Maker of earth to Thee alone

Maker of earth to Thee alone

Author: Charles Coffin; Translator: J. M. Neale
Tune: DUNFERMLINE
Published in 9 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Maker of earth, to thee alone
Perpetual rest belongs;
And those bright choirs around thy throne
May pour their endless songs.

2 But we--ah, holy now no more!
Are doomed to toil and pain;
Yet exiles on an alien shore
May sing their country’s strain.

3 Father, whose promise binds thee still
To heal the suppliant throng,
Grant us to mourn the deeds of ill
That banish us so long;

4 And, while we mourn, in faith to rest
Upon thy love and care,
Till thou restore us with the blest
The song of heaven to share.

5 O God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Holy Ghost,
To thee be praise, great Three in One,
From thy created host. Amen.


Source: The New English Hymnal #71

Author: Charles Coffin

Coffin, Charles, born at Buzaney (Ardennes) in 1676, died 1749, was principal of the college at Beauvais, 1712 (succeeding the historian Rollin), and rector of the University of Paris, 1718. He published in 1727 some, of his Latin poems, for which he was already noted, and in 1736 the bulk of his hymns appeared in the Paris Breviary of that year. In the same year he published them as Hymni Sacri Auctore Carolo Coffin, and in 1755 a complete ed. of his Works was issued in 2 vols. To his Hymni Sacri is prefixed an interesting preface. The whole plan of his hymns, and of the Paris Breviary which he so largely influenced, comes out in his words. "In his porro scribendis Hymnis non tam poetico indulgendunv spiritui, quam nitoro et pietate co… Go to person page >

Translator: J. M. Neale

John M. Neale's life is a study in contrasts: born into an evangelical home, he had sympathies toward Rome; in perpetual ill health, he was incredibly productive; of scholarly tem­perament, he devoted much time to improving social conditions in his area; often ignored or despised by his contemporaries, he is lauded today for his contributions to the church and hymnody. Neale's gifts came to expression early–he won the Seatonian prize for religious poetry eleven times while a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1842, but ill health and his strong support of the Oxford Movement kept him from ordinary parish ministry. So Neale spent the years between 1846 and 1866 as a warden of Sackvi… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Maker of earth to Thee alone
Latin Title: Te laeta, mundi Conditor
Author: Charles Coffin
Translator: J. M. Neale
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

DUNFERMLINE

DUNFERMLINE is one of the "common" tunes from Andro Hart's psalter The CL Psalms of David, Edinburgh (l615)–a "common" tune was one that was not matched with a specific text in a songbook. Millar Patrick, author of Four Centuries of Scottish Psalmody (London, 1949) and The Story of the Church's So…

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BELMONT (Gardiner)

This tune has been mis-attributed to various other composers, but is clearly the work of the above-named composer.

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Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #4215
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  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 2 of 2)
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The Cyber Hymnal #4215

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The New English Hymnal #71

Include 7 pre-1979 instances
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