Person Results

Switch back to the old search page.Advanced Search

Showing 41 - 50 of 154Results Per Page: 10 20 50

James Montgomery

1771 - 1854 Scripture: Psalm 22 Author of "Glad was my heart to hear" in Sacred Poems and Hymns James Montgomery (b. Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1771; d. Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, 1854), the son of Moravian parents who died on a West Indies mission field while he was in boarding school, Montgomery inherited a strong religious bent, a passion for missions, and an independent mind. He was editor of the Sheffield Iris (1796-1827), a newspaper that sometimes espoused radical causes. Montgomery was imprisoned briefly when he printed a song that celebrated the fall of the Bastille and again when he described a riot in Sheffield that reflected unfavorably on a military commander. He also protested against slavery, the lot of boy chimney sweeps, and lotteries. Associated with Christians of various persuasions, Montgomery supported missions and the British Bible Society. He published eleven volumes of poetry, mainly his own, and at least four hundred hymns. Some critics judge his hymn texts to be equal in quality to those of Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley . Many were published in Thomas Cotterill's Selection of Psalms and Hymns (1819 edition) and in Montgomery's own Songs of Zion (1822), Christian Psalmist (1825), and Original Hymns (1853). Bert Polman ======================== Montgomery, James, son of John Montgomery, a Moravian minister, was born at Irvine, Ayrshire, Nov. 4, 1771. In 1776 he removed with his parents to the Moravian Settlement at Gracehill, near Ballymena, county of Antrim. Two years after he was sent to the Fulneck Seminary, Yorkshire. He left Fulneck in 1787, and entered a retail shop at Mirfield, near Wakefield. Soon tiring of that he entered upon a similar situation at Wath, near Rotherham, only to find it quite as unsuitable to his taste as the former. A journey to London, with the hope of finding a publisher for his youthful poems ended in failure; and in 1792 he was glad to leave Wath for Shefield to join Mr. Gales, an auctioneer, bookseller, and printer of the Sheffield Register newspaper, as his assistant. In 1794 Mr. Gales left England to avoid a political prosecution. Montgomery took the Sheffield Register in hand, changed its name to The Sheffield Iris, and continued to edit it for thirty-one years. During the next two years he was imprisoned twice, first for reprinting therein a song in commemoration of "The Fall of the Bastille," and the second for giving an account of a riot in Sheffield. The editing of his paper, the composition and publication of his poems and hynms, the delivery of lectures on poetry in Sheffield and at the Royal Institution, London, and the earnest advocacy of Foreign Missions and the Bible Society in many parts of the country, gave great variety but very little of stirring incident to his life. In 1833 he received a Royal pension of £200 a year. He died in his sleep, at the Mount, Sheffield, April 30, 1854, and was honoured with a public funeral. A statue was erected to his memory in the Sheffield General Cemetery, and a stained glass window in the Parish Church. A Wesleyan chapel and a public hall are also named in his honour. Montgomery's principal poetical works, including those which he edited, were:— (1) Prison Amusements, 1797; (2) The Wanderer of Switzerland, 1806; (3) The West Indies, 1807; (4) The World before the Flood, 1813; (5) Greenland and Other Poems, 1819; (6) Songs of Zion, 1822; (7) The Christian Psalmist, 1825; (8) The Christian Poet, 1825; (9) The Pelican Island, 1828; (10) The Poet’s Portfolio, 1835; (11) Original Hymns for Public, Private, and Social Devotion, 1853. He also published minor pieces at various times, and four editions of his Poetical Works, the first in 1828, the second in 1836, the third in 1841, and the fourth in 1854. Most of these works contained original hymns. He also contributed largely to Collyer's Collection, 1812, and other hymnbooks published during the next 40 years, amongst which the most noticeable was Cotterill's Selections of 1819, in which more than 50 of his compositions appeared. In his Christian Psalmist, 1825, there are 100 of his hymns, and in his Original Hymns, 1853, 355 and 5 doxologies. His Songs of Zion, 1822, number 56. Deducting those which are repeated in the Original Hymns, there remain about 400 original compositions. Of Montgomery's 400 hymns (including his versions of the Psalms) more than 100 are still in common use. With the aid of Montgomery's MSS. we have given a detailed account of a large number. The rest are as follows:— i. Appeared in Collyer's Collection, 1812. 1. Jesus, our best beloved Friend. Personal Dedication to Christ. 2. When on Sinai's top I see. Sinai, Tabor, and Calvary. ii. Appeared in Cotterill's Selection, 1819. 3. Come to Calvary's holy mountain. The Open Fountain. 4. God in the high and holy place. God in Nature. The cento in Com. Praise, 1879, and others, "If God hath made this world so fair," is from this hymn. 5. Hear me, O Lord, in my distress. Ps. cxliii. 6. Heaven is a place of rest from sin. Preparation for Heaven. 7. I cried unto the Lord most just. Ps. cxlii. 8. Lord, let my prayer like incense rise. Ps. cxxxix. 9. O bless the Lord, my soul! His grace to thee proclaim. Ps. ciii. 10. Out of the depths of woe. Ps. cxxx. Sometimes "When from the depths of woe." 11. The world in condemnation lay. Redemption. 