For all the saints who from their labours rest

For all the saints who from their labours rest. William Walsham How* (1823-1897). This celebrated hymn first appeared in Earl Nelson*’s Hymns for Saints’ Days, and other Hymns (1864). It originally comprised 11 stanzas and was headed ‘Saints’-Day Hymn. “A cloud of witnesses.” – Heb 12:1’: its original first line, ‘For all thy saints who from their labours rest’, was changed by How, who was one of the editors, in Church Hymns (1871, Church Hymns with Tunes, 1874) to ‘For all the saints…’. Most hymn books omit the original stanzas 3, 4 and 5: For the Apostles’ glorious company, Who, bearing forth the cross o’er land and sea, Shook all the mighty world, we sing to thee, Alleluia! For...