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Graham Kendrick

b. 1950 Person Name: Graham Kendrick, 1950- Scripture: Isaiah 9:2 Author of "Shine, Jesus, Shine" in Worship and Rejoice Graham Kendrick (b. England, August 2, 1950), the son of a Baptist minister in Northamptonshire, is one of the most prolific Christian singer-songwriters in the United Kingdom. He’s written music for over thirty years, and to date has released thirty-eight albums. He is best known for his songs “Shine, Jesus, Shine,” “Knowing You,” and “The Servant King.” Kendrick has received honorary doctorates in divinity from Brunel University and Wycliffe College. In 1987 he helped co-found the March for Jesus, which today is a global phenomenon in which Christians take their faith to the streets in a celebration of Christ. In 1995 Kendrick received a Dove Award for his international work, and he remains an active advocate for Compassion International, which is a Christian child sponsorship organization dedicated to the long-term development of children living in poverty around the world, and also is a contributor to CompassionArt, an organization with the aim of generating income from works of art to assist in the relief of suffering around the planet. Laura de Jong

Michael W. Smith

b. 1957 Scripture: Isaiah 9:6 Author of "How Majestic Is Your Name" in The Worshiping Church

Fred Pratt Green

1903 - 2000 Scripture: Isaiah 9:2 Author of "It Is God Who Holds the Nations" in Rejoice in the Lord The name of the Rev. F. Pratt Green is one of the best-known of the contemporary school of hymnwriters in the British Isles. His name and writings appear in practically every new hymnal and "hymn supplement" wherever English is spoken and sung. And now they are appearing in American hymnals, poetry magazines, and anthologies. Mr. Green was born in Liverpool, England, in 1903. Ordained in the British Methodist ministry, he has been pastor and district superintendent in Brighton and York, and now served in Norwich. There he continued to write new hymns "that fill the gap between the hymns of the first part of this century and the 'far-out' compositions that have crowded into some churches in the last decade or more." --Seven New Hymns of Hope , 1971. Used by permission.

Arthur Sullivan

1842 - 1900 Person Name: Sir Arthur Sullivan Scripture: Isaiah 9:1-8 Arranger of "NOEL" in The Presbyterian Book of Praise Arthur Seymour Sullivan (b Lambeth, London. England. 1842; d. Westminster, London, 1900) was born of an Italian mother and an Irish father who was an army bandmaster and a professor of music. Sullivan entered the Chapel Royal as a chorister in 1854. He was elected as the first Mendelssohn scholar in 1856, when he began his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He also studied at the Leipzig Conservatory (1858-1861) and in 1866 was appointed professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music. Early in his career Sullivan composed oratorios and music for some Shakespeare plays. However, he is best known for writing the music for lyrics by William S. Gilbert, which produced popular operettas such as H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado (1884), and Yeomen of the Guard (1888). These operettas satirized the court and everyday life in Victorian times. Although he composed some anthems, in the area of church music Sullivan is best remembered for his hymn tunes, written between 1867 and 1874 and published in The Hymnary (1872) and Church Hymns (1874), both of which he edited. He contributed hymns to A Hymnal Chiefly from The Book of Praise (1867) and to the Presbyterian collection Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1867). A complete collection of his hymns and arrangements was published posthumously as Hymn Tunes by Arthur Sullivan (1902). Sullivan steadfastly refused to grant permission to those who wished to make hymn tunes from the popular melodies in his operettas. Bert Polman