12. Where are the dead? In heaven or hell? The Living and the Dead. iii. Appeared in his Songs of Zion, 1822. 13. Give glory to God in the highest. Ps. xxix. 14. Glad was my heart to hear. Ps. cxxii. 15. God be merciful to me. Ps. lxix. 16. God is my strong salvation. Ps. xxvii. 17. Hasten, Lord, to my release. Ps. lxx. 18. Have mercy on me, O my God. Ps. li. 19. Hearken, Lord, to my complaints. Ps. xlii. 20. Heralds of creation cry. Ps. cxlviii. 21. How beautiful the sight. Ps. cxxxiii. 22. How precious are Thy thoughts of peace. Ps. cxxxix. 23. I love the Lord, He lent an ear. Ps. cxvi. 24. In time of tribulation. Ps. lxxvii. 25. Jehovah is great, and great be His praise. Ps. xlviii. Sometimes, "0 great is Jehovah, and great is His Name." 26. Judge me, O Lord, in righteousness. Ps. xliii. 27. Lift up your heads, ye gates, and wide. Ps.xxiv. 28. Lord, let me know mine [my] end. Ps. xxxi. 29. Of old, 0 God, Thine own right hand. Ps. lxxx. 30. O God, Thou art [my] the God alone. Ps. lxiii. 31. 0 Lord, our King, how excellent. Ps. viii. Sometimes, "0 Lord, how excellent is Thy name." 32. O my soul, with all thy powers. Ps. ciii. 33. One thing with all my soul's desire. Ps. xxvii. From this, "Grant me within Thy courts a place." 34. Searcher of hearts, to Thee are known. Ps. cxxxix. 35. Thank and praise Jehovah's name. Ps. cvii. 36. Thee will I praise, O Lord in light. Ps. cxxxviii. 37. The Lord is King; upon His throne. Ps. xciii. 38. The Lord is my Shepherd, no want shall I know. Ps. xxiii. 39. The tempter to my soul hath said. Ps. iii. 40. Thrice happy he who shuns the way. Ps. i. 41. Thy glory, Lord, the heavens declare. Ps. xix. 42. Thy law is perfect, Lord of light. Ps. xix. 43. Who make the Lord of hosts their tower. Ps. cxxv. 44. Yea, I will extol Thee. Ps. xxx. iv. Appeared in his Christian Psalmist. 1825. 45. Fall down, ye nations, and adore. Universal adoration of God desired. 46. Food, raiment, dwelling, health, and friends. The Family Altar. 47. Go where a foot hath never trod. Moses in the desert. Previously in the Leeds Congregational Collection, 1822. 48. Green pastures and clear streams. The Good Shepherd and His Flock. 49. Less than the least of all. Mercies acknowledged. 50. Not to the mount that burned with fire [flame]. Communion of Saints. 51. On the first Christian Sabbath eve. Easter Sunday Evening. 52. One prayer I have: all prayers in one. Resignation. 53. Our heavenly Father hear. The Lord's Prayer. 54. Return, my soul, unto thy rest. Rest in God. 55. Spirit of power and might, behold. The Spirit's renewing desired. 56. The Christian warrior, see him stand. The Christian Soldier. Sometimes, "Behold the Christian warrior stand." 57. The days and years of time are fled. Day of Judgment. 58. The glorious universe around. Unity. 59. The pure and peaceful mind. A Children's Prayer. 60. This is the day the Lord hath made (q. v.). Sunday. 61. Thy word, Almighty Lord. Close of Service. 62. What secret hand at morning light ? Morning. 63. While through this changing world we roam. Heaven. 64. Within these walls be peace. For Sunday Schools. v. Appeared in his Original Hymns, 1853. 65. Behold yon bright array. Opening a Place of Worship. 66. Behold the book whose leaves display. Holy Scriptures. 67. Come ye that fear the Lord. Confirmation. 68. Home, kindred, friends, and country, these. Farewell to a Missionary. 69. Let me go, the day is breaking. Jacob wrestling. 70. Not in Jerusalem alone. Consecration of a Church. 71. Praise the high and holy One. God the Creator. In common with most poets and hymnwriters, Montgomery strongly objected to any correction or rearrangement of his compositions. At the same time he did not hesitate to alter, rearrange, and amend the productions of others. The altered texts which appeared in Cotterill's Selections, 1819, and which in numerous instances are still retained in some of the best hymnbooks, as the "Rock of Ages," in its well-known form of three stanzas, and others of equal importance, were made principally by him for Cotterill's use. We have this confession under his own hand. As a poet, Montgomery stands well to the front; and as a writer of hymns he ranks in popularity with Wesley, Watts, Doddridge, Newton, and Cowper. His best hymns were written in his earlier years. In his old age he wrote much that was unworthy of his reputation. His finest lyrics are "Angels from the realms of glory," "Go to dark Gethsemane," "Hail to the Lord's Anointed," and "Songs of praise the angels sang." His "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire," is an expanded definition of prayer of great beauty; and his "Forever with the Lord" is full of lyric fire and deep feeling. The secrets of his power as a writer of hymns were manifold. His poetic genius was of a high order, higher than most who stand with him in the front rank of Christian poets. His ear for rhythm was exceedingly accurate and refined. His knowledge of Holy Scripture was most extensive. His religious views were broad and charitable. His devotional spirit was of the holiest type. With the faith of a strong man he united the beauty and simplicity of a child. Richly poetic without exuberance, dogmatic without uncharitableness, tender without sentimentality, elaborate without diffusiveness, richly musical without apparent effort, he has bequeathed to the Church of Christ wealth which could onlv have come from a true genius and a sanctified! heart. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Richard Wilbur

