The Doxology (“praise God from whom all blessings flow”)
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
How often I heard it in the North Church Congregational in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Canton, Massachusetts when I was growing up.
At the second of these two churches, played on a booming organ by my father: Alan W. Smith. Usually without the choir.
North Church, Congregational, Cambridge, MA
First Parish Unitarian Universalist, Canton, Massachusetts
— posted by Roger W. Smith
May 2025
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Addendum:
The Doxology is quoted repeatedly in Virgil Thomson’s The Plow That Broke the Plains.
I remember the doxology, too. The one you cite was sung at the First Parish Church in Westwood, MA, which is the church I attended in my childhood. They were basically Congregational. We were basically Unitarian but there wasn’t a Unitarian church in town. Then we moved over to the Unitarian Church in Medfield (which is how I got involved in the LRY). Also we attended other Unitarian churches occasionally where my grandfather preached. I don’t remember singing this doxology there. I looked up the Unitarian doxology, and it sounds familiar:
From all that dwell below the skies
let songs of hope and faith arise;
let peace, good will on earth be sung
through every land, by every tongue.
My memory is fuzzy but I don’t think Unitarians would sing about “Father, Son and Holy Ghost”!
Although I lived and worked in Cambridge for many years, I don’t remember the North Church and wonder if it is still there.
Ella,
The former North Congregational Church was located at Mass Ave and Roseland Street — near Porter Square. I went to it and Sunday school through sixth grade.
I found out from a website that church sold the building and the adjacent parcel to Lesley University in 2006; the congregation is now part of the North Prospect Union United Church of Christ in Medford.
From when I was in seventh grade on, my family attended the Unitarian Church in Canton. You are undoubtedly correct that a different text was used for the Doxology.
My father, as I noted in my post, was organist and choir director at the Canton church. I am sure about having heard him play the Doxology.