Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) Neal Addy Gallery

And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. (Isaiah 6:3 KJV)

Words by Ann T. Gilbert (1782-1852), 1827 (orig­in­al­ly, “Spared to Ano­ther Spring”).

This hymn ap­peared, un­at­trib­ut­ed, in the Amer­i­can School Hymn Book, by Asa Fitz, 1854, and is some­times in­cor­rect­ly ascribed to Fitz. The ver­sion be­low was pub­lished in the 1882 Col­lect­ion by God­frey Thring.

Music: Swabia by Johann M. Spiess (1715-1772) – ar­ranged by Will­iam H. Ha­ver­gal, 1847

Great Giver of All Good

Great Giver of All Good,
To Thee our thanks we yield
For all the beauties of the wood,
Of hill, and dale, and field.

Ten thousand various flowers
To Thee sweet offerings bear,
And joyous birds in woodlands bowers
Sing forth Thy tender care.

The fields on every side
The trees on every hill,
The glorious sun, the rolling tide,
Proclaim Thy wonders still.

But trees, and fields, and skies
Still praise a God unknown;
For gratitude and love can rise
From living hearts alone.

These living hearts of ours
Thy holy Name would bless;
The blossoms of the thousand flowers
Would please the Savior less.

While earth itself decays,
Our souls can never die;
O tune them all to sing Thy praise
In better songs on high.

By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. (Psalms 104:12 KJV)

Ann T. Gilbert was the daugh­ter of Isaac Tay­lor, who at the time of her birth was a Lon­don engraver. Her father sub­se­quent­ly be­came a Con­gre­ga­tion­al min­is­ter, liv­ing first at Col­ches­ter, then at On­gar. In 1813, she mar­ried the Rev. Jo­seph Gilbert, class­ic­al and math­e­ma­ti­cal tu­tor at the Con­gre­ga­tion­al Col­lege, Mas­bo­rough (near Roth­er­ham), York­shire. From Mas­bo­rough they moved to Hull, and lat­er Not­ting­ham.

Johann M. Spiess taught mu­sic at the Gym­na­si­um in Hei­del­berg, Ger­ma­ny, and played the or­gan at St. Pe­ter’s Church and (1746-1772) at Berne Ca­thed­ral.

More Birds in Hymns

Most information from The Cyber Hymnal – Great Giver of All Good