All Things Praise Thee -- George Conder

An Englishman who was in his last year of earthly life, and did he realize this? George William Conder was most likely in the metropolis of London (see a period photo here in 1886 of London’s Royal Exchange, something that would have been a familiar sight for Conder) and ministering at a church when he penned “All Things Praise Thee” in 1874. He must have wandered outside of the urban environment in which he lived and ministered, as his poetry hints. He thought about nature and his Creator’s power, things that might have been a bit more obvious if he escaped the bustle of London to observe the things of which he wrote. Did he have the feeling that humanity did not give the Creator His due, despite all the evidence of His work? Maybe the rest of us should echo what George did at the conclusion of each of his five verses – a little self-examination and a spur toward what each of us owes.

‘…Lord may we’, is what the 52-year old George wrote to sum up each of the verses he wrote, sounding a lot like the minister in the pulpit that he frequently occupied. By the time he wrote about the corporate praise that he coaxed other worshippers to join in 1874, he was a veteran of ministry in several churches, and had undoubtedly interacted with hundreds or even thousands of people. The Forest Hill area of London was the fourth church where he’d been since first completing his studies some 30 years earlier. ‘All things..’ he said to begin and end his verses, something one might imagine a minister telling his listeners as he delivered a message about the devotion to praise offerings that was expected in each person’s attendance in the church service. But, the insides of the church building would not be the only place to offer this praise. ‘All things’ meant all that the human senses could observe, and that just in their existence they testified of Him. None of them owe their survival to any of us…the ‘earth’, ‘sea’, and ‘sky’, and particularly ‘heaven’ (v.1), and those that Conder listed in v. 3 – ‘rain’, ‘dew’, ‘snow’, a ‘sunset’, a ‘cloud’, and a ‘stream’. ‘Get outside and note what He has done for each of you’, Conder might have directed. ‘Take these things for granted no longer’. George didn’t stop with the creation that he and his hearers all lived within, however. ‘Time and space’ (v.2) and all things of heaven like the ‘angels’ (v.3) are markers for us to acknowledge His preeminence, things that we’ll come to appreciate more in the afterlife. George Conder didn’t tell his contemporary hearers or those of us centuries later what precisely motivated his poetry, but he didn’t really need to utter the reasons so explicitly. He was a minister, in touch with what scripture told him, and an alert observer of his surroundings. Perhaps one just might conclude that George’s cup overflowed, and that he felt compelled to urge others to join in, enthusiastically.

Could George have sensed his own end was near, when he picked up his pen to compose? You and I have 20-20 hindsight, and therefore the advantage to see what a person was doing and what transpired shortly thereafter. Were events connected that otherwise seemed disparate? Scarlet fever ended George’s earthly life in November 1874, just a few weeks shy of his 53^rd birthday. Kinda sad, you say? Yet, look at George’s words, and it’s clear what impressed him about God. He doesn’t mention life, or health, or family members he might miss when life would end – including prematurely, as happened for himself. Even his vocation in ministry was not on his mind when he wrote ‘All Things…’. Hmmm, was he sick at the time, and did that refocus his attention on whom is really important, worthy of praise? Look at what George was thinking when he said ‘thank you’.      

See all five original verses here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/a/t/p/atpraiset.htm

 

See brief biographic information on author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/c/o/n/d/conder_gw.htm