027 天父世界歌
This Is My Father’s World
词：巴布科克（Maltbie Davenport Babcock） 1901
曲：英国儿童民歌谢波德改编 (F.L. Sheppard) 1915
万山美贞 (G.S. Wilder) 译 1934
1️⃣
这是天父世界
孩童侧耳要听
宇宙唱歌四围响应
星辰作乐同声
这是天父世界
我心满有安宁
树木花草 苍天碧海
述说天父全能
2️⃣
这是天父世界
小鸟长翅飞鸣
清晨明亮 好花美丽
证明天理精深
这是天父世界
他爱普及万千
风吹之草 将他表现
天父充满世间
3️⃣
这是天父世界
求主叫我不忘
罪恶虽然好像得胜
天父却仍掌管
这是天父世界
我心不必忧伤
上帝是王 天地同唱
歌声充满万方
阿们
🎶 歌谱
[点击查看大图 四声部简谱、简谱、五线谱]
ℹ️ 诗歌背景
没有一颗心能以测透神的奇妙；没有一个舌头能以述尽耶和华的伟大。整个创造满是祂的荣耀，显示祂能力的奇美。人头顶上无数天体灵使，甚至脚下爬虫皆受神恩惠的供应及滋润。宇宙在祂大能手中运行不息。祂无所不在，祂的名何其美！神不断工作，处处工作，祂大能的神迹都在我们生活周围。
观察天体太阳系，不能不叫骄傲的世人谦逊下来。骄傲是弱小人类的显著特质，亦是造成一切争斗、战乱等蹂躝。天上万象的奇伟显出人们微不足道。人在千万造物中仅是一粒原子，有如沧海一粟，比起望远镜里亿万太阳和星球，人算什么？我们就是得了世上一切荣华富贵，这比起天上的荣耀，又算什么？看见天父世界的奇妙，是否教导我们更谦卑敬拜神？
这首诗歌是从作者 Maltbie D. Babcock 所写的十六节长诗中摘录出的，该诗于 1901 年出版，正值刚去世。原文每节皆以「这是天父世界」起首。
Maltbie D. Babcock 1858 年 8 月 3 日生于纽约州 Syracuse ，家世社会地位显赫。他是当时代出色的长老会牧师，身体魁梧，系捧球投手及游泳健将，教会年轻人以他为偶像。在音乐方面多才多艺，擅长风琴、钢琴及小提琴。Babcock 牧师喜爱大自然，于纽约 Lockport 牧会期间，习惯清晨至山上俯瞰安大略湖及附近景观。他常说：＂我要去看我天父的世界＂。在「这是天父世界」诗歌中，传达出神的同在、性格、大能和计划之信息。
1 这是天父世界：我要侧耳倾听，宇宙歌唱，四围和应，星辰作乐同声。
这是天父世界：我心满有安宁；树茂花草，苍天碧海，述说天父全能。
2 这是天父世界：小鸟长翅飞鸣；晨光映晖，好花丽蔚，颂扬造物尊名。
这是天父世界：祂爱普及千万，风吹之草，显主奥妙，天父充满世间。
3 这是天父世界：求主叫我不忘，罪势凶狠，好象得胜，天父却仍作王。
这是天父世界：战争还没有完；受死基督，得胜满足，天地归主掌权。
＊祂饲养麻雀，祂披百合花以美丽的衣裳，祂当然越发关心为祂工作的人。 ── 戴德生
巴布科克（Maltbie Davenport Babcock, 1858 ~ 1901）是位罕有的人才，集音乐家、运动员、学者、诗人与传道人于一身。他出身于纽约显赫的世家，自童年就活力充沛。他大学毕业后，继入神学院深造。他个性随和活泼，是学校捧球队的投手及游泳选手，善奏风琴、钢琴及小提琴，在学校的社团活动中，是一位出色的领导者。巴布科克酷爱大自然，神学院毕业后，在乐堡（Lockport）长老教会牧会。他经常在清晨到附近山上漫步，在那里可远眺安大略湖的湖光景色，自晨曦中他欣赏完美的天父世界。有时他也徒步林间，聆听百鸟和鸣，风拂林梢的天籁。 这首诗就是在他某次散步归来后写的。
这首诗在他逝世后才发表，原诗共有十六节 ，摘录成三节。 主题在表明神是「父」的身份，因在旧约中，神有十六种尊称，「父」是其中之一。旧约中虽很少引用「父」字，但在新约中，耶稣不断以「父」来称呼神。巴布科克除了述说天父世界的美景，万物颂扬外，他也看到神的同在和大能，如第三节所言：「求主叫我不忘，罪恶虽然好象得胜，天父却仍掌管」。
1886-1899年间，他出任著名的布朗纪念堂（Brown Memorial Church）牧师，他的讲道生动活泼，达观有力，深获各界的爱戴。 附近霍布金斯大学（Hopkins University）的师生，对他更是十分仰慕，特为他在校院内设一办公室，以便他与学生能经常交通。十四年来，无数学生受益于他的辅导。
1901年夏他在旅欧途中，在意大利逝世。他的妻子搜集了他的讲章和诗词，出版了一本「每日省思」（Thoughts for Every day Living），这首诗也包括在内。
这首圣诗的曲调，是巴布科克的好友，商人谢柏德（Franklin L.Sheppard, 1852 ~ 1930）根据童年时，自母亲学得的英国儿童民歌，改编而成。
History of Hymns: “This Is My Father’s World” (From link)
“This Is My Father’s World”
Maltbie D. Babcock
The United Methodist Hymnal, No. 144
This is my Father’s world,
and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
his hand the wonders wrought.
What congregation had two successive ministers who wrote hymns that are contained in most North American hymnals? The answer: Brick Presbyterian Church, New York City.
One of the leading Presbyterian ministers of his generation, Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901) penned a hymn with such concrete language that even children can understand its message at a basic level. He followed Dr. Henry Van Dyke, author of the hymn “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” (The UM Hymnal, no. 89), as the minister of Brick Presbyterian Church.