1921 - 2017 Person Name: Richard Wilbur, 1921- Scripture: Psalm 22:1 Author of "A Stable Lamp Is Lighted" in Worship and Rejoice Richard Wilbur was born in New York City on March 1, 1921. He graduated with a B.A. from Amherst, where he was editor of the college newspaper, in 1942. Youthful engagements with leftist causes caught the attention of federal investigators when he was in training as a U.S. Army cryptographer, and he was demoted to a front-line infantry position where he saw action in the field in Italy, France and Germany. (When the cryptographer in Wilbur’s unit was killed, Wilbur also took over that function.) After demobilization, he continued his studies at Harvard where he obtained an M.A. in 1947, the year his first book was published. He was a member of the prestigious Harvard Fellows and taught there until 1954, when he moved to Wellesley and then to Wesleyan University. At Wesleyan he was instrumental in the founding of the acclaimed Wesleyan University Press poetry series that, from 1959 onward, featured new work by such important young poets as Robert Bly, James Wright, James Dickey, and Richard Howard, as well as such already-established writers as Louis Simpson and Barbara Howes. From Wesleyan he went to Smith as writer-in-residence. In 1987 he was named the second Poet Laureate of the U.S., following Robert Penn Warren. In the postwar years, when poets born between 1920 and 1935 often underwent dramatic changes in their writing styles, Wilbur remained someone who mastered a style early and continued to work within it. It is a style in a direct line of descent from Wallace Stevens: unabashedly rich in its diction, urbane in its metrical sophistication, and remarkably light-hearted and playful. His first and second books, The Beautiful Changes (1947) and Ceremony (1950), were influential volumes, and Wilbur was widely regarded in the 1950s as a poet no less important than Robert Lowell. His third collection, Things of This World (1956), was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Advice to a Prophet (1961) was followed by Walking to Sleep (1969), which was charlee.jpg (42846 bytes)awarded the Bollingen Prize. The Mind-Reader was published in 1976, and a New and Collected Poems in 1987 (with twenty-four new poems). "The typical ghastly poem of the fifties was a Wilbur poem not written by Wilbur," wrote Donald Hall in 1961, "a poem with tired wit and obvious comparisons and nothing to keep the mind or the ear occupied." Hall added presciently: "It wasn’t Wilbur’s fault, though I expect he will be asked to suffer for it." Wilbur’s poetry has not, as Hall predicted, retained the high value it had accrued in the postwar years. Although his fame as a translator has continued to grow – his blank verse rhymed-couplet versions of several plays by Moliere have received wide praise – his poetry is often cited as an example of the formalism and the apolitical timidity that is associated with the 1950s. "Wilbur is still admired," Robert von Hallberg notes in his contribution to the Cambridge History of American Literature (1996), "but really as the best poet of the 1950s." Even though he is an outstanding example, he excels in a debased category. Among minor poets he is allowed to be most major, but among major poets he is not even considered the most minor. A Wilbur poem reads so easily that it can dispel close scrutiny, as if the poem just as it is says all that needs to be said and withholds nothing. (As a result, Wilbur’s work has rarely attracted the attention of the skillful critic.) In fact, the smooth surface of the Wilbur poem can successfully distract us from recognizing how unusual and unexpected are the twists and leaps that structure the poem’s narrative. Many poems by Wilbur, while striking a superficial "balance," implicitly celebrate, while demonstrating, the virtues of a wit that is elaborately playful. --www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/wilbur/bio.htm He died on October 14, 2017, at a nursing home in Belmont, Massachusetts. --Wikipedia

