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There is a green hill far away
Author: Cecil Frances Alexander Meter: 8.6.8.6 Appears in 706 hymnals Topics: Trust and Resignation; Week Days Friday; Lent; Seven Last Words Fifth Word Used With Tune: HORSLEY
There is a green hill far away
How shall the young secure their hearts
Appears in 485 hymnals Lyrics: 1 How shall the young secure their hearts,
And guard their lives from sin?
Thy Word the choicest rules imparts
To keep the conscience clean.
2 'Tis like the sun, a heavenly light
That guides us all the day,
And through the dangers of the night
A lamp to lead our way.
3 Thy precepts make me truly wise,
I hate the sinner's road;
I hate mine own vain thoughts that rise,
But love Thy law, my God.
4 Thy Word is everlasting truth;
How pure is every page!
That Holy Book shall guide our youth,
And well support our age.
Amen. Used With Tune: HORSLEY
How shall the young secure their hearts
Thy Word is like a garden, Lord
Author: Edwin Hodder Appears in 157 hymnals Used With Tune: HORSLEY
Thy Word is like a garden, Lord
Thou, O My Jesus
Author: E. Caswall; F. Xavier Hymnal: The Friends' Hymnal, a Collection of Hymns and Tunes for the Public Worship of the Society #a373 (1908) First Line: Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me Languages: English Tune Title: HORSLEY
Thou, O My Jesus
There is a Green Hill Far Away
Author: Cecil Frances Alexander (1823-95) Hymnal: The Children's Book of Hymns #18 (1928) Languages: English Tune Title: HORSLEY
There is a Green Hill Far Away
There Is a Green Hill Far Away
Author: Mrs. C. F. Alexander Hymnal: Hymnal for Soldiers and Sailors #20 (1918) Languages: English Tune Title: HORSLEY
There Is a Green Hill Far Away
Cecil Frances Alexander
1818 - 1895 Person Name: Cecil F.rances Alexander Author of "There is a green hill far away" in The Hymnal As a small girl, Cecil Frances Humphries (b. Redcross, County Wicklow, Ireland, 1818; Londonderry, Ireland, 1895) wrote poetry in her school's journal. In 1850 she married Rev. William Alexander, who later became the Anglican primate (chief bishop) of Ireland. She showed her concern for disadvantaged people by traveling many miles each day to visit the sick and the poor, providing food, warm clothes, and medical supplies. She and her sister also founded a school for the deaf. Alexander was strongly influenced by the Oxford Movement and by John Keble's Christian Year. Her first book of poetry, Verses for Seasons, was a "Christian Year" for children. She wrote hymns based on the Apostles' Creed, baptism, the Lord's Supper, the Ten Commandments, and prayer, writing in simple language for children. Her more than four hundred hymn texts were published in Verses from the Holy Scripture (1846), Hymns for Little Children (1848), and Hymns Descriptive and Devotional ( 1858).
Bert Polman
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Alexander, Cecil Frances, née Humphreys, second daughter of the late Major John Humphreys, Miltown House, co. Tyrone, Ireland, b. 1823, and married in 1850 to the Rt. Rev. W. Alexander, D.D., Bishop of Derry and Raphoe. Mrs. Alexander's hymns and poems number nearly 400. They are mostly for children, and were published in her Verses for Holy Seasons, with Preface by Dr. Hook, 1846; Poems on Subjects in the Old Testament, pt. i. 1854, pt. ii. 1857; Narrative Hymns for Village Schools, 1853; Hymns for Little Children, 1848; Hymns Descriptive and Devotional, 1858; The Legend of the Golden Prayers 1859; Moral Songs, N.B.; The Lord of the Forest and his Vassals, an Allegory, &c.; or contributed to the Lyra Anglicana, the S.P.C.K. Psalms and Hymns, Hymns Ancient & Modern, and other collections. Some of the narrative hymns are rather heavy, and not a few of the descriptive are dull, but a large number remain which have won their way to the hearts of the young, and found a home there. Such hymns as "In Nazareth in olden time," "All things bright and beautiful," "Once in Royal David's city," "There is a green hill far away," "Jesus calls us o'er the tumult," "The roseate hues of early dawn," and others that might be named, are deservedly popular and are in most extensive use. Mrs. Alexander has also written hymns of a more elaborate character; but it is as a writer for children that she has excelled.
- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Alexander, Cecil F., née Humphreys, p. 38, ii. Additional hymns to those already noted in this Dictionary are in common use:—
1. Christ has ascended up again. (1853.) Ascension.
2. His are the thousand sparkling rills. (1875.) Seven Words on the Cross (Fifth Word).
3. How good is the Almighty God. (1S48.) God, the Father.
4. In [a] the rich man's garden. (1853.) Easter Eve.
5. It was early in the morning. (1853.) Easter Day.
6. So be it, Lord; the prayers are prayed. (1848.) Trust in God.
7. Saw you never in the twilight? (1853.) Epiphany.
8. Still bright and blue doth Jordan flow. (1853.) Baptism of Our Lord.
9. The angels stand around Thy throne. (1848.) Submission to the Will of God.
10. The saints of God are holy men. (1848.) Communion of Saints.
11. There is one Way and only one. (1875.) SS. Philip and James.
12. Up in heaven, up in heaven. (1848.) Ascension.
13. We are little Christian children. (1848.) Holy Trinity.
14. We were washed in holy water. (1848.) Holy Baptism.
15. When of old the Jewish mothers. (1853.) Christ's Invitation to Children.
16. Within the Churchyard side by side. (1848.) Burial.
Of the above hymns those dated 1848 are from Mrs. Alexander's Hymns for Little Children; those dated 1853, from Narrative Hymns, and those dated 1875 from the 1875 edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern.
Several new hymns by Mrs. Alexander are included in the 1891 Draft Appendix to the Irish Church Hymnal.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
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Alexander, Cecil F. , p. 38, ii. Mrs. Alexander died at Londonderry, Oct. 12, 1895. A number of her later hymns are in her Poems, 1896, which were edited by Archbishop Alexander.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
See also in:Hymn Writers of the Church
Cecil Frances Alexander
Edward Caswall
1814 - 1878 Translator of "My God, I love Thee--not because" in Book of Worship with Hymns and Tunes Edward Caswall was born in 1814, at Yately, in Hampshire, where his father was a clergyman. In 1832, he went to Brasenose College, Oxford, and in 1836, took a second-class in classics. His humorous work, "The Art of Pluck," was published in 1835; it is still selling at Oxford, having passed through many editions. In 1838, he was ordained Deacon, and in 1839, Priest. He became perpetural Curate of Stratford-sub-Castle in 1840. In 1841, he resigned his incumbency and visited Ireland. In 1847, he joined the Church of Rome. In 1850, he was admitted into the Congregation of the Oratory at Birmingham, where he has since remained. He has published several works in prose and poetry.
--Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A. 1872
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Caswall, Edward, M.A., son of the Rev. R. C. Caswall, sometime Vicar of Yately, Hampshire, born at Yately, July 15, 1814, and educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, graduating in honours in 1836. Taking Holy Orders in 1838, he became in 1840 Incumbent of Stratford-sub-Castle, near Salisbury, and resigned the same in 1847. In 1850 (Mrs. Caswall having died in 1849) he was received into the Roman Catholic communion, and joined Dr. Newman at the Oratory, Edgbaston. His life thenceforth, although void of stirring incidents, was marked by earnest devotion to his clerical duties and a loving interest in the poor, the sick, and in little children. His original poems and hymns were mostly written at the Oratory. He died at Edgbaston, Jan. 2, 1878, and was buried on Jan. 7 at Redwall, near Bromsgrove, by his leader and friend Cardinal Newman. Caswall's translations of Latin hymns from the Roman Breviary and other sources have a wider circulation in modern hymnals than those of any other translator, Dr. Neale alone excepted. This is owing to his general faithfulness to the originals, and the purity of his rhythm, the latter feature specially adapting his hymns to music, and for congregational purposes. His original compositions, although marked by considerable poetical ability, are not extensive in their use, their doctrinal teaching being against their general adoption outside the Roman communion. His hymns appeared in:—
(1) Lyra Catholica, which contained 197 translations from the Roman Breviary, Missal, and other sources. First ed. London, James Burns, 1849. This was reprinted in New York in 1851, with several hymns from other sources added thereto. This edition is quoted in the indices to some American hymn-books as Lyra Cath., as in Beecher's Plymouth Collection, 1855, and others.
