Thankful This Is My Father's World
On this Thanksgiving Day, 2023, I’ll share a story about one of my favorite hymns.
American Presbyterian pastor Maltbie Babcock (1858–1901) loved the outdoors.
He had been a champion baseball pitcher and accomplished swimmer at Syracuse University before entering the ministry.
Pastoring the Presbyterian Church in Lockport, New York, Maltbie often walked to the Niagara Escarpment.
The scenic views of Lake Ontario and Niagara Falls were inspiring.
Whenever he left his house for his nature walks, he would tell his wife, Katherine:
“I am going out to see my Father’s world."
On one of these walks, Maltbie felt some poetic words come to his mind about "my Father's world" and what the “rocks and trees, skies and seas" could teach of God's glory.
We know Malbie’s words as the hymn “This Is My Father’s World.”
The Rest of the Story
In the early spring of 1901, Maltbie took a ship to British Mandate Palestine for a tour of the land of Israel.
On the return trip home, Maltbie came down with a severe case of Brucellosis, a virulent disease acquired from infected milk or meat. The disease can cause a person to enter maniacal fever accompanied by extreme depression and mental hallucinations.
Maltbie Babcock was taken to a hospital in Naples, France, from the ship returning to America from Israel. After several days in the hospital, suffering a debilitating disease that often requires months for recovery, Maltbie Babcock slit his wrists and drank mercury, resulting in his death at age 41.
Katherine Babcock wanted the world to know that a vicious disease may have taken the song in her husband’s heart, but his life had been filled with joyous faith, hope, and love.
At his memorial service in New York City, a fellow pastor said:
"We do not need a candle to show a sunbeam...The work our brother Maltbie Babcock has done — the life he lived speaks for him.”
Timothy Jones, a Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church member where Maltbie Babcock preached for thirteen years, had this to say about his pastor.
What he was as a preacher, the Christian world knows. What he was as a man, our hearts speak. His great success as a preacher was due to his striking and Christ-like personality. He was always interesting and helpful because he was always interested in the subject he presented and incarnated in his life deeds. The notable quality of his mind was its lucidity-always reasonable, always sound, earnest yet tactful. Its vivacity and freshness charmed, while its sincerity commanded attention. A standard-bearer has fallen, and the place cannot be filled. His consistent walk, his deep humility, his strong faith, his brightness, kindness, and courtesy, all showed the manner of man that he was. He walked with the Master. His was the "maximum life for the King."
One year after her husband’s death, Katherine Babcock published Maltbie’s writings and titled the book Thoughts for Every Day Living (read it for free online).
A decade later, Franklin L. Sheppard, a close friend of Maltbie, adapted the pastor’s poetical words about “my Father’s world” to a traditional English melody that Sheppard remembered from his childhood. Thus, a remarkable hymn was born.
I can’t hear or sing This Is My Father’s World without remembering the author - not for how he died, but for how he lived.
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
The birds their carols raise
The morning light, the lily-white
Declare their maker's praise.
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
Oh, let me never 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.
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.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Now that's really cool, Heather! Thank you!!
Heather, you're amazing. The fact that you're reading a "prayer" for Thanksgiving to your family from the author of an incredible hymn tells me your kids and grandkids are going to change the world. That's prescient prophecy. GOD always uses parents like you to raise a new generation of leaders.