O Life That Maketh All Things New
Hymn composed by
Thomas Williams's Psalmodia EvangelicaContextual information
This hymn appears as #12 in Singing the Living Tradition.
This hymn appears as #12 in Singing the Living Tradition.
Tune Name
TRURO
Tune Name
Text Meter
L.M.
10.9.10.9
Song Composer
Thomas Williams's Psalmodia EvangelicaHymn Arranger
Composer Background information
Spiritual tags
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Lyricist Background information
Born in Portland, Maine, Samuel Longfellow (1819-1892) was ordained as a Unitarian minister and served congregations in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. In 1846, he and Rev. Samuel Johnson compiled and edited A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion, often revising lyrics to meet the needs of churches with increasingly liberal theologies. Devoted partners for 40 years, Longfellow and Johnson enlarged upon their work in 1864 with Hymns of the Spirit. Noting the difference between Samuel and his famous older brother Henry Wadsworth, a friend remembered, “It was said that while Henry Longfellow was made a poet, Samuel was born one, and also it was said that he was good enough to be a saint and interesting enough to be a sinner. He was certainly a mystic.” (prepared by Rev. Norman Allen)
Arranger Background information
Lyrics
O Life that maketh all things new,
the blooming earth, our thoughts within,
our pilgrim feet, wet with thy dew,
in gladness hither turn again.
From hand to hand the greeting flows,
from eye to eye the signals run,
from heart to heart the bright hope glows,
the seekers of the light are one:
One in the freedom of the truth,
one in the joy of paths untrod,
one in the soul’s perennial youth,
one in the larger thought of God;
The freer step, the fuller breath,
the wide horizon’s grander view,
the sense of life that knows no death,
the Life that maketh all things new.
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