Joseph Anstice › Hymnals

Anstice, Joseph , M.A., son of William Anstice of Madeley, Shropshire, born 1808, and educated at Enmore, near Bridgwater, Westminster, and Ch. Church, Oxford, where he gained two English prizes and graduated as a double-first. Subsequently, at the ago of 22, he became Professor of Classical Literature at King's College, London; died at Torquay, Feb. 29, 1836, aged 28. His works include Richard Coeur de Lion, a prize poem, 1828; The Influence of the Roman Conquest upon Literature and the Arts in Rome (Oxford prize Essay); Selections from the Choice Poetry of the Greek Dramatic Writers, translated into English Verse, 1832, &c. His hymns were printed a few months after his death, as:— Hymns by the late Joseph Anstice, M.A., formerly Student of Christ Church, Oxford, and Professor of Classical Literature, King’s College, London, Bridgwater, 1836, and thus introduced:—

"As none of the following Hymns had the advantage of being corrected and prepared for the press by their lamented Author, his family have not considered themselves at liberty to bring them before the public; but, having reason to believe that a large circle of surviving friends will be gratified by possessing a memorial of the manner in which some of his leisure hours were employed, and of the subjects which chiefly occupied his thoughts, during the last few months of his life, they have consented to their being printed for private distribution.—-Bridgwater, June, 1836."

This work contains 52 hymns on various subjects, together with a poem "To my Hymn Book." The circumstances under which they were written are thus detailed by Mrs. Anstice in a communication to the Rev. Josiah Miller, author of Singers and Songs of the Church:—

"The hymns were all dictated to his wife during the last few weeks of his life, and were composed just at the period of the day (the afternoon) when he felt the oppression of his illness—all his brighter morning hours being given to pupils up to the very day of his death."-—S. & S., p. 495.

A few of the hymns are of a joyful character, but the circumstances under which they were written account for the prevailing tone of sadness by which they are chiefly characterized. About one half of these hymns were included by Mrs. Yonge in her Child's Christian Year, 1841. Being thus brought before the public, many soon came into common use. Those in most extensive use are: "Father, by Thy love and power;" "In all things like “Thy brethren, Thou;" "Lord of the harvest, once again;" and, "O Lord, how happy should we be."

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)