Orlando Gibbons

1583 - 1625 Person Name: Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) Scripture: Isaiah 9:6 Composer of "SONG 1" in Church Hymnary (4th ed.) Orlando Gibbons (baptised 25 December 1583 – 5 June 1625) was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods. He was a leading composer in the England of his day. Gibbons was born in Cambridge and christened at Oxford the same year – thus appearing in Oxford church records. Between 1596 and 1598 he sang in the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, where his brother Edward Gibbons (1568–1650), eldest of the four sons of William Gibbons, was master of the choristers. The second brother Ellis Gibbons (1573–1603) was also a promising composer, but died young. Orlando entered the university in 1598 and achieved the degree of Bachelor of Music in 1606. James I appointed him a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, where he served as an organist from at least 1615 until his death. In 1623 he became senior organist at the Chapel Royal, with Thomas Tomkins as junior organist. He also held positions as keyboard player in the privy chamber of the court of Prince Charles (later King Charles I), and organist at Westminster Abbey. He died at age 41 in Canterbury of apoplexy, and a monument to him was built in Canterbury Cathedral. A suspicion immediately arose that Gibbons had died of the plague, which was rife in England that year. Two physicians who had been present at his death were ordered to make a report, and performed an autopsy, the account of which survives in The National Archives: We whose names are here underwritten: having been called to give our counsels to Mr. Orlando Gibbons; in the time of his late and sudden sickness, which we found in the beginning lethargical, or a profound sleep; out of which, we could never recover him, neither by inward nor outward medicines, & then instantly he fell in most strong, & sharp convulsions; which did wring his mouth up to his ears, & his eyes were distorted, as though they would have been thrust out of his head & then suddenly he lost both speech, sight and hearing, & so grew apoplectical & lost the whole motion of every part of his body, & so died. Then here upon (his death being so sudden) rumours were cast out that he did die of the plague, whereupon we . . . caused his body to be searched by certain women that were sworn to deliver the truth, who did affirm that they never saw a fairer corpse. Yet notwithstanding we to give full satisfaction to all did cause the skull to be opened in our presence & we carefully viewed the body, which we found also to be very clean without any show or spot of any contagious matter. In the brain we found the whole & sole cause of his sickness namely a great admirable blackness & syderation in the outside of the brain. Within the brain (being opened) there did issue out abundance of water intermixed with blood & this we affirm to be the only cause of his sudden death. His death was a shock to peers and the suddenness of his passing drew comment more for the haste of his burial – and of its location at Canterbury rather than the body being returned to London. His wife, Elizabeth, died a little over a year later, aged in her mid-30s, leaving Orlando's eldest brother, Edward, to care for the children left orphans by this event. Of these children only the eldest son, Christopher Gibbons, went on to become a musician. One of the most versatile English composers of his time, Gibbons wrote a quantity of keyboard works, around thirty fantasias for viols, a number of madrigals (the best-known being "The Silver Swan"), and many popular verse anthems. His choral music is distinguished by his complete mastery of counterpoint, combined with his wonderful gift for melody. Perhaps his most well known verse anthem is This is the record of John, which sets an Advent text for solo countertenor or tenor, alternating with full chorus. The soloist is required to demonstrate considerable technical facility at points, and the work at once expresses the rhetorical force of the text, whilst never being demonstrative or bombastic. He also produced two major settings of Evensong, the Short Service and the Second Service. The former includes a beautifully expressive Nunc dimittis, while the latter is an extended composition, combining verse and full sections. Gibbons's full anthems include the expressive O Lord, in thy wrath, and the Ascension Day anthem O clap your hands together for eight voices. He contributed six pieces to the first printed collection of keyboard music in England, Parthenia (to which he was by far the youngest of the three contributors), published in about 1611. Gibbons's surviving keyboard output comprises some 45 pieces. The polyphonic fantasia and dance forms are the best represented genres. Gibbons's writing exhibits full mastery of three- and four-part counterpoint. Most of the fantasias are complex, multisectional pieces, treating multiple subjects imitatively. Gibbons's approach to melody in both fantasias and dances features a capability for almost limitless development of simple musical ideas, on display in works such as Pavane in D minor and Lord Salisbury's Pavan and Galliard. In the 20th century, the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould championed Gibbons's music, and named him as his favorite composer. Gould wrote of Gibbons's hymns and anthems: "ever since my teen-age years this music ... has moved me more deeply than any other sound experience I can think of." In one interview, Gould compared Gibbons to Beethoven and Webern: ...despite the requisite quota of scales and shakes in such half-hearted virtuoso vehicles as the Salisbury Galliard, one is never quite able to counter the impression of music of supreme beauty that lacks its ideal means of reproduction. Like Beethoven in his last quartets, or Webern at almost any time, Gibbons is an artist of such intractable commitment that, in the keyboard field, at least, his works work better in one's memory, or on paper, than they ever can through the intercession of a sounding-board. To this day, Gibbons's obit service is commemorated every year in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. --wikipedia.org

