Abner Kneeland

Abner Kneeland
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Short Name: Abner Kneeland
Full Name: Kneeland, Abner, 1774-1844
Birth Year: 1774
Death Year: 1844

Kneeland, Abner, born in 1774, was noted for his religious changes, most of which may be traced through his hymns. He contributed 147 pieces to the American Universalist's Hymns composed by different Authors, 1808; and also edited The Philadelphia Hymn Book, 1819, and Hymns for the Use of those who are Slaves to no Sect, in 1834. In 1836 he underwent a trial at Boston for blasphemy. He died in 1844.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (190

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Kneeland, Rev. Abner. (Iowa, 1774--1844, Salubria, Iowa). A Universalist miniter, one of the editors of the collection Hymns composed by different Authors, by order of the General Convention of Universalists of the New England States, 1808, to which he contributed 138 hymns, of poor quality. He resigned from the Universalist ministry in 1829 and became lecturer to a society of Freethinkers in Boston, and began publication of a periodical called the Investigator. In 1833 he was indicted on a charge of blasphemy and served a prison sentence. On his release he returned to Iowa, then a territory, and established a free-thinking colony which he called Salubria. His hymn beginning "Mediator, Son of God" is included in Church Harmonies: New and Old, 1895.

--Henry Wilder Foote, DNAH Archives

Wikipedia Biography

Abner Kneeland (April 7, 1774 – August 27, 1844) was an American evangelist and theologian who advocated views on women's rights, racial equality, and religious skepticism that were radical for his day. As a young man, Kneeland was a lay preacher in a Baptist church, but he converted to Universalism and was ordained as a minister. Later in life, he rejected revealed religion and Universalism's Christian God. Due to provocative statements he published, Massachusetts convicted Kneeland under its rarely used blasphemy law. Kneeland was the last man in the United States jailed for blasphemy. After his sentence, he founded a utopian society in Iowa, but it failed shortly after his death.

