About 800 years ago, St. Francis of Assisi wrote a hymn that personified the elements of creation with familial gender terms: He referred to the Sun, wind, and fire as, “our brothers.” The moon and water he called "our sisters.” And he revered the earth as our “Our Mother, our dear Mother.”
That’s weird but, in his defense, some hymnologists and church historians have suggested that those phrases were only used, symbolically, to praise the Lord in the way the psalmist personified creation in Psalm 145 which says, “All Your works shall praise You, O Lord, And Your saints shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power.”
That may be true but, in the biographical accounts we have on St. Francis, there are good reasons to be skeptical. In fact, if a strict translation of that poem was the actual text of the song, we wouldn’t be singing it today because St. Francis’ lyrics imply some serious theological problems.
St. Francis was canonized as the patron saint of animals and he is venerated by ecologists for his love of nature. So, his hymn could be construed to endorse all kinds of false doctrinal beliefs such as mysticism, animism, pantheism, and other aberrations of non-Christian religions, some of which have crept into and are embraced by Christians even today.
Just to be clear, we should and do see evidence of God’s handiwork in His creation. We marvel at the way He works all things according to His purposes.
But there is an absolute distinction between God and His creation. God is God over all creation; He is not part of it.
I am not saying that Francis intended or even believed in a pantheistic worldview, but there are plenty of people in our churches today, who are willing to read some kind of earth-worshiping theology into his words. And so, theologians have been right to approach this hymn with caution.
Early in the twentieth century, William Henry Draper rescued and wrote a loose translation of St. Francis’ hymn. It was originally intended for use as a children’s hymn.
ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING is a good, doctrinally sound, hymn that reads like a paraphrase of Psalm 148 where we see that everything was created by God and everything exists for the praise of His Glory. And, in the last stanza, Draper inserted a doxology that affirms the triune nature of our God.
His, much-improved hymn is the song we sing today. It’s been published in almost all English hymnals for nearly a century and is listed among the most loved Christian hymns of all times.
Last year, Sovereign Grace Music released a new, version of ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING. Three stanzas were removed, leaving only the first and last. And then, two new ones have been added. Stanza three is a gospel-centered verse about Christ’s atoning work, and the last stanza affirms our hope; Jesus is coming again.
Here are the new lyrics:
(3) All the redeemed washed by His blood,
Come and rejoice in His great love.
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Christ has defeated every sin.
Cast all your burdens now on Him.
O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
(4) He shall return in pow’r to reign.
Heaven and earth will join to say,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Then who shall fall on bended knee?
ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING.
O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
In my opinion, this new version is a great improvement that turns a good hymn into an excellent hymn and still retains a respectful attitude toward the decrees of Psalm 148, “Let (all creation) praise the name of the Lord, For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven.” (vs.13)
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