Johann Rist

1607 - 1667 Scripture: Isaiah 9:2-7 Author of "Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light" in The Presbyterian Hymnal Rist, Johann, son of Kaspar Rist, pastor at Ottensen, near Hamburg, was born at Ottensen, March 8, 1607, and from his birth was dedicated to the ministry. After passing through the Johanneum at Hamburg and the Gymnasium Illustre at Bremen, he matriculated, in his 21st year, at the University of Rinteln, and there, under Josua Stegmann (q. v.), he received an impulse to hymn-writing. On leaving Rinteln he acted as tutor to the sons of a Hamburg merchant, accompanying them to the University of Rostock, where he himself studied Hebrew, Mathematics and also Medicine. During his residence at Rostock the terrors, of the Thirty Years War almost emptied the University, and Rist himself also lay there for weeks ill of the pestilence. After his recovery he seems to have spent some time at Hamburg, and then, about Michaelmas, 1633, became tutor in the house of the lawyer (Landschreiber) Heinrich Sager, at Heide, in Holstein. There he betrothed himself to Elizabeth, sister of the Judge Franz Stapfel, whose influence seems to have had a good deal to do with Rist's appointment as pastor at Wedel. In the spring of 1635 he married and settled at Wedel (on the Elbe, a few miles below Hamburg), where, spite of various offers of preferment, he remained till his death, on Aug. 31, 1667. (Johann Rist und seine Zeit, by Dr. T. Hansen, Halle, 1872; K. Goedeke's Grundriss, vol. iii., 1887, p. 79; Koch, iii., 212; Bode, p. 135, &c. The statements of the various authorities regarding the period 1624-1635 vary greatly and irreconcilably.) During the Thirty Years War Rist had much to endure from famine, plundering, and pestilence. Otherwise he led a patriarchal and happy life at Wedel, close to the congenial society of Hamburg, and as years went on more and more esteemed and honoured by his contemporaries. The Emperor Ferdinand III. crowned him as a poet in 1644, and in 1653 raised him to the nobility, while nearer home Duke Christian of Mecklenburg appointed him Kirchenrath and Consistorialrath. Among other literary honours he was received in 1645 as a member of the Pegnitz Order, and in 1647 as a member of the Fruitbearing Society, the great German literary union of the 17th century; while in 1660 he himself became the founder and head of the Elbe Swan Order, which however did not survive his death. Rist was an earnest pastor and a true patriot. He of course took the side, and that with all his might, of the Protestants, but he longed as few did for the union of the scattered elements of the body politic in Germany. He was a voluminous and many-sided writer (see the full bibliographies in Hansen and Goedeke as above). His secular works are of great interest to the student of the history of the times, and his occasional poems on marriages, &c, to the genealogist and local historian. Perhaps the most interesting to the general reader are the Friede wünschende Teutschland, 1647, and the Friedejauchzende Teutschland, 1653, two plays in which there are vivid pictures of the times, especially of the condition of the lower classes during the Thirty Years War. These plays, with selections from his other secular poems and from his hymns, are included in his Dichtungen, Leipzig, 1885, edited by Goedeke and E. Goetze. Hansen gives analyses of the secular works, with a few extracts from them; and in his second part gives a full selection from the hymns, often however greatly abridged. As a hymn-writer Rist takes high rank. He wrote some 680 hymns, intended to cover the whole ground of Theology, and to be used by all ranks and classes, and on all the occasions of life. Naturally enough they are not of equal merit, and many are poor and bombastic. Rist meant them rather for private use than for public worship, and during his lifetime they were never used in the church at Wedel. But they were eagerly caught up, set to melodies by the best musicians of the day, and speedily passed into congregational use all over Germany, while even the Roman Catholics read them with delight. Over 200 may be said to have been in common use in Germany, and a large number still hold their place. Unfortunately many are very long. But speaking of Rist's better productions, we may say that their noble and classical