1759 - 1828 Person Name: J. E. A. S. Hymnal Number: 235 Author of "Be Thou, O God, our guide" in The Sabbath School Lute Smith, Sir James Edward, born at Norwich Dec. 2, 1759; died March 17, 1828. A distinguished botanist, and President of the Linnaean Society from its foundation in 1788 to the time of his death. He was knighted when the Prince Regent became, in 1814, a Patron of the Society. Smith studied medicine at Edinburgh, and, in 1786, graduated as a physician at Leyden. After further travels abroad he finally settled down at Norwich in 1797. He published English Botany in 36 vols. (beginning in 1790) and various other botanical works. He was also a large contributor to Rees's Encyclopaedia. The friend of Dr. Enfield and John Taylor, he was also a member of the congregation meeting in the Octagon Chapel, Norwich, and a subscriber to the British and Foreign Unitarian Association. He contributed 3 hymns to A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship, Norwich, 1814 (printed for the Octagon Chapel); and 6 others to the Supplement added to the 2nd edition, 1826. Of these the following are in Dr. Martineau's Hymns, &c, 1840; his Hymns, &c, 1873, and other Unitarian collections:—
1. Adore, my soul, that awful Name (1814). Dependence upon God.
2. As twilight's gradual veil is spread (1814). Nature and Immortality.
3. Holy, wise, eternal Father (1826). The Mansions of the Blessed.
4. How glorious are those orbs of light (1826). Nature and Immortality.
5. Praise waits in Zion, Lord, for Thee (1826). Public Worship.
6. When power divine in mortal form (1826). Confidence in God.
7. Who shall a temple build for Him (1826). God's Temple in the Heart. [Rev. Valentine D. Davis, B.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
James Edward Smith
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