"For the Beauty of the Earth" is a Christian hymn by Folliott S. Pierpoint. Pierpoint was 29 at the time he wrote this hymn; he was mesmerized by the beauty of the countryside that surrounded him. It first appeared in 1864 in a book of Eucharistic Hymns and Poems entitled "Lyra Eucharistica, Hymns and Verses on The Holy Communion, Ancient and Modern, with other Poems." It was written as a Eucharistic hymn - hence the title of "The Sacrifice of Praise", the refrain "Christ, our God, to Thee we raise, This, our sacrifice of praise", and as is seen throughout the original text of 1864, especially the last two lines which had replaced the Refrain in verse 8. This is how it appears in the 'English Hymnal' of 1933, with the two exceptions, that Pierpoint's last two lines which had replaced the Refrain after verse 8, were omitted and the Refrain sung instead, and the first two words of the last line in verse "sinking sense", in common with all other hymnbooks was modified to "linking sense". The text was more radically modified by the publishers of "Hymns Ancient and Modern" for the 1916 Hymnbook, so it could serve as a general hymn. The tune most widely used for this hymn is the same tune used for William Chatterton Dix's "As with Gladness Men of Old," a Christmas carol composed five years prior but not released publicly until three years after Pierpont. Recently, one of the most popular tunes to which this hymn is sung is Lucerna Laudoniæ by David Evans . This is the set tune, for example, in The Hymnal 1982 of the Protestant Episcopal Church and Australia's 1999 Together in Song, the first set tune in the Church of Ireland's 2000 Church Hymnal and the Church of Scotland's 2005 Church Hymnary 4th Edition, and the second set tune in England's 2000 Common Praise. Other tunes used are: "Warden" by James Turle - as appeared in the 1916 Hymns A&M Standard, and England’s Lane by Geoffrey Turton Shaw as it appeared in the English Hymnal.
Hymn text
NOTE: Some versions of the hymn used by different Christian denominations omit some verses and change the phrase "Christ, our God, to Thee we raise this our sacrifice of praise" to "Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise"., or "Lord of all, to thee we raise This our grateful psalm of praise", or "Father, unto thee we raise This our sacrifice of praise". More recent alternatives include "Holy God, to thee we raise This our sacrifice of praise", "God creative, here we raise This our offering of praise", and "Holy Spirit, all our days, We would offer songs of praise".
Settings
English composer John Rutter's composition for SATB, SA, or TTBB choir with piano/organ or orchestra accompaniment is a widely performed choral setting of this text. Other settings include those by Andrew Carter and Philip Stopford. Along with such hymns as "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" and "We Gather Together", this is a hymn that is often sung during the Thanksgiving holiday period in many churches in America. This hymn was sung in the 1994 Columbia Pictures version of Little Women. It is performed on the Thomas Kinkade 2000 album Music of Light.
