This Is My Father’s World

Heather Allington

Heather writes for Sunday Song Book on behalf of the The Salvation Army Oshawa. As a lifelong member of the Army, she has loved these familiar - and some less familiar - songs for many years, and enjoys researching and writing about their origins. She is a wife, mother, grandmother and retired elementary school teacher who likes trying her hand at watercolour painting and poetry writing.

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;
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,
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their maker’s praise.
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.

This is my Father’s world;
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
The battle is not done;
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heaven be one.

When Maltbie Babcock penned these words in the late 19th century, of course he had no idea what condition the world would be in over 100 years later! Did his world seem to contain as much “wrong” as we sense in ours now in 2016? We must realise that in Babcock’s time there had been no World Wars yet!

Did his world seem to contain as much “wrong” as we sense in ours now in 2016? Share on X

Maltbie Babcock was born into an aristocratic family. He attended Syracuse University, where he excelled in a variety of sports and in music, becoming the leader of the Glee Club. He also amused other students by doing impersonations, and was an avid fisherman. God called this multi-talented young man to church ministry. After training at Auburn Theological Seminary, he became a pastor in Lockport, New York. Sometimes he would tell his secretary he was going out “to see my Father’s world”, and would run or hike a couple of miles into the countryside to lose himself in nature. It was in that general environment that Babcock wrote a 16-verse poem, in which each verse began with This is my Father’s world. We have no information as to why only three verses are usually included in hymnals, although sixteen would be too many!

hike a couple of miles into the countryside to lose himself in nature Share on X

When Maltbie Babcock was a pastor in New York City at the age of 42, his church gave him the gift of a trip to the Holy Land, and he began his journey by ship. On the way he stopped in Naples, Italy, where he contracted a severe bacterial fever. Sadly, he then died in the International Hospital on May 18, 1901. After his death, his wife compiled his writings into a book entitled Thoughts for Everyday Living, and This Is My Father’s World was included. The tune is a traditional English melody.