Texts by Abner Kneeland (174)sort descendingAsAuthority LanguagesInstances
A conscious fortitude sustainsAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Ah shall we see that glorious dayAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Ah wretched minds who still remainAbner Kneeland (Author)4
All beings are of God, In heaven and earthA. Kneeland (Author)3
All nature speaks, let men give earAbner Kneeland (Author)9
All things in heaven and in earthKneeland (Author)3
An offering Jesus madeKneeland (Author)3
And is religion all a dreamAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Answer me, burning stars of nightAbner Kneeland (Author)2
As all to Christ the Father gaveAbner Kneeland (Author)3
As ancient bigots disagreeKneeland (Author)3
As God, all merciful and kindKneeland (Author)3
As we are met from various partsAbner Kneeland (Author)4
As when the spirit leaves the clayAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Attend and hear the sacred wordKneeland (Author)3
Awake my drowsy sense allAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Awake, my soul, away, thy fearsAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Away, ye sad desponding thoughtsAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Balmy seas of time and motionAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Behold the elect of God, his servantAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Behold the fountain, crimson floodAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Behold the love of God, displayed in worksAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Behold the man, the sent of GodKneeland (Author)3
Behold the ministers of ChristAbner Kneeland (Author)2
Behold the sad impending strokeAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Behold the sun whose cheering lightAbner Kneeland (Author)7
Behold the wine, behold the breadKneeland (Author)3
Blest be thy name, my God and KingKneeland (Author)5
Christ shall descend in flaming fireKneeland (Author)3
Come, all ye saints, who love the LordKneeland (Author)4
Come, all ye tender, lovely youthKneeland (Author)4
Come, all ye [you] saints that love the LordAbner Kneeland (Author)1
Come, brothers, sisters, all, and let us joyful beKneeland (Author)3
Come, friends give an earAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Come join in sacred songsKneeland (Author)4
Come sinners dry your tearsKneeland (Author)3
Come, then, O my soul, meditate on that dayKneeland (Author)4
Days of error long have spreadAbner Kneeland (Author)2
Death, like a cruel tyrant, reignsKneeland (Author)3
Did Christ, Immaneul, dieKneeland (Author)3
Down to the wilderness of slavery and prideKneeland (Author)3
Ere time commenced, a darksome nightKneeland (Author)4
Except the Lord the house doth build, The laborers toilAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Farewell, a sad and long farewellKneeland (Author)3
From cruel death no age is freeKneeland (Author)3
From Greenland's icy mountainsAbner Kneeland (Author)English1
From Jesse's root, a Branch did riseKneeland (Author)7
Gather your roses while you mayAbner Kneeland (Author)4
Give me some green retired spotAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Glory to God on high, On earth, Let there be peaceKneeland (Author)3
Go traverse all the world aroundKneeland (Author)4
Great Source of beings, Fount of lifeAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Had I the tongues of menKneeland (Author)3
Hail, all victorious Lamb of GodAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Hail, King Emmanuel, at whose swayKneeland (Author)4
Hail, universe, capacious goodAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Hark! from the wilderness and hearKneeland (Author)3
Hark! hear the heavn'ly sound!Kneeland (Author)3
Hear the glad voice, Messiah comesKneeland (Author)3
How can my soul indifferent beAbner Kneeland (Author)4
How lovely in the arch of heavenAbner Kneeland (Author)3
How oft the tender bloom of MayKneeland (Author)3
How vain are earthly thingsKneeland (Author)4
I sing the gospel dayKneeland (Author)9
I sing the joys of heavenKneeland (Author)4
I'd bid my carnal joys farewellAbner Kneeland (Author)3
If Christ did not possess the powerAbner Kneeland (Author)3
In thine own house, O Lord, we meetKneeland (Author)3
In union let our voices join, To hymn eternal praiseAbner Kneeland (Author)3
In Zion let the trumpet blowAbner Kneeland (Author)5
Is not thy promise pledgedKneeland (Author)4
Jesus calls, I will adore himKneeland (Author)3
Jesus the living vine, sprung from the eternalAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Justice and judgment are God's throneKneeland (Author)3
Kind providence to us impartsAbner Kneeland (Author)4
Knowledge its empire shall extendAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Let earth rejoice and nature singAbner Kneeland (Author)4
Let every mortal ear attendKneeland (Author)English2
Let others boast how good they beKneeland (Author)3
Let party names aloneKneeland (Author)3
Let such as make the truth their choiceAbner Kneeland (Author)4
Let truth alone prevailAbner Kneeland (Author)4
Lo from the mountains of the lawKneeland (Author)3
Lo see the brilliant temple riseKneeland (Author)4
Lo, what a pleasing [pleasant] sightKneeland (Author)English2
