As part of our Sunday worship this Reformation Day we sang the paraphrase of Psalm 100, All People That On Earth Do Dwell.
Of course we sing it to the tune Old One Hundreth by Louis Bourgeois
This links us with the church of the Reformation, back in the 1500’s.
A conceit of mine is that we sing it without instrumental accompaniment.
I love it, and our congregational singing is equal to the challenge.
Our hymnbook makes use of an adaption of these lyrics that chokes a fair bit of poetry out in the name of contemporary understanding.
Oh well.
This is what I grew up with.
The lyrics:
1
All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;
him serve with fear, his praise forth tell,
come ye before Him and rejoice.
2
The Lord you 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.
3
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.
4
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.
Here’s an a capella congregational setting. There are a few wonderful instrumentally accompanied or vocally gymnastic versions on YouTube, but I think this best sums up the Reformation principle of all God’s people praising God through song as they gather for worship.
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