(2) Masque of Mary, and Other Poems, having in addition to the opening poem and a few miscellaneous pieces, 53 translations, and 51 hymns. 1st ed. Lon., Burns and Lambert, 1858.
(3) A May Pageant and Other Poems, including 10 original hymns. Lon., Burns and Lambert, 1865.
(4) Hymns and Poems, being the three preceding volumes embodied in one, with many of the hymns rewritten or revised, together with elaborate indices. 1st ed. Lon., Burns, Oates & Co., 1873. Of his original hymns about 20 are given in the Roman Catholic Crown of Jesus Hymn Book, N.D; there are also several in the Hymns for the Year, N.D., and other Roman Catholic collections.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Caswall, E. , p. 214, ii. Additional original hymns by Caswall are in the Arundel Hymns, 1902, and other collections. The following are from the Masque of Mary, &c, 1858:—
1. Christian soul, dost thou desire. After Holy Communion.
2. Come, let me for a moment cast. Holy Communion.
3. O Jesu Christ [Lord], remember. Holy Communion.
4. Oft, my soul, thyself remind. Man's Chief End.
5. Sleep, Holy Babe. Christmas. Appeared in the Rambler, June 1850, p. 528. Sometimes given as "Sleep, Jesus, sleep."
6. The glory of summer. Autumn.
7. This is the image of the queen. B. V. M.
His "See! amid the winter's snow,” p. 1037, i., was published in Easy Hymn Tunes, 1851, p. 36. In addition the following, mainly altered texts or centos of his translations are also in common use:—
1. A regal throne, for Christ's dear sake. From "Riches and regal throne," p. 870, ii.
2. Come, Holy Ghost, Thy grace inspire. From "Spirit of grace and union," p. 945, i.
3. Hail! ocean star, p. 99, ii,, as 1873. In the Birmingham Oratory Hymn Book, 1850, p. 158.
4. Lovely flow'rs of martyrs, hail. This is the 1849 text. His 1873 text is "Flowers of martyrdom," p. 947, i.
5. None of all the noble cities. From "Bethlehem! of noblest cities," p. 946, ii.
6. O Jesu, Saviour of the World. From “Jesu, Redeemer of the world," p. 228, ii.
7. 0 Lady, high in glory raised. From "O Lady, high in glory, Whose," p. 945, i.
The Parochial Hymn Book, 1880, has also the following original hymns by Caswall. As their use is confined to this collection, we give the numbers only:—
IS os. 1, 2, 3, 159 (Poems, 1873, p. 453), 209 (1873, p. 288), 299, 324 (1873, p. 323), 357, 402, 554, 555, 558, 569 (1873, p. 334). These are from his Masque of Mary 1858. Nos. 156, 207 (1873, p. 296), 208 (1873, p. 297), 518. These are from his May Pageant, 1865.
As several of these hymns do not begin with the original first lines, the original texts are indicated as found in his Poems, 1873. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
Edward Caswall
William Cowper
1731 - 1800 Person Name: W. Cowper, 1731-1800 Author of "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood" in Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary William Cowper (pronounced "Cooper"; b. Berkampstead, Hertfordshire, England, 1731; d. East Dereham, Norfolk, England, 1800) is regarded as one of the best early Romantic poets. To biographers he is also known as "mad Cowper." His literary talents produced some of the finest English hymn texts, but his chronic depression accounts for the somber tone of many of those texts. Educated to become an attorney, Cowper was called to the bar in 1754 but never practiced law. In 1763 he had the opportunity to become a clerk for the House of Lords, but the dread of the required public examination triggered his tendency to depression, and he attempted suicide. His subsequent hospitalization and friendship with Morley and Mary Unwin provided emotional stability, but the periods of severe depression returned. His depression was deepened by a religious bent, which often stressed the wrath of God, and at times Cowper felt that God had predestined him to damnation.