style, their objective Christian faith, their scriptualness, their power to console, to encourage, and to strengthen in trust upon God's Fatherly love, and their fervent love to the Saviour (especially seen in the best of his hymns for Advent, and for the Holy Communion), sufficiently justify the esteem in which they were, and are, held in Germany. The best known of Rist's hymns appeared in the following collections:— (1) Himlischs Lieder. This contains 50 hymns. The Erste Zehen is dated Lüneburg, 1641, the 2-6 Zehen are dated 1642 [Royal Library, Berlin]. In the later editions Rist made various alterations, and also expanded the titles of the hymns, these changes being almost all for the worse. (2) Neüer himlischer Lieder sonderbahres Buch, Lüneburg, 1651 [Wernigerode Library]. 50 hymns. (3) Sabbahtische Seelenlust, Lüneburg, 1651 [British Museum and Göttingen]. With 58 hymns on the Gospels for Sundays, &c. (4) Frommer und gottseliger Christen alltägliche Haussmusik, Lüneburg, 1654 [Brit. Mus. and Göttingen], with 70 hymns. (5) Neüe musikalische Fest-Andachten, Lüneburg, 1655 [Wernigerode]. With 52 hymns on the Sunday Gospels. (6) Neüe musikalische Katechismus Andachten, Lüneburg, 1656 [British Museum and Wernigerode]. With 50 hymns. Seven of Rist's hymns are separately noted under their German first lines. The others which have passed into English are:-- i. Du Lebensbrod, Herr Jesu Christ. Holy Communion. In his Haussmusik, 1654, No. 7, p. 32, in 8 stanzas of 8 lines, entitled "A devotional hymn, which may be sung when the people are about to take their place at the Holy Communion of the Lord." Founded on Ps. xxiii. Included as No. 473 in the Berlin Geistliche Lieder, ed. 1863. Translated as:— Lord Jesu Christ, the living bread. A good translaton of stanzas i., ii., iii., v., by A. T. Russell, as No. 159 in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851. ii. Ehr und Dank sei dir gesungen. On the Angels. In his Fest-Andachten, 1655, No. 46, p. 304, in 9 stanzas of 10 lines, entitled "Another hymn of Praise and Thanksgiving on the same Gospel [S. Matt, xviii.] for St. Michael's Day. In which the great God who created the Angels, and appointed them for our service, is from the heart adored and praised." Included in Burg's Gesang-Buch, Breslau, 1746, No. 219, and in Bunsen's Versuch, 1833, No. 233. The translations in common use are:— 1. Praise and thanks to Thee be sung. By Miss Winkworth, omitting st. iii.—vi., in her Lyra Germanica, 1st Ser., 1855, p. 205, repeated in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, No. 85. 2. Glory, praise, to Thee be sung. A translation of st. i. as No. 1224, in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1886. iii. Ermuntre dich, mein schwacher Geist. Christmas. Founded on Isaiah ix. 2-7. First published in the Erstes Zehen of his Himlische Lieder, 1641, No. 1, p. 1, in 12 stanzas of 8 lines, entitled "A hymn of praise on the joyful Birth and Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Included in Crüger's Praxis, 1656, No. 87, and recently, omitting st. viii., as No. 32 in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen 1851. The translations in common use are:— 1. Be cheerful, thou my spirit faint. A translation of st. i. by J. Gambold, as No. 138 in pt. i. of the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754; repeated as st. i. of No. 437, altered to "Arise my spirit, leap with joy," and with his trs. of st. ii., iv., ix. added. In the edition of 1789, No. 46 (1886, No. 41), it begins, "Arise, my spirit, bless the day.” 2. O Jesu! welcome, gracious Name! This is a translation of st. ii., vi., xii., by A. T. Russell, as No. 55 in his Psalms & Hymns., 1851. Another translation is "My languid spirit, upward spring." By N. L. Frothingham, 1870, p. 179. iv. Gott sei gelobet, der allein. Joy in God. In his Neüer Himlischer Lieder 1651, p. 126, No. 9, in 13 stanzas of 7 lines, entitled “A joyful hymn of Thanksgiving to God, that He permits us to enjoy our daily bread in health, peace and prosperity, with a humble prayer that He would graciously preserve us in the same." Included in Olearius's Singe-Kunst, 1671, No. 322, and recently in Knapp's Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz 1850, No. 1696 (1865, No. 1766). The tr. in common use is:— Now God be praised, and God alone . By Miss Winkworth, omitting