Long long hath superstition reignedAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Look around the fields of natureAbner Kneeland (Author)4
Lord, bless Columbia's happy landAbner Kneeland (Author)4
Lord, we adore thy bounteous hand, Which spreadKneeland (Author)3
Mediator, Son of GodAbner Kneeland (Author)7
Mid fables and fallacies, baubles of youthAbner Kneeland (Author)3
My body under I must keepAbner Kneeland (Author)3
My soul, call home each wandering thoughtKneeland (Author)3
No mortal tongue can tellKneeland (Author)4
No sacrifice of costly nameAbner Kneeland (Author)3
No sure foundation can be laidAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Now as the body is but oneKneeland (Author)3
Now as the day is past and goneKneeland (Author)2
Now I'll repine at death no moreKneeland (Author)3
Now let us here enjoy the signKneeland (Author)3
Now let us join to praise the LordKneeland (Author)4
Now Lord, once more thy church dismissKneeland (Author)6
Now shall my inward joys arise, And burst into a songKneeland (Author)English3
Now the day is past and goneAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Now to the Lord, O let us raiseAbner Kneeland (Author)4
O could I stretch my thoughts aboveKneeland (Author)4
O God, how holy, just and pure Kneeland (Author)3
O haste not to the gilded shrineAbner Kneeland (Author)3
O Lord of hosts, all gracious GodAbner Kneeland (Author)4
O sacred peace, contentment sweetAbner Kneeland (Author)2
Our Father, God, in heaven above, Perfect in wisdom, power and loveKneeland (Author)English4
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow (Ken)Kneeland (Author)English2
Rise, my soul, expand thy wingsAbner Kneeland (Author)English4
Salvation, O the darling themeKneeland (Author)3
Science, thou fair effusive rayAbner Kneeland (Author)3
See on Mount Calvary, upon the fatal woodKneeland (Author)3
Send down thy blessing, gracious LordKneeland (Author)6
Shall slavish fear torment my soulAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Should former patriots be forgotAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Sin, O that monster of the deepKneeland (Author)4
So human nature, one and allKneeland (Author)3
Sons, who have with truth been fedAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Sound the loud timbrel over mystery's dark seaAbner Kneeland (Author)English3
Source of life as found in natureAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Strike the cymbal, roll the tymbal [timbrel]Abner Kneeland (Author)English17
Ten thousand streams of loveAbner Kneeland (Author)3
The unchangeable Jehovah saith Kneeland (Author)6
The ardent spouse has found his brideKneeland (Author)3
The bright sun of reason relumes her fair skyAbner Kneeland (Author)3
The day of God shall surely comeKneeland (Author)3
The God of glory sends his mandate forthAbner Kneeland (Author)3
The great Jehovah's mighty swayKneeland (Author)3
The great, the unknown causeAbner Kneeland (Author)3
The hypocrite doth fast, with a dejected faceKneeland (Author)3
The hypocrites do often fastKneeland (Author)3
The Lord hath come from hills of lightKneeland (Author)3
The Lord, his boundless love to showKneeland (Author)4
The Lord my only Shepherd isKneeland (Author)3
The Lord my Shepherd is, Supplying all my needKneeland (Author)3
The Lord our God, our heavenly KingAbner Kneeland (Author)3
The Lord who holds the gospel fanKneeland (Author)3
The solemn facts, which nature speaksKneeland (Author)3
The whole creation owns a GodAbner Kneeland (Author)4
The wicked are a troubled seaKneeland (Author)3
There is, we read, a time for painAbner Kneeland (Author)3
These are the ministers of ChristAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Thou great first Cause, least understoodKneeland (Author)English2
Though mothers may forgetful proveAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Thus saith the great and mighty GodKneeland (Author)3
Thus saith the mighty GodAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Thy benediction, LordAbner Kneeland (Author)6
Thy children, Lord, perpetual waitAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Thy children, Lord, whom thou didst makeKneeland (Author)4
To God Jehovah, only wiseAbner Kneeland (Author)2
To Jesus let us prostrate fallAbner Kneeland (Author)3
To spread the truth, and truth aloneAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Weep not, my friends, O weep no moreKneeland (Author)3
What if some men do not believeKneeland (Author)3
What is the cause of moral deathAbner Kneeland (Author)3
What joyful tidings do I hearAbner Kneeland (Author)5
When by faith I see my SaviorKneeland (Author)3
When God at first did man createKneeland (Author)3
When I behold the effects of sinKneeland (Author)4
When Joseph saw his brethren dear Kneeland (Author)3
When men set out to run a raceAbner Kneeland (Author)3
When thou dost fast thou shalt not beKneeland (Author)3
Where oppression's iron handAbner Kneeland (Author)3
While shepherds watched their wandering sheepKneeland (Author)3
Who will regret that Christ should haveAbner Kneeland (Author)3
Why should I doubt thy goodness, LordKneeland (Author)4
Why do we mourn departing friendsKneeland (Alterer)English2
Worthy the Paschal LambKneeland (Author)4
Ye aged fathers, mothers dearKneeland (Author)3
Ye humble souls proclaim abroadAbner Kneeland (Author)5

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