God, who touchest earth with beauty

God, who touchest earth with beauty. Mary Susannah Edgar* (1889-1973). Written in 1925, for a hymn competition sponsored by the American Camping Association. It won first prize and was published by the Association in 1926, becoming a favourite hymn which has been translated into Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese and Cree. For The Hymn Book of the Church of England in Canada (HB 1938), the Canadian Anglican hymnal editor James Edmund Jones chose SPIRITUS CHRISTI, composed in 1905 by Henry Walford Davies, as the first tune for this text. Jones had composed GLEN BERNARD for Mary Edgar’s hymn text in 1925. He included it as a second setting in HB 1938. Stanley L. Osborne* composed a descant...