st. iii., vi., viii., ix., in her Christian Singers, 1869, p. 192. Repeated, abridged, in Statham's Collection, Edinburgh, 1869, No. 63 (1870, No. 110). v. Jesu, der du meine Seele. Lent. In the Erstes Zehen of his Himlische Lieder, 1641, p. 35, No. 7, in 12 stanzas of 8 lines, entitled "A heartfelt hymn of penitence to his most beloved Lord Jesus, for the forgiveness of his many and manifold sins." Founded on prayer viii. in Class in. of J. Arndt's Paradiesgärtlein, 1612. In the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 382. The translations in common use are:—- 1. Thou hast cancell'd my transgression. A translation of st. vi., viii., as No. 1022, in the Supplement of 1808 to the Moravian Hymn Book, 1801 (1886, No. 107). 2. Jesu! Who in sorrow dying. A free translation of st. i., iii. lines 1-4, v. 11. 5-8, xii., by A. T. Russell, as No. 78 in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851. vi. 0 Jesu, meine Wonne. Holy Communion. This beautiful hymn appears in Rist's Hauss-musik, 1654, No. 9, p. 42, in 14 stanzas of 4 lines, entitled "The heartfelt Thanksgiving of a pious Christian when he has partaken of the Holy Communion." In the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 285. The translation in common use is:— 0 Sun of my salvation. A good tr. of st. i., iii., v., vi., by A. T. Russell, as No, 160 in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851. Another translation is:— “0 Christ, my joy, my soul's delight." By Dr. G. Walker, 1860, p. 65. vii. Werde licht, du Stadt der Heiden. Epiphany. In his Fest-Andachten , 1655, p. 82, No. 13, in 15 stanzas of 6 lines, entitled "Another festival hymn of the day of the Manifestation of Christ, in which the glorious, godlike, and eternal Light, which has graciously arisen on us poor heathen in thick darkness, is devotedly contemplated." In the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 82. Translated as:— 1. All ye Gentile lands awake. A good tr. of st. i.-iv., vi., vii., xiv. xv., by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica, 1st Ser., 1855, p. 30. Repeated, abridged, in Schaffs Christ in Song, 1869 aud 1870, and in Flett's Collection, Paisley, 1871. 2. Rise, O Salem, rise and shine. A good translation of stanzas i., iii., vii., xiv., xv., based on her Lyra Germanica version but altered in metre, by Miss Winkworth, in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, No. 38. Repeated in J. L. Porter's Collection, 1876, and the Pennsylvania Lutheran Ch. Book, 1868. viii. Wie wohl hast du gelabet. Holy Communion. In his Neüer Himlischer Lieder, 1651, p. 78, in 9 stanzas of 12 lines, entitled "A hymn of heartfelt Praise and Thanksgiving after the reception of the Holy Communion." In the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 291. The translation in common use is:— O Living Bread from Heaven. A good tr., omitting st. iv., by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica 2nd Ser., 1858, p. 103; repeated in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, No. 94, omitting the trsanslations of iii., v., vi. Her translations of st. i.-iii., ix. were included, slightly altered, in the Pennsylvania Lutheran Ch. Book, 1868. The following have also been tr. into English:— ix. Heut ist das rechte Jubelfest. Whitsuntide. In his Fest-Andachten, 1655, p. 216, No. 33, in 12 stanzas, founded on the Gospel for Whitsunday (St. John xiv.). In Olearius's Singe-Kunst, 1671, No. 704, and Porst's Gesang-Buch, ed. 1855, No. 173. The text translation is that in Bunsen's Allgemeine Gesang-Buch, 1846, No. 114, where it begins with st. v., "Heut hat der grosse Himmeleherr." Translated as "This day sent forth His heralds bold." By Miss Cox, in the Churchman's Shilling Magazine, June 1867. x. Ich will den Herren loben. Praise and Thanksgiving. Founded on Ps. xxxiv. In his Neüer Himlischer Lieder, 1651, p. 132 (No. 10 in pt. ii.), in 12 st. of 8 1. This form is in Burg's Gesang-Buch, Breslau, 174G, No. 1201. In his Haussmusik, 1654, p. 348, No. 64, Rist rewrote it to 6 stanzas of 12 lines, and of this form st. iv.-vi., beginning "Man lobt dich in der Stille, ed. 1863, No. 1018. The translation from this last text is "To Thee all praise ascendeth." In the British Herald, May 1866, p. 265, repeated in Reid's Praise Book, 1872. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Johann Schop

