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Updated
09/03/2020 |
For All the
Saints
William Walsham How |
"For All the Saints" was written as a processional hymn
by the Anglican Bishop of Wakefield, William Walsham How. Known
as Walsham How, he was the son of a Shrewsbury solicitor, How
was educated at Shrewsbury School, Wadham College, Oxford and
University College, Durham. He was ordained in 1846, and after a
curacy at Kidderminster, began more than thirty years actively
engaged in parish work in Shropshire, as curate at the Abbey
Church in Shrewsbury in 1848. In 1851 he became Rector of
Whittington and was at one point Rural Dean of Oswestry in 1860,
then Suffragan Bishop of Bedford and in turn Bishop of
Wakefield.
It was during his period at Whittington he wrote the bulk of his
published works and founded the first public library in Oswestry.
In 1863–1868 he brought out a Commentary on the Four Gospels
and he also wrote a manual for the Holy Communion. Published by
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge during the 1890s
under the title "Holy Communion, Preparation and
Companion...together with the Collects, Epistles and Gospels"
this book was widely distributed and many copies still survive
today. In the movement for infusing new spiritual life into the
church services, especially among the poor, How was a great
force. He took a stand against what he regarded as immoral
literature and Thomas Hardy claimed that he had burned a copy of
his novel Jude the Obscure. How was much helped in his
earlier work by his wife, Frances A. Douglas (died 1887). |
In 1888 he was made the first bishop of Wakefield, and in the north of
England he continued to do valuable work. His sermons were
straightforward, earnest and attractive; and besides publishing several
volumes of these, he wrote a good deal of verse, including such
well-known hymns as Who is this so weak and helpless, Lord,
Thy children guide and keep and For All the Saints. As bishop
he consecrated many churches, including the Church of St John the
Divine, Calder Grove in 1892.
He died while on holiday in Ireland, on 10 August 1897 in Leenane,
County Mayo. Although there is a marble memorial to him in Wakefield
Cathedral, he was buried in Whittington, Shropshire, where he had been
rector for 28 years. There is also a memorial plaque to him inside the
London city church of St Helen's, Bishopsgate, bearing the line "Sweet
is the calm of Paradise the blest" from his hymn, "For all the saints".
Lyrics by
William Walsham How
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- 1. For all the saints, who
from their labours rest,
- Who Thee by faith before the
world confessed,
- Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever
blessed.
- Alleluia, Alleluia!
- 2. Thou wast their Rock, their
Fortress and their Might;
- Thou, Lord, their Captain in
the well fought fight;
- Thou, in the darkness drear,
their one true Light.
- Alleluia, Alleluia!
- 3. For the Apostles’ glorious
company,
- Who bearing forth the Cross
o’er land and sea,
- Shook all the mighty world, we
sing to Thee:
- Alleluia, Alleluia!
- 4. O may Thy soldiers,
faithful, true and bold,
- Fight as the saints who nobly
fought of old,
- And win with them the victor’s
crown of gold.
- Alleluia, Alleluia!
- 5. For the Evangelists, by
whose blest word,
- Like fourfold streams, the
garden of the Lord,
- Is fair and fruitful, be Thy
Name adored.
- Alleluia, Alleluia!
- 6. For Martyrs, who with
rapture kindled eye,
- Saw the bright crown
descending from the sky,
- And seeing, grasped it, Thee
we glorify.
- Alleluia, Alleluia!
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- 7. O blest communion,
fellowship divine!
- We feebly struggle, they in
glory shine;
- Yet all are one in Thee, for
all are Thine.
- Alleluia, Alleluia!
- 8. And when the strife is
fierce, the warfare long,
- Steals on the ear the distant
triumph song,
- And hearts are brave, again,
and arms are strong.
- Alleluia, Alleluia!
- 9. The golden evening
brightens in the west;
- Soon, soon to faithful
warriors comes their rest;
- Sweet is the calm of paradise
the blessed.
- Alleluia, Alleluia!
- 10. But lo! there breaks a yet
more glorious day;
- The saints triumphant rise in
bright array;
- The King of glory passes on
His way.
- Alleluia, Alleluia!
- 11. From earth’s wide bounds,
from ocean’s farthest coast,
- Through gates of pearl streams
in the countless host,
- Singing to Father, Son and
Holy Ghost:
- Alleluia, Alleluia!
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