only 42 years of age. He was returning from the Holy Land where it seems he had contracted a bacterial infection.
