All things which live below the sky

All things which live below the sky. Edward John Brailsford* (1841-1921). First published in the Wesleyan Methodist School Hymnal (1911), and then in SofPE, with seven verses. Most subsequent books omit verse 5: God taught the wren to build her nest, The lark to soar above, The hen to gather to her breast The offspring of her love. Although the first two words (‘All things’) follow ‘All things bright and beautiful’*, this hymn develops its own loving depiction of nature, and makes an important statement about the human approach to the environment (see ‘Environment, hymns’*); it was frequently included in books of the 20th century as a hymn in a ‘God in Nature’ section (in the...