Stripe-tailed Hummingbird (Eupherusa eximia) Female by Raymond Barlow

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. (Psalms 19:1 KJV)

Words by Henry Ware Jr. (1794-1843), 1822

Music – Bethlehem by Gottfried W. Fink (1783-1846)

All Nature’s Works His Praise Declare

All nature’s works His praise declare, to whom they all belong;
There is a voice in every star, in every breeze a song.
Sweet music fills the world abroad with strains of love and power;
The stormy sea sings praise to God, the thunder and the shower.

To God the tribes of ocean cry, and birds upon the wing;
To God the powers that dwell on high their tuneful tribute bring.
Like them, let us the throne surround, with them loud chorus raise,
While instruments of loftier sound assist our feeble praise.

Great God, to Thee we consecrate our voices and our skill;
We bid the pealing organ wait to speak alone Thy will.
Lord, while the music round us floats may earth born passions die;
O grant its rich and swelling notes may lift our souls on high!

Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights. (Psalms 148:1 KJV)

Henry Ware, Jr was born Ap­ril 21, 1794 in Hing­ham, Mass­a­chu­setts, Died on Sep­tem­ber 25, 1843 in Fram­ing­ham, Mass­a­chu­setts and was buried in Mount Au­burn Cem­e­te­ry, Cam­bridge, Mass­a­chu­setts.

Son of a Un­i­tar­i­an min­is­ter, Ware at­tend­ed Har­vard and be­came an as­sist­ant teach­er at Ex­e­ter Acad­e­my in New Hamp­shire. In 1815, the Bos­ton Un­i­tar­i­an As­so­ci­a­tion li­censed him to preach, and in 1817, he was or­dained and be­came pas­tor of the Se­cond Church in Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts. He was Pro­fess­or of Pul­pit El­o­quence and Pas­tor­al Care at the Har­vard Div­in­i­ty School, 1829-1842. He al­so ed­it­ed the Christ­ian Di­sci­ple (lat­er re­named the Christ­ian Ex­amin­er), and ran the So­ci­e­ty for Re­li­gious Im­prove­ment at Har­vard Un­i­ver­si­ty (his fa­ther was on the fa­cul­ty there, as well). A two vol­ume Mem­oir and a four vol­ume Works were pub­lished three years af­ter his death. Ware wrote this hymn for a ser­vice ded­i­cat­ing a new or­gan (see the last stan­za).

Gottfried W. Fink was born onMarch 8, 1783, Sul­za on the Ilm, Thu­rin­gia and died on Au­gust 27, 1846, Leip­zig, Ger­ma­ny.

Fink sang as a chor­is­ter at Naum­burg, and stu­died the­ol­o­gy at Leip­zig (1804-8). He be­came a Pro­fess­or of Mu­sic at Leip­zig in 1842. He is re­mem­bered for his writ­ings on mu­sic his­to­ry and the­o­ry, and his col­lect­ions of se­cu­lar and re­li­gious songs.

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