All People That On Earth Do Dwell
Today’s Friday Classic hymn is probably the oldest English hymn that is still sung today! And the story behind it involves a murderous queen known as Bloody Mary, Swiss Calvinists translating the Bible, and a Scottish Protestant writing metrical Psalms. Enjoy!
Today's Friday Classic Hymn is probably the oldest English hymn that we still sing today. The story behind it involves a murderous queen, Swiss Calvinists, and all sorts of interesting things. Since I've been doing these Friday Classic Hymns, I see this one in just about every hymnal and every book about hymns, but I've never known this song. I thought it was about time I took a look at it.
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If you know this song, "All People That On Earth Do Dwell," why don't you share your memories of it and what it's meant to you down in the comments below? I'd love to share in your joy. Let me take you through the history of this very interesting song.
The Story Behind "All People That On Earth Do Dwell"
In 1553, Queen Mary the First took the throne of England. This was the height of the Protestant Reformation, and she was a staunch Catholic. Queen Mary insisted that all Protestants be converted to Catholicism, and those who refused were beaten, imprisoned, or killed. This reign of terror earned her the nickname "Bloody Mary."
One of the leaders of the British reformers of their time was a man named William Kethe. Kethe and many of his Protestant friends fled Britain during this time for their own safety, and he ended up in Geneva, Switzerland. It was there that he met the great man of God, John Calvin.
Calvin is a giant in Christian history. Kethe joined Calvin's team on two great projects. One was the translating of the Geneva Bible, which was an English Bible published at the time. Kethe did a lot of work on that with Calvin's team. He was also part of the Anglo-Genevan Psalter, which was a songbook that Calvin and his team put out.
Calvin, unlike Martin Luther and some of the other reformers, didn't believe in free-form hymn writing—writing your own understanding of faith. Calvin wanted hymns that were Bible hymns through and through: psalms, and that was pretty much it. Followers of Calvin tended to write what we call metric psalms—paraphrases of psalms that will fit a certain rhythm.
With Kethe being around and being so good with language and doing such good work on the Geneva Bible, he inevitably was involved in paraphrasing some of the psalms for Calvin's hymnal. In 1561, the Anglo-Genevan Psalter was released. Kethe had contributed twenty-five different hymns, one of which was "All People That On Earth Do Dwell."
Kethe would eventually move back to England once all the drama over there had settled down and took up a position as a rector at a local village church. Even today, his four verses paraphrasing Psalm 100 have been pretty much unchanged. We sing it exactly as he wrote it, and we sing it to the tune that it was originally written to, which is quite a thing. Imagine people like Shakespeare and people of those years knowing the words and the tune that we sing today.
The tune, by the way, is a famous tune called "Old Hundredth," which was written by a French composer in the early 1500s. I've already done a video on a Friday Classic that uses this tune—the famous doxology "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow" is usually sung to this tune as well. It's an interesting song, and it has stood the test of time.
What Do the Lyrics of "All People That On Earth Do Dwell" Mean?
Let's take a look at the lyrics, and what I want to do is show you Psalm 100 and the lyrics side by side so we can see how Kethe paraphrased it.
Verse 1: A Call to Joyful Worship
All people that on earth do dwell Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice Him serve with mirth, His praise forth tell Come ye before Him and rejoice
This is based on the first two verses of the psalm: "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth." See how it matches: All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. This is a wonderful call of Scripture to praise God joyfully.
Notice that even though this is Old Testament, it's a call to the whole earth, not just to the Israelites. We can see that God's promise to Abraham—in which He said He would have so many descendants that would fill the earth and be worshipping God—the psalmist is picking up on that and saying all the earth, not just the Jews, but all the earth serve the Lord and make a joyful noise to Him.
"Come into His presence with singing"—Come ye before Him and rejoice is how Kethe rephrased it.
Now, some versions have Him serve with fear as the third line rather than Him serve with mirth. Mirth tends to suggest joy, but it tends to suggest a bit of humour almost, doesn't it? We talk about mirth as humour, but I suppose they're talking about a glad joyfulness.
What do you think? Do you think Him serve with fear is better, reminding us to tremble in His presence because He's so great? Or do you think mirth is the right word to use there? Which one do you use if you sing this in your church? I'd love to know—share it below please.
I love this first verse, which is just a call to all people to cheerfully worship. Think about your own worship in church and just around the house or doing whatever you're doing. Is it cheerful? Is it joyful? Are you serving Him with mirth, with fullness of joy? Our songs should be joyful and happy as we praise this great God.