1590 - 1667 Scripture: Isaiah 9:2-7 Composer of "ERMUNTRE DICH" in The Presbyterian Hymnal Johann Schop Germany 1590-1667. Born at lower Saxony, Germany, he became a Lutheran composer and violinist, much admired for his virtuoso and technical ability. In 1614 Duke Friedrich Ulrich made him a probationary musician in the Hofkapelle at Wolfenbuttel. He performed playing various instruments, but excelled as a violinist. He was engaged permanently in 1615, but the same year he responded to a summons to join the flourishing musical establishment of King Christian IV of Denmark in Copenhagen. There he met English viol player, William Brade, who had earlier been in service to Hamburg, Germany (and may have taught Schop there). Schops compositions for the violin set impressive demands for that area at that time. He also played other instruments, including the violi, lute, cornet, trombon, trumpet, zinke, and violin (virtuoso). In 1619 Schop and Brade left Copenhagen to escape the plague. He then went to Iburg, where he worked at the courtof the Osnabruck bishop, Philipp Sigismund. Schop had such a reputation that he soon acquired a post as Kapellmeister at an establishment in Hamburg and was the first member of the council music. In 1621 he was its director and the leading municipal violinist in that city, which offered him a substantial income for his participation in the church music program. He also was organist at the Jacobikirche. In 1634 he again traveled to Copenhagen with Heinrich Schutz and Heinrich Albert for the wedding of Crown Prince Christian. He won a violin contest there. Few German violinists were of his caliber musically. He returned to Hamburg, and the Danish king tried several times to woo him back to Denmark, but he stayed in Hamburg, becoming a director of music. He published books of violin music in 4 to 6 parts. He wrote two books of well-loved dance pieces and sacred concertos. He co-founded a school of song writing there in Hamburg with Thomas Selle. Many of his tunes were writtten for fellow townsmen and friend Johann Rist. Some of his music was performed at the Peace of Westphalia celebrations. Some of his tunes were used by chants in a cantata. Schop was married (wife’s name not found) and they had two sons, Johann II, and Albert, who also became musicians. He died in Hamburg. John Perry