For the last two decades of his life Cowper lived in Olney, where John Newton became his pastor. There he assisted Newton in his pastoral duties, and the two collaborated on the important hymn collection Olney Hymns (1779), to which Cowper contributed sixty-eight hymn texts.
Bert Polman
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Cowper, William, the poet. The leading events in the life of Cowper are: born in his father's rectory, Berkhampstead, Nov. 26, 1731; educated at Westminster; called to the Bar, 1754; madness, 1763; residence at Huntingdon, 1765; removal to Olney, 1768; to Weston, 1786; to East Dereham, 1795; death there, April 25, 1800.
The simple life of Cowper, marked chiefly by its innocent recreations and tender friendships, was in reality a tragedy. His mother, whom he commemorated in the exquisite "Lines on her picture," a vivid delineation of his childhood, written in his 60th year, died when he was six years old. At his first school he was profoundly wretched, but happier at Westminster; excelling at cricket and football, and numbering Warren Hastings, Colman, and the future model of his versification. Churchill, among his contemporaries or friends. Destined for the Bar, he was articled to a solicitor, along with Thurlow. During this period he fell in love with his cousin, Theodora Cowper, sister to Lady Hesketh, and wrote love poems to her. The marriage was forbidden by her father, but she never forgot him, and in after years secretly aided his necessities. Fits of melancholy, from which he had suffered in school days, began to increase, as he entered on life, much straitened in means after his father's death. But on the whole, it is the playful, humorous side of him that is most prominent in the nine years after his call to the Bar; spent in the society of Colman, Bonnell Thornton, and Lloyd, and in writing satires for The Connoisseur and St. James's Chronicle and halfpenny ballads. Then came the awful calamity, which destroyed all hopes of distinction, and made him a sedentary invalid, dependent on his friends. He had been nominated to the Clerkship of the Journals of the House of Lords, but the dread of appearing before them to show his fitness for the appointment overthrew his reason. He attempted his life with "laudanum, knife and cord,"—-in the third attempt nearly succeeding. The dark delusion of his life now first showed itself—a belief in his reprobation by God. But for the present, under the wise and Christian treatment of Dr. Cotton (q. v.) at St. Albans, it passed away; and the eight years that followed, of which the two first were spent at Huntingdon (where he formed his lifelong friendship with Mrs. Unwin), and the remainder at Olney in active piety among the poor, and enthusiastic devotions under the guidance of John Newton (q. v.), were full of the realisation of God's favour, and the happiest, most lucid period of his life. But the tension of long religious exercises, the nervous excitement of leading at prayer meetings, and the extreme despondence (far more than the Calvinism) of Newton, could scarcely have been a healthy atmosphere for a shy, sensitive spirit, that needed most of all the joyous sunlight of Christianity. A year after his brother's death, madness returned. Under the conviction that it was the command of God, he attempted suicide; and he then settled down into a belief in stark contradiction to his Calvinistic creed, "that the Lord, after having renewed him in holiness, had doomed him to everlasting perdition" (Southey). In its darkest form his affliction lasted sixteen months, during which he chiefly resided in J. Newton's house, patiently tended by him and by his devoted nurse, Mrs. Unwin. Gradually he became interested in carpentering, gardening, glazing, and the tendance of some tame hares and other playmates. At the close of 1780, Mrs. Unwin suggested to him some serious poetical work; and the occupation proved so congenial, that his first volume was published in 1782. To a gay episode in 1783 (his fascination by the wit of Lady Austen) his greatest poem, The Task, and also John Gilpin were owing. His other principal work was his Homer, published in 1791. The dark cloud had greatly lifted from his life when Lady Hesketh's care accomplished his removal to Weston (1786): but the loss of his dear friend William Unwin lowered it again for some months. The five years' illness of Mrs. Unwin, during which his nurse of old became his tenderly-watched patient, deepened the darkness more and more. And her death (1796) brought “fixed despair," of which his last poem, The Castaway, is the terrible memorial. Perhaps no more beautiful sentence has been written of him, than the testimony of one, who saw him after death, that with the "composure and calmness" of the face there “mingled, as it were, a holy surprise."