Verse 2: We Belong to God
The Lord, ye know, is God indeed Without our aid He did us make We are His folk, He doth us feed And for His sheep He doth us take
Verse two of the hymn is based on verse three of the psalm. You can see the parallel. The verse in the psalm says, "Know that the Lord, He is God," which is just what Kethe has rephrased: The Lord, ye know, is God indeed.
"It is He who made us," and I like how Kethe said He made us without our aid. It's just further proclaiming the greatness of God and how He does what He does. It's not what we want; it's what He wants.
"It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture," which is why Kethe said He doth us feed, and as His sheep He takes us. Beautiful rephrasing of that.
Do you know that you belong to the people of God? That you are His sheep? Of course, we know the Lord is our Shepherd—famous psalm. God cares for us in such a loving and gracious way. We can sing because of that. We can sing because we know that He is God, the one who made us. Not only did He make us, He loves us too.
Verse 3: Enter His Presence with Praise
O enter then His gates with praise Approach with joy His courts unto Praise, laud, and bless His name always For it is seemly so to do
This is based on verse four: "Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise."
Now, Kethe doesn't talk about thanksgiving here. For me, Psalm 100 is always "I'll enter His gates with thanksgiving," so it's interesting that he didn't put that in, but he just used praise and joy and praise and laud and blessing. I wonder if it doesn't miss out mentioning entering with thanksgiving, but still, these words about coming with joy and praise, praising and lauding and blessing His name—for it is seemly so to do—this is just a wonderful way to say: Why are you coming to church? Why are you coming to worship?
Do it with joy, to praise and make His name blessed and lift up His name. It is seemly to do so. It's our joy to do so. It's not just our duty. Some people would say it's our duty to do so, but I think God wants more than just dutiful obedience from us. He wants joyful obedience, doesn't He?
This beautiful verse helps us to remember that we need to approach with joy and praise, not just dutiful worship, but joyful worship.
Verse 4: God's Eternal Faithfulness
For why? The Lord our God is good His mercy is for ever sure His truth at all times firmly stood And shall from age to age endure
Verse four is based on the fifth verse and the last verse of the psalm: "For the Lord is good." You can see that is almost exactly the same.
"His steadfast love endures forever"—Kethe said His mercy is for ever sure. Very similar: His mercy and His love. Mercy I've always known as God not giving us what we deserve, whereas grace is God giving us what we didn't deserve. He says mercy, whereas the psalm says love. They're all intermingled; they're very close. The words mean almost exactly the same thing. Yes, His mercy is forever sure. It endures forever, not just for today but for always.
His truth at all times firmly stood is based on that last line: "and His faithfulness to all generations." His truth, His faithfulness—interesting, those two different words that are used there.
I love what Kethe has said here: His truth has firmly stood. Nothing has been able to take His truth out of this world. They're trying—oh, they're trying, and they have been trying—but nothing can remove the truth from this world. It will continue to endure from age to age. It will go on, and His faithfulness, the truth of God's faithfulness, will keep enduring long after you and I are gone, as this world is further saved by the love of Jesus.
Conclusion
What a wonderful song to sing! What words really jumped out at you? Did something really touch your heart as you looked at these words? Doesn't it just remind you what praise is all about?
Praise is not about just doing a religious duty, but it's about joyfully recognising God for who He is—the wonderful, powerful, faithful God. We're called, all of the earth, wherever you are, whoever you are, you're called by God to find joy in doing this. That is where you will find your greatest joy: learning that God is worthy and expressing your love for Him in praise.
I love this song. What did you think of it? Do you have any thoughts? Share those below.
Thank you to those of you who support me on Patreon and donate towards the work I do—I'm deeply grateful for that. I hope you'll sing it with me now, and I hope that together we'll be joining the whole earth in proclaiming the greatness of God and joyfully singing His praise.
References
John McLelland. The Ambassador Book of Great Hymn Stories. 1994. Ambassador Productions Ltd: Belfast
Frank Colquhoun. Sing to the Lord: A Fresh Look at Great Hymns on Praise. 1988. Hodder & Stoughton: London
Frank Colquhoun. Preaching on Favourite Hymns. 1986. Mowbray: London
Ian Bradley. The Penguin Book of Hymns. 1989. Penguin Group: London