Sally Ann Morris

Scripture: Isaiah 9:2-7 Composer of "ISAIAH 9" in Glory to God

John Warrington Hatton

1710 - 1793 Person Name: John Hatton Scripture: Isaiah 9:7 Composer of "DUKE STREET" in The Worshiping Church John Warrington Hatton (b. Warrington, England, c. 1710; d, St. Helen's, Lancaster, England, 1793) was christened in Warrington, Lancashire, England. He supposedly lived on Duke Street in Lancashire, from where his famous tune name comes. Very little is known about Hatton, but he was most likely a Presbyterian, and the story goes that he was killed in a stagecoach accident. Bert Polman

Reginald Heber

1783 - 1826 Scripture: Isaiah 9:2 Author of "Brightest and Best of the Stars" in The Worshiping Church Reginald Heber was born in 1783 into a wealthy, educated family. He was a bright youth, translating a Latin classic into English verse by the time he was seven, entering Oxford at 17, and winning two awards for his poetry during his time there. After his graduation he became rector of his father's church in the village of Hodnet near Shrewsbury in the west of England where he remained for 16 years. He was appointed Bishop of Calcutta in 1823 and worked tirelessly for three years until the weather and travel took its toll on his health and he died of a stroke. Most of his 57 hymns, which include "Holy, Holy, Holy," are still in use today. -- Greg Scheer, 1995 ==================== Heber, Reginald, D.D. Born at Malpas, April 21, 1783, educated at Brasenose College, Oxford; Vicar of Hodnet, 1807; Bishop of Calcutta, 1823; died at Trichinopoly, India, April 3, 1826. The gift of versification shewed itself in Heber's childhood; and his Newdigate prize poem Palestine, which was read to Scott at breakfast in his rooms at Brazenose, Oxford, and owed one of its most striking passages to Scott's suggestion, is almost the only prize poem that has won a permanent place in poetical literature. His sixteen years at Hodnet, where he held a halfway position between a parson and a squire, were marked not only by his devoted care of his people, as a parish priest, but by literary work. He was the friend of Milman, Gifford, Southey, and others, in the world of letters, endeared to them by his candour, gentleness, "salient playfulness," as well as learning and culture. He was on the original staff of The Quarterly Review; Bampton Lecturer (1815); and Preacher at Lincoln's Inn (1822). His edition of Jeremy Taylor is still the classic edition. During this portion of his life he had often had a lurking fondness for India, had traced on the map Indian journeys, and had been tempted to wish himself Bishop of Calcutta. When he was forty years old the literary life was closed by his call to the Episcopate. No memory of Indian annals is holier than that of the three years of ceaseless travel, splendid administration, and saintly enthusiasm, of his tenure of the see of Calcutta. He ordained the first Christian native—Christian David. His first visitation ranged through Bengal, Bombay, and Ceylon; and at Delhi and Lucknow he was prostrated with fever. His second visitation took him through the scenes of Schwartz's labours in Madras Presidency to Trichinopoly, where on April 3,1826, he confirmed forty-two persons, and he was deeply moved by the impression of the struggling mission, so much so that “he showed no appearance of bodily exhaus¬tion." On his return from the service ”He retired into his own room, and according to his invariable custom, wrote on the back of the address on Confirmation 'Trichinopoly, April 3, 1826.' This was his last act, for immediately on taking off his clothes, he went into a large cold bath, where he had bathed the two preceding mornings, but which was now the destined agent of his removal to Paradise. Half an hour after, his servant, alarmed at his long absence, entered the room and found him a lifeless corpse." Life, &c, 1830, vol. ii. p. 437. Heber's hymns were all written during the Hodnet period. Even the great missionary hymn, "From Greenland's icy mountains," notwithstanding the Indian allusions ("India's coral strand," "Ceylon's isle"), was written before he received the offer of Calcutta. The touching funeral hymn, "Thou art gone to the grave," was written on the loss of his first babe, which was a deep grief to him. Some of the hymns were published (1811-16) in the Christian Observer, the rest were not published till after his death. They formed part of a ms. collection made for Hodnet (but not published), which contained, besides a few hymns from older and special sources, contributions by Milman. The first idea of the collection appears in a letter in 1809 asking for a copy of the Olney Hymns, which he "admired very much." The plan was to compose hymns connected with the Epistles and Gospels, to be sung after the Nicene Creed. He was the first to publish sermons