For all the Saints, who from their labor rest

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For all the Saints, who from their labor rest

Author: William Walsham How (1864)
Tune: SARUM (Barnby)
Published in 569 hymnals

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	For All the Saints

Piano/Organ
	God of Past, Who By Your Spirit (Choral…

Choral
	Worth It All

Representative Text

1 For all the saints who from their labors rest,
who Thee by faith before the world confessed;
Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

2 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!

3 O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

4 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!

5 But then there breaks a still more glorious day:
the saints triumphant rise in bright array;
the King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

6 From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast,
through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
in praise of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Source: Psalms and Hymns to the Living God #388

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Author: William Walsham How

William W. How (b. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, 1823; d. Leenane, County Mayo, Ireland, 1897) studied at Wadham College, Oxford, and Durham University and was ordained in the Church of England in 1847. He served various congregations and became Suffragan Bishop in east London in 1879 and Bishop of Wakefield in 1888. Called both the "poor man's bishop" and "the children's bishop," How was known for his work among the destitute in the London slums and among the factory workers in west Yorkshire. He wrote a number of theological works about controversies surrounding the Oxford Movement and attempted to reconcile biblical creation with the theory of evolution. He was joint editor of Psalms and Hymns (1854) and Church Hymns (1871). While rec… Go to person page >

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Related Texts

First Line:	For all the Saints, who from their labor rest
Author:	William Walsham How (1864)
Meter:	10.10.10.4
Language:	English
Refrain First Line:	Alleluia! Alleluia!
Notes:	Spanish translations: See "Todos los santos que en la tierra van" by Marsha Short Webb, "Hoy, por los santos que descansan ya" by Federico Pagura
Copyright:	Public Domain

Year A, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week
This is recommended for Year A, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week by 3 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #254.
Year A, Holy Week season, Good Friday
This is recommended for Year A, Holy Week season, Good Friday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326.
Year A, Easter season, Fifth Sunday
This is recommended for Year A, Easter season, Fifth Sunday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #254.
Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 4 (9)
This is recommended for Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 4 (9) by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326.
Year A, Ordinary Time, All Saints Day
This is recommended for Year A, Ordinary Time, All Saints Day by 3 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #254.
Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 27 (32)
This is recommended for Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 27 (32) by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes.
Year B, Epiphany Season, Transfiguration Sunday
Year B, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week
This is recommended for Year B, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326.
Year B, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week
Year B, Holy Week season, Good Friday
This is recommended for Year B, Holy Week season, Good Friday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326.
Year B, Ordinary Time, Proper 28 (33)
Related to Daniel 12
Year C, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week
This is recommended for Year C, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week by 3 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #254.
Year C, Holy Week season, Good Friday
This is recommended for Year C, Holy Week season, Good Friday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326.
Year C, Easter season, Fourth Sunday
This is recommended for Year C, Easter season, Fourth Sunday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #254.
Year C, Ordinary Time, Proper 10 (15)
This is recommended for Year C, Ordinary Time, Proper 10 (15) by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes.
Year C, Ordinary Time, Proper 15 (20)
This is recommended for Year C, Ordinary Time, Proper 15 (20) by 3 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #254.
Year C, Ordinary Time, Proper 21 (26)
This is recommended for Year C, Ordinary Time, Proper 21 (26) by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #254.
Year C, Ordinary Time, Proper 25 (30)
This is recommended for Year C, Ordinary Time, Proper 25 (30) by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326.
Year C, Ordinary Time, All Saints Day
This is recommended for Year C, Ordinary Time, All Saints Day by 4 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #326 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #254.

English

10 shown out of 438

Korean

찬송과 예배 = Chansong gwa yebae = Come, Let Us Worship: the Korean-English Presbyterian hymnal and service book #388

Spanish

Welsh

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Notes

Scripture References:
st. 1 = Rev. 14:13, Heb. 12:1-2
st. 3 = Rev. 2:10
st. 4 = John 17:22
st. 6 = Prov. 4:18
st. 7 = Rev. 7:9-17

"For All the Saints" is considered to be William W. How's (PHH 279) finest hymn text. Originally in eleven stanzas, it was published in Earl Nelson's Hymns for Saints' Days (1864) with the heading, "Saints' Day Hymn. A Cloud of Witnesses. Heb. 12:1." The Psalter Hymnal includes the original stanzas 1-2, 6-8, and 10-11, with modernized pronouns. (Among the stanzas omitted in most hymnals are those that begin "for all the apostles," "for all the evangelists," and "for all the martyrs.")

The text begins with a proclamation of thanksgiving for the saints ("the cloud of witnesses") who confessed Christ and found in him protection and inspiration (st. 1-2). That proclamation is followed by a prayer for Christ's soldiers on earth to be "faithful, true, and bold" (st. 3). At the crux of the text is the confession of a "blest communion" of saints in heaven and on earth (st. 4). Though the holy warfare may be "fierce and long" (st. 5), "all the saints" may take courage from the vision of a victorious church that worships the triune God on that "more glorious day" (st. 6-7).