David Hurd

b. 1950 Person Name: David Hurd, 1950- Scripture: Psalm 22:1 Composer of "ANDUJAR" in Worship and Rejoice David Hurd (b. Brooklyn, New York, 1950) was a boy soprano at St. Gabriel's Church in Hollis, Long Island, New York. Educated at Oberlin College and the University of North Carolina, he has been professor of church music and organist at General Theological Seminary in New York since 1976. In 1985 he also became director of music for All Saints Episcopal Church, New York. Hurd is an outstanding recitalist and improvisor and a composer of organ, choral, and instrumental music. In 1987 David Hurd was awarded the degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa, by the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. The following year he received honorary doctorates from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, California, and from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois. His I Sing As I Arise Today, the collected hymn tunes of David Hurd, was published in 2010. Bert Polman and Emily Brink

Barbara Woollett

b. 1937 Person Name: Barbara Woollett, 1937- Scripture: Psalm 22:1-5 Paraphraser of "How Long, O Lord" in Worship and Rejoice Barbara Woollett-- Born on 30 January 1937 in Southampton, where she has lived ever since. Educated at Sholing Secondary School for Girls; married David Woollett, an engineer; they have three children and six grandchildren. She has been a full-time housewife and mother, a volunteer ward assistant in a large city hospital, and a mature student for a GCSE in Drama, as well as being active in a local amateur dramatic group. She is a member of the Jubilate Group. She has written several hymn texts, Psalm versions and other verses. Publications featuring her work include Church Family Worship (1988); Come, Rejoice (1989); Songs from the Psalms (1990); Psalms for Today (1990) which has four of her paraphrases; "Let's Praise" 2 (1994); "Sing Glory" (1999); and "Praise!" (2000). Appearing in several books are her versions of Psalm 13, "How long, O Lord, will your forget an answer to my prayer"; and Psalm 84, "How lovely is your dwelling-place, O Lord most high". Among North American hymnals, The Worshiping Church (1990) has three of her texts and Worship and Rejoice (2001) has two, all of these from the Psalms. --www.jubilate.co.uk/about

Christopher Norton

b. 1953 Person Name: Christopher Norton, 1953- Scripture: Psalm 22:1-5 Composer of "[How long, O Lord, will you forget]" in Worship and Rejoice

Ronald F. Krisman

Scripture: Psalm 22:8-9 Translator (Antiphon) of "Psalm 22: My God, My God (Dios Mío, Dios Mío" in Oramos Cantando = We Pray In Song

Tony Alonso

b. 1980 Person Name: TA Scripture: Psalm 22 Composer of "[Dios mío, Dios mío]" in Oramos Cantando = We Pray In Song Tony Alonso has published several collections of liturgical music and his music appears in many hymnals throughout the world. He has an Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a M.A. degree in theology from Loyola Marymount University.