on the Sunday services (1822), and a writer in The Guardian has pointed out that these efforts of Heber were the germs of the now familiar practice, developed through the Christian Year (perhaps following Ken's Hymns on the Festivals), and by Augustus Hare, of welding together sermon, hymnal, and liturgy. Heber tried to obtain from Archbishop Manners Sutton and the Bishop of London (1820) authorization of his ms. collection of hymns by the Church, enlarging on the "powerful engine" which hymns were among Dissenters, and the irregular use of them in the church, which it was impossible to suppress, and better to regulate. The authorization was not granted. The lyric spirit of Scott and Byron passed into our hymns in Heber's verse; imparting a fuller rhythm to the older measures, as illustrated by "Oh, Saviour, is Thy promise fled," or the martial hymn, "The Son of God goes forth to war;" pressing into sacred service the freer rhythms of contemporary poetry (e.g. "Brightest and best of the sons of the morning"; "God that madest earth and heaven"); and aiming at consistent grace of literary expression.. Their beauties and faults spring from this modern spirit. They have not the scriptural strength of our best early hymns, nor the dogmatic force of the best Latin ones. They are too flowing and florid, and the conditions of hymn composition are not sufficiently understood. But as pure and graceful devotional poetry, always true and reverent, they are an unfailing pleasure. The finest of them is that majestic anthem, founded on the rhythm of the English Bible, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty." The greatest evidence of Heber's popularity as a hymnwriter, and his refined taste as a compiler, is found in the fact that the total contents of his ms. collection which were given in his posthumous Hymns written and adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year. London, J. Murray, 1827; which included 57 hymns by Heber, 12 by Milman, and 29 by other writers, are in common in Great Britain and America at the present time. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.] Of Bishop Heber's hymns, about one half are annotated under their respective first lines. Those given below were published in Heber's posthumous Hymns, &c, 1827. Some of them are in extensive use in Great Britain and America; but as they possess no special histories they are grouped together as from the Hymns, &c, 1827:— 1. Beneath our feet, and o'er our head. Burial. 2. Creator of the rolling flood. St. Peter's Day, or, Gospel for 6th Sunday after Trinity. 3. Lo, the lilies of the field. Teachings of Nature: or, Gospel for 15th Sunday after Trinity. 4. 0 God, by Whom the seed is given. Sexagesima. 6. 0 God, my sins are manifold. Forgiveness, or, Gospel for 22nd S. after Trinity. 6. 0 hand of bounty, largely spread. Water into Wine, or, Gospel for 2nd S. after Epiphany. 7. 0 King of earth, and air, and sea. Feeding the Multitude; or, Gospel for 4th S. in Lent. 8. 0 more than merciful, Whose bounty gave. Good Friday. 9. 0 most merciful! 0 most bountiful. Introit Holy Communion. 10. 0 Thou, Whom neither time nor space. God unsearchable, or, Gospel for 5th Sunday in Lent. 11. 0 weep not o'er thy children's tomb. Innocents Day. 12. Room for the proud! Ye sons of clay. Dives and Lazarus, or, Gospel for 1st Sunday after Trinity. 13. Sit thou on my right hand, my Son, saith the Lord. Ascension. 14. Spirit of truth, on this thy day. Whit-Sunday. 15. The feeble pulse, the gasping breath. Burial, or, Gospel for 1st S. after Trinity. 16. The God of glory walks His round. Septuagesima, or, the Labourers in the Marketplace. 17. The sound of war in earth and air. Wrestling against Principalities and Powers, or, Epistle for 2lst Sunday after Trinity. 18. The world is grown old, her pleasures are past. Advent; or, Epistle for 4th Sunday in Advent. 19. There was joy in heaven. The Lost Sheep; or, Gospel for 3rd S. after Trinity. 20. Though sorrows rise and dangers roll. St. James's Day. 21. To conquer and to save, the Son of God. Christ the Conqueror. 22. Virgin-born, we bow before Thee. The Virgin Mary. Blessed amongst women, or, Gospel for 3rd S. in Lent. 23. Wake not, 0 mother, sounds of lamentation. Raising the Widow's Son, or, Gospel for 16th S. after Trinity. 24. When on her Maker's bosom. Holy Matrimony, or, Gospel for 2nd S. after Epiphany. 25. When through the torn sail the wild tempest is streaming. Stilling the Sea, or, Gospel for 4th Sunday after Epiphany. 26. Who yonder on the desert heath. The Good Samaritan, or, Gospel for 13th Sunday after Trinity. This list is a good index of the subjects treated of in those of Heber's hymns which are given under their first lines, and shows that he used the Gospels far more than the Epistles in his work. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)