Liturgical Use:
Traditionally for All Saints Day (the first Sunday in November) and similar church festivals; worship that emphasizes the church as militant and triumphant; funerals.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook
==================
For all Thy [the] saints who from their labours rest. Bp. W. W. How. [Saints' Days.] First published in Hymn for Saints' Day, and Other Hymns. By a Layman [Earl Nelson], 1864, in 11 stanzas of 3 lines, and the refrain "Alleluia." It was republished in Lyra Britannica, 1867; in the Sarum Hymnal, 1868; in the 1869 Appendix to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Psalms & Hymns, and subsequently in nearly every hymnal of importance published in Great Britain. It is also found in the best collections of all English-speaking countries, and, with hymnal compilers, it is one of the most popular of the author's compositions. It is sometimes given in American hymnals (as it is in the S. P. C. K. Church Hymns, as "For all the saints," &c, this being Bishop How's revised reading. In the Protestant Episcopal Hymnal, 1872, stanzas iii.-v. are given as a separate hymn (No. 186), beginning, "For the Apostles' glorious company." Original text as above. Authorized text in S. P. C. K. Church Hymns.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

=================

For all Thy [the] saints who from their labours rest, p. 380, ii. The alterations in the text of this hymn, as given in the 1904 edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern, were reluctantly sanctioned by Bp. How shortly before his death in 1897.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

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Tune

SARUM (Barnby)

SINE NOMINE

Ralph Vaughan Williams (PHH 316) composed SINE NOMINE for this text and published it in the English Hymnal in 1906. Vaughan Williams wrote two harmonizations¬–one for unison stanzas and one for choral stanzas. The tune's title means "without name" and follows the Renaissance tradition of naming c…

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For Leaders

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After the great “Hall of Faith” passage in Hebrews 11, the writer to the Hebrews calls the saints who are still on earth to emulate those who have gone before: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us …” (Hebrews 12:1, ESV). What were the accomplishments of this “great cloud of witnesses?” They “… conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, … quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness …” (Hebrews 11:33-34, ESV). That sounds rather glamorous! But “Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword” (Hebrews 11:36-37, ESV). What a contrast!

The stanzas of the hymn “For All the Saints” describe the common life of all the saints: the credit due to Jesus Christ for drawing us all to Him, the strength and guidance we continue to draw from Him, our joint communion in Christ, the continuing struggle against evil, and the coming day when the dead shall rise and we shall all worship together before God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. No matter what path each of us travels, we all will enjoy the same glorious eternal life.

Text:

This text was written by William W. How, a bishop of the Anglican Church, and first published in Horatio Nelson's Hymns for Saints' Days in 1864. There is considerable variance between hymnals as to which of the eleven original stanzas are included (typically six to eight are selected). Two things are universally agreed upon: that the first two of the original stanzas are always included (“For all the saints” and “Thou wast their rock”), and the original fourth and fifth are never sung. Two more things are agreed upon with rare exception: that the original third stanza is omitted (“For the Apostles”), and that the last stanza is included (“From earth's wide bounds”). There is considerable variance on which of the remaining five original stanzas are sung.

There are also differences in wording between different hymnals. Some merely modernize the language (i.e., “Thou wast their rock” becomes “You were their rock”). Other changes, as well as the choice of which stanzas to include, appear to reflect a desire to slightly soften the theme of the Church militant, which is heavily present in the text.

Tune:

In modern hymnals, this text is paired with SINE NOMINE, written for this text in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams, the well-known English composer. He wrote harmonizations for both unison singing and four-part harmony. The title SINE NOMINE means “without a name” in Latin; it may refer to the many saints whose names are known only to God (The New Century Hymnal Companion, ed. Kristin L. Forman, 361).

Before SINE NOMINE was composed, the most popular tune was SARUM, written in 1868 by Joseph Barnby, but this has fallen out of favor and almost never appears in modern hymnals.

A third tune that this text is sometimes sung with is ENGELBERG, which is more commonly associated with the text “When in Our Music God Is Glorified.” ENGELBERG was composed for “For All the Saints” in 1904 by Charles Stanford, who was one of Ralph Vaughan Williams' teachers. Lloyd Larson has written a dramatic setting with this tune, titled “Tribute to the Saints”, which could be used as a choral anthem or as a congregational hymn.

When/Why/How:

This hymn is traditionally sung for All Saints' Day, for funerals, or for services on the theme of the Church triumphant. How this hymn is presented may depend on the occasion. Because the hymn is longer than is typical, try adding some variety to how it is sung. Since Vaughan Williams originally wrote two settings, it would be a good idea to sing some stanzas in unison and others in harmony. Without a choir, the congregation can also be divided into two groups singing antiphonally as the “heavenly” choir and the “earthly” choir (Emily R. Brink and Bert Polman, eds., Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 677). The choir could also be one antiphonal group while the congregation is another.

Tiffany Shomsky,
Hymnary.org

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Psalms and Hymns to the Living God (2023), p.446

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Instances

Instances (1 - 100 of 102)

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Include 467 pre-1979 instances

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Piano/Organ God of Past, Who By Your Spirit (Choral Score) Worth It All Tribute to the Saints More Piano/Organ...
Choral For All the Saints Tribute to the Saints Five Choral Stanzas, Set 2 More Choral...
Instrumental Festival Hymns for Organ, Brass, and Timpani—Set 5 For All the Saints - (Choral Score) GUITAR HYMNAL, THE (with CD) More Instrumental...
Handbells FOR ALL THE SAINTS Faith of the Saints Faith of the Saints More Handbells...
PowerPoint FOR ALL THE SAINTS (Presbyterian Hymnal 526) FOR ALL THE SAINTS - Lead Line (Hymnal for Worship & Celebration 546) FOR ALL THE SAINTS (United Methodist 711) More PowerPoint...

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For all the Saints, who from their labor rest

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