Although most closely associated with All Saints’ Day, “For All the Saints” is often sung throughout the year in Anglican churches and collegiate chapels because its theme is not confined to a single feast. It celebrates the Church as a continuing fellowship across generations, encouraging Christians in the ordinary work of discipleship. In that respect, it speaks naturally to the long green season of Ordinary Time
Music is the oldest continuously evolving grammar of ordered relationships in the Western intellectual tradition.
For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
Who thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be for ever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
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!
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!
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
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!
The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest;
Sweet is the calm of Paradise the blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
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!
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!
History of Western Civilization Told Through the Acoustics of its Worship Spaces
“Harvest at Rest” George Cole 1865