Babcock was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and was a graduate of Syracuse University. He continued his education at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York. After serving two congregations at Lockport near Lake Ontario and Baltimore, he assumed the pastorate at Brick Church. He died just a few months short of his 42nd birthday in a hospital in Naples, Italy, following a trip to the Holy Land.
Babcock was known both as a skilled amateur musician, playing the organ, piano and violin, and recognized as a university sportsman with achievements in swimming and baseball. He was an outdoorsman with broad shoulders and a muscular build. One of his poems gives insight into his approach to life:
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift,
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift,
Shun not the struggle; face it;
’Tis God’s gift.
Our hymn was published posthumously in Babcock’s Thoughts for Every-Day Living (1901) though it had probably been written much earlier. While a pastor in Lockport, N.Y., near Lake Ontario, hymnologist Kenneth Osbeck noted Babcock’s practice of “taking morning walks to the top of a hill north of town where he had a full view of Lake Ontario and the surrounding country.” It was said that he had a frequent expression before leaving for these walks, “I’m going out to see my Father’s world.”
The original poem was composed in 16 four-line stanzas, each beginning with “This is my Father’s world.” One of Babcock’s friends, Franklin Shepherd (1852-1930) adapted an English folk song inserting portions of Babcock’s text into three, eight-line stanzas. The hymn in this form first appeared in the composer’s hymnal Alleluia, a Presbyterian Sunday school book published in 1915. The tune name, TERRA BEATA, means “blessed earth” in Latin.
The first two stanzas are unusually concrete in their references to nature—“rocks and trees, of skies and seas”; “birds…, the morning light, the lily white… rustling grass.” For Babcock, nature was not only a visual spectacle, but an aural experience. Perhaps the author’s skill as a musician contributed to the many auditory images: “listening ears” and “nature sings” and “birds their carols raise” and “rustling grass.”
The “music of the spheres” mentioned in the first stanza is a concept borrowed from Greek philosophy. This is the idea that the most perfect sounds cannot be heard by human ears. They take place in the orderly movements of planets and stars. The actual sounds that we hear on earth are but a weak imitation.
The author shifts his focus in the final stanza from describing the visual and aural beauty of nature to the reality that all is not right with the world. With a strong sense of Presbyterian providence, Babcock observes “that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” The closing couplet, posing and answering a question, offers hope: “Why should my heart be sad?… God reigns, let the earth be glad.”
Dr. Hawn is professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology.
More Link:
- This is my Father’s world [Hymnology Archive]
