1733 - 1811 Person Name: B. Cleveland Author of "O Could I Find" in Songs of Praise Number One Cleveland, Benjamin. Probably a Baptist, but known only by his Hymns on Different Spiritual Subjects, in Two Parts, whereof the 4th ed. appeared in Norwich, Connecticut, 1792. He is the author of:—
0 could I find from day to day. [Longing for Christ.] This was preserved from oblivion by the Hartford Selection 1799, and is now in general use as altered and abridged to 4 stanzas by Nettleton, in his Village Hymns, 1824, No. 145. What is supposed to be the original text of the first four stanzas is found in Dr. Hatfield's Church Hymn Book, 1872, No. 876. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Cleveland, Benjamin. (Windham, Connecticut, August 30, 1733--March 9, 1811, Horton [now Wolfville], Nova Scotia). Baptist. Son of Benjamin Cleveland. The name is sometimes spelled "Cleavland" or "Cleaveland" in family records. He was a layman and a Baptist deacon; little else is known of his life except that of his twelve children, one, Nathan Cleveland, became a Baptist minister. He published in 1792 his Hymns on Different Subjects. In Two Parts in Norwich, Connecticut. His hymn, "O could I find from day to day," was widely reprinted through most of the nineteenth century. In his 1792 collection, it had six stanzas. Joshua Smith reprinted it in 1797, and it was altered for the Hartford Selection of 1799. Asahel Nettleton abridged it to four stanzas and altered it for his Village Hymns in 1824. It was in this form that it was widely sung; it was reprinted in the same for in Edwin Francis Hatfield's Church Hymn Book, 1872. the original first four stanzas treat the desire to "find from day to day a nearness to my God" throughout the course of life, ending in stanza 4 "Thus, till my last expiring breath, Thy goodness I'll adore . . ."
--Thomas W. Hunt, DNAH Archives
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