Above:  Episcopal Church of the Advent, Madison, Georgia, December 6, 2015

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Hymn Source = Lyra Eucharistica:  Hymns and Verses on the Holy Communion, Ancient and Modern; with Other Poems, Second Edition, by Orby Shipley, M.A. (1864), pages 340-342

Text (1864) by Folliot Sandford Pierpoint (1835-1917)

The original version of this Anglican Eucharistic hymn follows.  Most versions of the text are abbreviated and rewritten, dropping the references to Mary, the martyrs, prophets, and confessors.  Even the version of it in four Roman Catholic hymnals (Worship II, 1975; Worship III, 1986; Gather Comprehensive, 1994; and Gather Comprehensive, Second Edition, 2004) I consulted is altered and abbreviated (albeit longer than in most Protestant hymnals), minus Mary, the martyrs, prophets, and martyrs.

The original name of the hymn was “The Sacrifice of Praise.”

These days the standard refrain has changed from

Christ, our God, to Thee we raise

This our Sacrifice of Praise

to

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

A slightly modified version of the hymn, one nearly identical to Pierpoint’s original, appears in The English Hymnal (1906), of The Church of England.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the Love which from our birth

Over and around us lies:

Christ, our God, to Thee we raise

This our Sacrifice of Praise.

+++++

For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flower,

Sun and moon and stars of light;

Christ, our God, to Thee we raise

This our Sacrifice of Praise.

+++++

For the joy of ear and eye,

For the heart and brain’s delight,

For the mystic harmony

linking sense to sound and sight:

Christ, our God, to Thee we raise

This our Sacrifice of Praise.

+++++

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth, and friends above;

For all gentle thoughts and mild:

Christ, our God, to Thee we raise

This our Sacrifice of Praise.

+++++

For each perfect Gift of Thine

To our race so freely given,

Graces human and divine,

Flowers of earth, and buds of Heaven:

Christ, our God, to Thee we raise

This our Sacrifice of Praise.

+++++

For Thy Bride that evermore

Lifteth holy hands above,

Offering up on every shore

This Pure Sacrifice of Love:

Christ, our God, to Thee we raise

This our Sacrifice of Praise.

+++++

For Thy Martyrs’ crown of light,

For Thy Prophets’ eagle eye,

For Thy bold Confessors’ might,

For the lips of Infancy:

Christ, our God, to Thee we raise

This our Sacrifice of Praise.

+++++

For Thy Virgins’ robes of snow,

For Thy Maiden Mother mild,

For Thyself, with hearts aglow,

Jesu, Victim undefiled,

Offer we at Thine own Shrine

Thyself, sweet Sacrament Divine.