Cowper's poetry marks the dawn of the return from the conventionality of Pope to natural expression, and the study of quiet nature. His ambition was higher than this, to be the Bard of Christianity. His great poems show no trace of his monomania, and are full of healthy piety. His fame as a poet is less than as a letter-writer: the charm of his letters is unsurpassed. Though the most considerable poet, who has written hymns, he has contributed little to the development of their structure, adopting the traditional modes of his time and Newton's severe canons. The spiritual ideas of the hymns are identical with Newton's: their highest note is peace and thankful contemplation, rather than joy: more than half of them are full of trustful or reassuring faith: ten of them are either submissive (44), self-reproachful (17, 42, 43), full of sad yearning (1, 34), questioning (9), or dark spiritual conflict (38-40). The specialty of Cowper's handling is a greater plaintiveness, tenderness, and refinement. A study of these hymns as they stood originally under the classified heads of the Olney Hymns, 1779, which in some cases probably indicate the aim of Cowper as well as the ultimate arrangement of the book by Newton, shows that one or two hymns were more the history of his conversion, than transcripts of present feelings; and the study of Newton's hymns in the same volume, full of heavy indictment against the sins of his own regenerate life, brings out the peculiar danger of his friendship to the poet: it tends also to modify considerably the conclusions of Southey as to the signs of incipient madness in Cowper's maddest hymns. Cowper's best hymns are given in The Book of Praise by Lord Selborne. Two may be selected from them; the exquisitely tender "Hark! my soul, it is the Lord" (q. v.), and "Oh, for a closer walk with God" (q. v.). Anyone who knows Mrs. Browning's noble lines on Cowper's grave will find even a deeper beauty in the latter, which is a purely English hymn of perfect structure and streamlike cadence, by connecting its sadness and its aspiration not only with the “discord on the music" and the "darkness on the glory," but the rapture of his heavenly waking beneath the "pathetic eyes” of Christ.
Authorities. Lives, by Hayley; Grimshaw; Southey; Professor Goldwin Smith; Mr. Benham (attached to Globe Edition); Life of Newton, by Rev. Josiah Bull; and the Olney Hymns. The numbers of the hymns quoted refer to the Olney Hymns. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Cowper, W. , p. 265, i. Other hymns are:—
1. Holy Lord God, I love Thy truth. Hatred of Sin.
2. I was a grovelling creature once. Hope and Confidence.
3. No strength of nature can suffice. Obedience through love.
4. The Lord receives His highest praise. Faith.
5. The saints should never be dismayed. Providence. All these hymns appeared in the Olney Hymns, 1779.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
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Cowper, W., p. 265, i. Prof. John E. B. Mayor, of Cambridge, contributed some letters by Cowper, hitherto unpublished, together with notes thereon, to Notes and Queries, July 2 to Sept. 24, 1904. These letters are dated from Huntingdon, where he spent two years after leaving St. Alban's (see p. 265, i.), and Olney. The first is dated "Huntingdon, June 24, 1765," and the last "From Olney, July 14, 1772." They together with extracts from other letters by J. Newton (dated respectively Aug. 8, 1772, Nov. 4, 1772), two quotations without date, followed by the last in the N. & Q. series, Aug. 1773, are of intense interest to all students of Cowper, and especially to those who have given attention to the religious side of the poet's life, with its faint lights and deep and awful shadows. From the hymnological standpoint the additional information which we gather is not important, except concerning the hymns "0 for a closer walk with God," "God moves in a mysterious way," "Tis my happiness below," and "Hear what God, the Lord, hath spoken." Concerning the last three, their position in the manuscripts, and the date of the last from J. Newton in the above order, "Aug. 1773," is conclusive proof against the common belief that "God moves in a mysterious way" was written as the outpouring of Cowper's soul in gratitude for the frustration of his attempted suicide in October 1773.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
William Cowper
Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary
Publication Date: 2007 Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary
