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Frederic Henry Hedge

1805 - 1890 Hymnal Number: 205 Author of "Sovereign and transforming grace" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Hedge, Frederick Henry, D.D., son of Professor Hedge of Harvard College, was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1805, and educated in Germany and at Harvard. In 1829 he became pastor of the Unitarian Church, West Cambridge. In 1835 he removed to Bangor, Maine; in 1850 to Providence, and in 1856 to Brookline, Mass. He was appointed in 1857, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge (U.S.), and in 1872, Professor of German Literature at Harvard. Dr. Hedge is one of the editors of the Christian Examiner, and the author of The Prose Writers of Germany, and other works. In 1853 he edited, with Dr. F. D. Huntington, the Unitarian Hymns for the Church of Christ, Boston Crosby, Nichols & Co. To that collection and the supplement (1853) he contributed the following translations from the German:— 1. A mighty fortress is our God. (Ein feste Burg.) 2. Christ hath arisen! joy to, &c. (Goethe's Faust.) 3. The sun is still for ever sounding. (Goethe's Faust.) There is also in the Unitarian Hymn [& Tune] Book for The Church & Home, Boston, 1868, a translation from the Latin. 4. Holy Spirit, Fire divine. (“Veni Sancte Spiritus.") Dr. Hedge's original hymns, given in the Hymns for the Church, 1853, are:— 5. Beneath Thine hammer, Lord, I lie. Resignation. 6. Sovereign and transforming grace. Ordination. Written for the Ordination of H. D. Barlow at Lynn, Mass., Dec. 9, 1829. It is given in several collections. 7. 'Twas in the East, the mystic East. Christmas. 8. 'Twas the day when God's anointed. Good Friday. Written originally for a Confirmation at Bangor, Maine, held on Good Friday, 1843. The hymn "It is finished, Man of Sorrows! From Thy cross, &c," in a few collections, including Martineau's Hymns, &c, 1873, is composed of st. iv.-vi. of this hymn. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1807 - 1882 Hymnal Number: 215 Author of "I heard the trailing garments of the night" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth , D.C.L. was born at Portland, Maine, Feb. 27, 1807, and graduated at Bowdoin College, 1825. After residing in Europe for four years to qualify for the Chair of Modern Languages in that College, he entered upon the duties of the same. In 1835 he removed to Harvard, on his election as Professor of Modern Languages and Belles-Lettres. He retained that Professorship to 1854. His literary reputation is great, and his writings are numerous and well known. His poems, many of which are as household words in all English-speaking countries, display much learning and great poetic power. A few of these poems and portions of others have come into common use as hymns, but a hymn-writer in the strict sense of that term he was not and never claimed to be. His pieces in common use as hymns include:— 1. Alas, how poor and little worth. Life a Race. Translated from the Spanish of Don Jorge Manrique (d. 1479), in Longfellow's Poetry of Spain, 1833. 2. All is of God; if He but wave His hand. God All and in All. From his poem "The Two Angels," published in his Birds of Passage, 1858. It is in the Boston Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, &c. 3. Blind Bartimeus at the gate. Bartimeus. From his Miscellaneous Poems, 1841, into G. W. Conder's 1874 Appendix to the Leeds Hymn Book. 4. Christ to the young man said, "Yet one thing more." Ordination. Written for his brother's (S. Longfellow) ordination in 1848, and published in Seaside and Fireside, 1851. It was given in an altered form as "The Saviour said, yet one thing more," in H. W. Beecher's Plymouth Collection, 1855. 5. Sown the dark future through long generations. Peace. This, the closing part of his poem on "The Arsenal at Springfield," published in his Belfrey of Bruges, &c, 1845, was given in A Book of Hymns, 1848, and repeated in several collections. 6. Into the silent land. The Hereafter. A translation from the German. 7. Tell me not in mournful numbers. Psalm of Life. Published in his Voices of the Night, 1839, as "A Psalm of Life: What the heart of the Young Man said to the Psalmist." It is given in several hymnals in Great Britain and America. In some collections it begins with st. ii., "Life is real! Life is earnest." The universal esteem in which Longfellow was held as a poet and a man was marked in a special manner by his bust being placed in that temple of honour, Westminster Abbey. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907), p. 685 ======================= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow

Edmund H. Sears

1810 - 1876 Person Name: Edmund Hamilton Sears Hymnal Number: 307 Author of "Calm on the listening ear of night" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Edmund Hamilton Sears was born in Berkshire [County], Massachusetts, in 1810; graduated at Union College, Schenectady, in 1834, and at the Theological School of Harvard University, in 1837. He became pastor of the Unitarian Society in Wayland, Mass., in 1838; removed to Lancaster in 1840; but on account of ill health was obliged to retire from the active duties of the ministry in 1847; since then, residing in Wayland, he devoted himself to literature. He has published several works. --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A., 1872 ======================= Sears, Edmund Hamilton, D.D., son of Joseph Sears, was born at Sandisfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, April 6, 1810, and educated at Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., where he graduated in 1834; and at the Theological School at Cambridge. In 1838 he became pastor of the First Church (Unitarian) at Wayland, Massachusetts; then at Lancaster in the same State, in 1840; again at Wayland, in 1847; and finally at Weston, Massachusetts, in 1865. He died at Weston, Jan. 14, 1876. He published:— (1) Regeneration, 1854; (2) Pictures of the Olden Time, 1857; (3) Athanasia, or Foregleams of Immortality, 1858, enlarged ed., 1872; (4) The Fourth Gospel the Heart of Christ; (5) Sermons and Songs of the Christian Life, 1875, in which his hymns are collected. Also co-editor of the Monthly Religious Magazine. Of his hymns the following are in common use:— 1. Calm on the listening ear of night. Christmas. This hymn was first published in its original form, in the Boston Observer, 1834; afterwards, in the Christian Register, in 1835; subsequently it was emended by the author, and, as thus emended, was reprinted entire in the Monthly Magazine, vol. xxxv. Its use is extensive. 2. It came upon the midnight clear. Christmas. "Rev. Dr. Morison writes to us, Sears's second Christmas hymn was sent to me as editor of the Christian Register, I think, in December, 1849. I was very much delighted with it, and before it came out in the Register, read it at a Christmas celebration of Dr. Lunt's Sunday School in Quincy. I always feel that, however poor my Christmas sermon may be, the reading and singing of this hymn are enough to make up for all deficiences.'" 3. Ho, ye that rest beneath the rock. Charitable Meetings on behalf of Children. Appeared in Longfellow and Johnson's Hymns of the Spirit, Boston, 1864, in 2 stanzas of 8 lines. Dr. Sears's two Christmas hymns rank with the best on that holy season in the English language. Although a member of the Unitarian body, his views were rather Swedenborgian than Unitarian. He held always to the absolute Divinity of Christ. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Oliver Wendell Holmes

1809 - 1894 Hymnal Number: 252 Author of "Who is the Shepherd sent to lead" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Holmes, Oliver Wendell, M.D, LL.D., son of the Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D. of Cambridge, U.S.A., was born at Cambridge, Aug. 29, 1809, and educated at Harvard, where he graduated in 1829. After practising for some time in Boston, he was elected in 1847 to the chair of Anatomy, in Harvard. His writings in prose and verse are well known and widely circulated. They excel in humour and pathos. Although not strictly speaking a hymnwriter, a few of his hymns are in extensive use, and include:— 1. Father of mercies, heavenly Friend. Prayer during war. 2. Lord of all being, throned afar. God's Omnipresence. This is a hymn of great merit. It is dated 1848. 3. 0 Lord of hosts, Almighty King. Soldiers’ Hymn. Dated 1861. 4. 0 Love divine that stoop'st to share. Trust. 1859. Of these Nos. 2 and 4 are in his Professor at the Breakfast Table, and are in common use in Great Britain, in Martineau's Hymns, 1873, and others. In 1886 the D.C.L. degree was conferred upon Professor Holmes by the University of Oxford. He was a member of the Unitarian body. He died Oct 7, 1894. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ================== Holmes, O. W. , p. 530, i. His Songs in Many Keys was published in 1861, his Poems, 1869, and the Cambridge edition of his Complete Poetical Works, 1895. Additional hymns of his have come into common use of late, including:— 1. Land where the banners wave last in the sun. [American National Hymn.] Appeared in his Songs in Many Keys, 1861 (7th ed. 1864, p. 289) as "Freedom, our Queen." 2. Lord, Thou hast led us as of old. [Promised Unity.] In his Before the Curfew and other Poems, chiefly occasional, Boston, 1888, as "An hymn set forth to bo sung by the Great Assembly at Newtown [Mass.]." In the Complete Poetical Works it is dated 1886. The hymn "Soon shall the slumbering morn awake," in Hymns for Church and Home, Boston, 1895, is composed of stanzas v.-vii. 3. Our Father, while our hearts unlearn The creeds that wrong Thy name. [Fruits of the Spirit.] Written for the 25th Anniversary Reorganization of the Poston Young Men's Christian Union, May 31, 1893. In his Complete Poetical Works, 1895, p. 298, Horder's Worship Song, 1905, and other collections. 4. Thou gracious [God] Power Whose mercy lends. [Reunion.] "Written for the annual meeting of the famous class '29, Harvard University, in 1869. ln the Methodist Hymn Book, 1904, it begins "Thou gracious God, Whose mercy lends." [Rev. L. F. Benson, D.D.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

Samuel Longfellow

1819 - 1892 Hymnal Number: 442 Author of "A voice by Jordan's shore" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Longfellow, Samuel, B. A., brother of the Poet, was born at Portland, Maine, June 18, 1819, and educated at Harvard, where he graduated in Arts in 1839, and in Theology in 1846. On receiving ordination as an Unitarian Minister, he became Pastor at Fall River, Massachusetts, 1848; at Brooklyn, 1853; and at Germantown, Pennsylvania, 1860. In 1846 he edited, with the Rev. S. Johnson (q. v.), A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion. This collection was enlarged and revised in 1848. In 1859 his Vespers was published, and in 1864 the Unitarian Hymns of the Spirit , under the joint editorship of the Rev. S. Johnson and himself. His Life of his brother, the Poet Longfellow, was published in 1886. To the works named he contributed the following hymns:— i. To A Book of Hymns , revised ed., 1848. 1. Beneath the shadow of the Cross. Love. 2. 0 God, thy children gathered here. Ordination. ii. To the Vespers 1859. 3. Again as evening's shadow falls. Evening. 4. Now on land and sea descending. Evening. iii. To the Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. 5. A voice by Jordan's shore. Advent. 6. Father, give Thy benediction. Ordination. 7. Go forth to life, 0 child of earth. Life's Mission. 8. God of ages and of nations. Holy Scriptures. 9. Holy Spirit, Truth divine. The Holy Spirit desired. 10. I look to Thee in every need. Trust in God. 11. In the beginning was the Word. The Word. 12. Love for all, and can it be? Lent. The Prodigal Son. 13. 0 God, in Whom we live and move. God's Law and Love. 14. 0 God, Thou Giver of all good. Prayer for Food. 15. O still in accents sweet and strong. Missions. 16. 0 Thou, Whose liberal sun and rain. Anniversary of Church dedication. 17. One holy Church of God appears. The Church Universal. 18. Out of the dark, the circling sphere. The Outlook. 19. Peace, peace on earth! the heart of man for ever. Peace on Earth. 20. The loving Friend to all who bowed. Jesus of Nazareth. 21. ’Tis winter now, the fallen snow. Winter. Of these, hymn No. 2 was written for the Ordination of E. E. Hale (q. v.), at Worcester, 1846. Several are included in Martineau's Hymns, 1873. Died Oct. 3, 1892. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907), p. 685 =============== Longfellow, S., p. 685, i. Since Mr. Longfellow's death on Oct. 3, 1892, his hymns have been collected by his niece, Miss Alice Longfellow, as Hymns and Verses(Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1904.) From this work we find many of the hymns signed Anon, in the Index to Longfellow and Johnson's Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, were his; several of these, including E. Osier's "O God unseen, yet ever near," were popular English hymns which he rewrote from his own theological standpoint. These re¬written hymns are very widely used by Unitarians and others. During the last ten years the following additional hymns by S. Long¬fellow have come into common use:— 1. Eternal One, Thou living God. Faith in God. 2. God of the earth, the sky, the sea. God in Nature. 3. God's trumpet wakes the slumbering world. Call to duty. 4. Light of ages and of nations. God in and through all time. 5. Lo, the earth is risen again. Spring. (1876.) 6. Now while we sing our closing psalm. Close of Worship. 7. O Life that maketh all things new. Unity. (1874.) 8. O Thou in Whom we live and move. The Divine Law. 9. The summer days are come again. Summer. From his hymn,"The sweet[bright] June days are come again." 10. Thou Lord of lite, our saving health. In Sickness. (1886.) Of these hymns Nos. 2, 3 appeared in the Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, and all with the dates appended in Hymns and Verses, 1904. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907) ================== http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Longfellow

Martin Luther

1483 - 1546 Hymnal Number: 213 Author of "A mighty fortress is our God" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Luther, Martin, born at Eisleben, Nov. 10, 1483; entered the University of Erfurt, 1501 (B.A. 1502, M.A.. 1503); became an Augustinian monk, 1505; ordained priest, 1507; appointed Professor at the University of Wittenberg, 1508, and in 1512 D.D.; published his 95 Theses, 1517; and burnt the Papal Bull which had condemned them, 1520; attended the Diet of Worms, 1521; translated the Bible into German, 1521-34; and died at Eisleben, Feb. 18, 1546. The details of his life and of his work as a reformer are accessible to English readers in a great variety of forms. Luther had a huge influence on German hymnody. i. Hymn Books. 1. Ellich cristlich lider Lobgesang un Psalm. Wittenberg, 1524. [Hamburg Library.] This contains 8 German hymns, of which 4 are by Luther. 2. Eyn Enchiridion oder Handbuchlein. Erfurt, 1524 [Goslar Library], with 25 German hymns, of which 18 are by Luther. 3. Geystliche Gesangk Buchleyn. Wittenberg, 1524 [Munich Library], with 32 German hymns, of which 24 are by Luther. 4. Geistliche Lieder auffs new gebessert. Wittenberg. J. Klug, 1529. No copy of this book is now known, but there was one in 1788 in the possession of G. E. Waldau, pastor at Nürnberg, and from his description it is evident that the first part of the Rostock Gesang-Buch, 1531, is a reprint of it. The Rostock Gesang-Buch, 1531, was reprinted by C. M. Wiechmann-Kadow at Schwerin in 1858. The 1529 evidently contained 50 German hymns, of which 29 (including the Litany) were by Luther. 5. Geistliche Lieder auffs new gebessert. Erfurt. A. Rauscher, 1531 [Helmstädt, now Wolfenbüttel Library], a reprint of No. 4. 6. Geistliche Lieder. Wittenberg. J. Klug, 1535 [Munich Library. Titlepage lost], with 52 German hymns, of which 29 are by Luther. 7. Geistliche Lieder auffs new gebessert. Leipzig. V. Schumann, 1539 [Wernigerode Library], with 68 German hymns, of which 29 are by Luther. 8. Geistliche Lieder. Wittenberg. J. Klug, 1543 [Hamburg Library], with 61 German hymns, of which 35 are by Luther. 9. Geystliche Lieder. Leipzig. V. Babst, 1545 [Gottingen Library]. This contains Luther's finally revised text, but adds no new hymns by himself. In pt. i. are 61 German hymns, in pt. ii. 40, of which 35 in all are by Luther. For these books Luther wrote three prefaces, first published respectively in Nos. 3, 4, 9. A fourth is found in his Christliche Geseng, Lateinisch und Deudsch, zum Begrebnis, Wittenberg, J. Klug, 1542. These four prefaces are reprinted in Wackernagel’s Bibliographie, 1855, pp. 543-583, and in the various editions of Luther's Hymns. Among modern editions of Luther's Geistliche Lieder may be mentioned the following:— Carl von Winterfeld, 1840; Dr. C. E. P. Wackernagel, 1848; Q. C. H. Stip, 1854; Wilhelm Schircks, 1854; Dr. Danneil, 1883; Dr. Karl Gerok, 1883; Dr. A. F. W. Fischer, 1883; A. Frommel, 1883; Karl Goedeke, 1883, &c. In The Hymns of Martin Luther. Set to their original melodies. With an English version. New York, 1883, ed. by Dr. Leonard Woolsey Bacon and Nathan H. Allen, there are the four prefaces, and English versions of all Luther's hymns, principally taken more or less altered, from the versions by A. T. Russell, R. Massie and Miss Winkworth [repub. in London, 1884]. Complete translations of Luther's hymns have been published by Dr. John Anderson, 1846 (2nd ed. 1847), Dr. John Hunt, 1853, Richard Massie, 1854, and Dr. G. Macdonald in the Sunday Magazine, 1867, and his Exotics, 1876. The other versions are given in detail in the notes on the individual hymns. ii. Classified List of Luther's Hymns. Of Luther's hymns no classification can be quite perfect, e.g. No. 3 (see below) takes hardly anything from the Latin, and No. 18 hardly anything from the Psalm. No. 29 is partly based on earlier hymns (see p. 225, i.). No. 30 is partly based on St. Mark i. 9-11, and xvi., 15, 16 (see p. 226, ii.). No. 35 is partly based on St. Luke ii. 10-16. The following arrangement, however, will answer all practical purposes. A. Translations from the Latin. i. From Latin Hymns: 1. Christum wir sollen loben schon. A solis ortus cardine 2. Der du bist drei in Einigkeit. O Lux beata Trinitas. 3. Jesus Christus unser Heiland, Der von. Jesus Christus nostra salus 4. Komm Gott Schopfer, heiliger Geist. Veni Creator Spiritus, Mentes. 5. Nun komm der Beidenheiland. Veni Redemptor gentium 6. Was flirchst du Feind Herodes sehr. A solis ortus cardine ii. From Latin Antiphons, &c.: 7. Herr Gott dich loben wir. Te Deum laudamus. 8. Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich. Dapacem, Domine 9. Wir glauben all an einen Gott. iii. Partly from the Latin, the translated stanzas being adopted from Pre-Reformation Versions: 10. Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott. 11. Mitten wir im Leben sind. Media vita in morte sumus. B. Hymns revised and enlarged from Pre-Reformation popular hymns. 12. Gelobet seist du Jesus Christ. 13. Gott der Vater wohn uns bei. 14. Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet. 15. Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist. C. Psalm versions. 16. Ach Gott vom Himmel, sieh darein. 17. Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir. 18. Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott. 19. Es spricht der Unweisen Mund wohl. 20. Es wollt uns Gott genädig sein. 21. War Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit. 22. Wohl dem, der in Gotten Furcht steht. D. Paraphrases of other portions of Holy Scripture. 23. Diess sind die heilgen zehn Gebot. 24. Jesaia dem Propheten das geschah. 25. Mensch willt du leben seliglich. 26. Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin. 27. Sie ist mir lieb die werthe Magd. 28. Vater unser im Himmelreich. E. Hymns mainly Original. 29. Christ lag in Todesbanden. 30. Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam. 31. Ein neues Lied wir heben an. 32. Erhalt uns Herr bei deinem Wort. 33. Jesus Christus unser Heiland, Der den, 34. Nun freut euch lieben Christengemein. 35. Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her. 36. Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schaar. In addition to these — 37. Fur alien Freuden auf Erden. 38. Kyrie eleison. In the Blätter fur Hymnologie, 1883, Dr. Daniel arranges Luther's hymns according to what he thinks their adaptation to modern German common use as follows:— i. Hymns which ought to be included in every good Evangelical hymn-book: Nos. 7-18, 20, 22, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38. ii. Hymns the reception of which into a hymn-book might be contested: Nos. 2, 3, 4, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 33. iii. Hymns not suited for a hymn-book: Nos. 1, 5, 6, 27, 31, 37. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Henry Ware

1794 - 1843 Hymnal Number: 101 Author of "Lift your glad voices in triumph on high" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Henry Ware was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1793. His father was a Unitarian minister; afterwards a Professor in Harvard College. Young Ware graduated at Harvard, studied theology, and became minister of the Second Unitarian Society, in Boston, in 1817. After a ministry of twelve years, he made a foreign tour, and on his return was elected "Parkman Professor of Pulpit Eloquence and Pastoral Theology" in Harvard College. In this position he obtained eminence. He died in September, 1843. His collected works in four volumes, were edited after his death, by the Rev. Chandler Robbins. --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A., 1872 =================== Ware, Henry, D.D., son of Dr. H. Ware, pastor of the Unitarian congregation at Hingham, Massachusetts, and afterward Hollis Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, U.S.A., was born at Hingham, April 21, 1794. Before going to Harvard College, in 1808, he was under the care of Dr. Allyn, at Duxbury, and then of Judge Ware, at Cambridge. He graduated at Harvard in high honours, in 1812; and was then for two years an assistant teacher in Exeter Academy. He was licensed to preach by the Boston Unitarian Association, July 31, 1815; and ordained pastor of the Second Church of that city, Jan. 1, 1817. In 1829, in consequence of his ill health, he received the assistance of a co-pastor in the person of Ralph Waldo Emerson. In the same year Ware was appointed Professor of Pulpit Eloquence and Pastoral Care in the Cambridge Theological School. He entered upon his duties in 1830, and resigned in 1842. He removed to Framingham, and died there, Sept. 25, 1843. His D.D. degree was conferred upon Memoir, published by his brother John Ware, M.D., were numerous and on a variety of topics. He edited the Christian Disciple, which was established in 1813, and altered in title to the Christian Examiner in 1824, for some years before the change of title, and gave it his assistance subsequently. The Rev. Chandler Robbins collected his works and published them in four volumes, in 1847. His hymns, many of which are of more than usual excellence, are given in vol. i. Of these the following are in common use: 1. All nature's works His praise declare. Opening of an Organ. Dated Nov. 9, 1822. It is in Horder's English Congregational Hymns, 1884. 2. Around the throne of God The host angelic throngs. Universal Praise. Dated 1823, and printed in the Christian Disciple, vol. v., and in Putnam, 1874. A fine hymn of praise. 3. Father of earth and heaven, Whose arm upholds creation. Thanksgiving for Divine Mercies. Appeared in Cheever's American Common Place Book, 1831; and in Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868. 4. Father, Thy gentle chastisement. In Sickness. Dated March, 1836; and in Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868. 5. Great God, the followers of Thy Son. Ordination. Written for the Ordination of Jared Sparks, the historian, as pastor of the Unitarian Church, Baltimore, 1819. Given in Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868, and Putnam, 1874. 6. In this glad hour when children meet. Family Gatherings. Dated Aug. 20, 1835. In Lyra Sac. Americana, 1868, and Putnam, 1874. 7. Lift your glad voices in triumph on high. Easter. Dated 1817, and was published in the Christian Disciple of that year, in 2 stanzas of 8 lines. It is in Lyra Sac. Americana, 1868; Putnam, 1874, and numerous hymnbooks. Sometimes stanza ii. is given separately as, "Glory to God, in full anthems of joy." 8. Like Israel's hosts to exile driven. American National Hymn. Written for the Centennial Celebration of the Boston Thursday Lecture, Oct. 17,1833, and given in Lyra Sac. Americana, 1868, and Putnam, 1874. It is a quasi American National Hymn in praise of the Pilgrim Fathers. 9. 0 Thou in Whom alone is found. Laying Foundation Stone of a Place of Worship. In Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868, and Thring's English Collection, 1882. 10. 0 Thou Who on Thy chosen Son. Ordination. Written for an Ordination, March, 1829. In Putnam, 1874, and Dale's English Hymn Book, 1874. 11. Oppression shall not always reign. Against Slavery. "This was Mr. Ware's last composition in verse. It bears date March 15, 1843. In its original form it is longer than as presented here [in 3 stanzas of 8 lines], and is unsuited to a church-book. The following stanzas, taken from one of the Collections [stanzas i., ii. are in Longfellow and Johnson's Book of Hymns, 1848] are a part of the original, altered and transposed, and thus adapted to sacred worship." 12. To prayer, to prayer; for the morning breaks. Prayer. This poem of 10 stanzas of 6 lines is dated 1826, and is given in Lyra Sac. Americana, 1868, and Putnam, 1874. Two centos therefrom are in common use The first begins with stanza i., adapting it for Morning, and the second with stanza ii., "To prayer, for the glorious sun is gone," for Evening. 13. We rear not a temple, like Judah of old. Dedication of a Place of Worship. This is dated 1839, and is given in Putnam, 1874. 14. With praise and prayer our gifts we bring. Opening of a Place of Worship. In Dale's English Hymn Book. 1874. With American Unitarians Dr. Ware ranks very high, and by them his hymns are widely used. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ================== Ware, H., p. 1233, i. Another of his hymns in common use is "Great King of all, our nation's God" (National Humiliation). His hymn "To prayer, to prayer," is in Cheever's American Common-Place Book of Poetry, 1831. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

William Cullen Bryant

1794 - 1878 Hymnal Number: 112 Author of "Mighty One, before whose face" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Bryant, William Cullen. First in order of time of the great American poets, Bryant was born at Cummington, Mass., Nov. 3, 1794, and was educated at Williams College. In 1815 he'was called to the Bar, and practised for a time at Great Barrington. In 1825 he retired from the Bar, settled at New York, and devoted himself to literary pursuits, founding the New York Review, and editing for a short time the New York Evening Post. He died June 12, 1878. His poetical and other works are well known. His hymns were written at intervals during his long life. They were collected and privately printed in 1869, and number over 20. Those in common use are:— 1. Almighty, listen while we raise. Praise. This is given as "Almighty hear us,” &c, in the Unitarian Hymn and Tune Book, Boston, 1868. It was introduced into Great Britain through Beard's Collection, 1857. 2. Deem not that they are blest alone. Mourning. In this form it is in Beard's Collection, 1837. It is best known as "0 deem not they are," &c, and in this form it is No. 964 in Songs for the Sanctuary, N. Y., 1865-72, No. 452, in Dr. Martineau's Hymns of Prayer and Praise, Lond., 1873, &c. 3. Father, to Thy kind love we owe. God's Lovingkindness. This is given in several modern collections, including the Unitarian Hymn and Tune Book, Boston, 1868, Martineau, 1873, &c. 4. 0 God, whose dread and dazzling brow. Compassion desired. Is No. 57 in the Boston Hymn and Tune Book, 1868, as above. 5. When he who from the scourge of wrong. Hope of the Resurrection. This is seldom found in modern hymnals. Text in Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868. The above hymns (1-5) appeared in Dr. H. D. Sewall's (Unitarian) Psalms & Hymns for Social and Private Worship, 1820, and were written at the instance of a Miss Sedgwick. Following as near as possible the chronological order of the hymns we have next:— 6. O Thou Whose own vast temple stands. Opening of a Place of Worship. Written in 1835 for the Dedication of a Chapel in Prince Street, N. Y. This is the most widely known of this author's hymns. It was introduced into Great Britain as early as 1837, when it was included in Beard's Collection, No. 405. It is in 4 stanzas of 4 lines. Orig. text in Songs for the Sanctuary, N. Y., 1865, No. 1017, and Martineau, 1873, No. 727. Another form of the hymn is "Thou, Whose unmeasured temple stands," This is No. 569 in the American Presb. Psalms and Hymns, Richmond, 1867, Horder's Congregational Hymns, Lond. 1884, No. 747, and others. 7. All that in this wide world we see. Omnipresence. This is dated 1836. In his Collection in 1837, No. 17, Beard gives it as an original contributed thereto, thus fixing its first publication. 8. Thou unrelenting past. The Past. Dates from 1836. Also in Martineau, 1873, No. 508. 9. Not in the solitude. God in the City. Dates from 1836, and is No. 26 in Martineau, 1873. 10. Whither, midst falling dew. Divine Guidance. This, in common with Nos. 8 and 9, is more a poem than hymn. It is addressed "To a Waterfowl," and dates from 1836. In Martineau, 1873. 11. Dear ties of mutual succour bind. Charity Sermons. No. 905 in the Amer. Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, 1878. It dates from about 1836. 12. 0 Thou whose love can ne'er forget. Ordination. Given (but not as an original contributed thereto) in Beard's Collection (Eng.), 1837. 13. Mighty One, before Whose face. Ordination. This is dated 1840 (but is probably earlier), and is given in several collections, including Mr. Beecher's Plymouth Collection, 1855, and others. 14. Look from Thy sphere of endless day. Home Missions. This hymn has also attained to considerable use both in Great Britain and America. It dates from 1840. It is in the Song. for the Sanctuary, N. Y., 1865, Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884, &c. 15. Lord, who ordainest for mankind. Thanks for a Mother's love. Written at Dr. Osgood's suggestion, and printed in his Christian Worship, 1862. It is repeated in Martineau, 1873. 16. All praise to Him of Nazareth. Holy Communion. Dr. Hatfield in his Church Hymn Bk., 1872, No. 736, gives this in 3 stanzas of 4 lines. In the Songs for the Sanctuary it is in its full form of 5 stanzas. It dates from 1864. 17. As shadows cast by cloud and sun. Epiphany. In the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, N. Y., 1878. It was contributed to that Hymnal, 1877, but was composed for the Semi-Centennial Celebration of the Church of the Messiah, Boston, March 19, 1875. 18. When doomed to death the Apostle lay. On behalf of Drunkards. Also in the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, 1878. In addition to the above the following hymns by Bryant are in limited use:— 19. All things that are on earth. Love of God. In Beard's Collection, 1837. 20. Close softly, fondly, while ye weep. Death. In Mr. Beecher's Plymouth Coll., 1855. 21. How shall I know thee in the sphere which keeps? The Future Life. In the Supplement to the Boston Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853. 22. Standing forth in life's rough way. On behalf of Children. In Dr. Alton's Children's Worship, 1878; Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884, and others. 23. When this song of praise shall cease. Death anticipated. In his Hymns, 1869, and W. R. Stevenson's School Hymnal, 1880, No 313. 24. When the blind suppliant in the way. Opening the eyes of the blind. In the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, 1878, N. Y., No. 201. It dates from 1874. 25. Wild was the day, the wintry sea. The Pilgrim Fathers. In Hymns of the Spirit, by Longfellow and Johnson. Boston, 1864. In 1869, Hymns by W. C. Bryant, 12mo, were privately printed. In this work the texts of many of the older hymns are altered. The dates of his hymns are difficult to determine, and many of those given above are approximate only. Bryant's genius was cool, meditative, and not distinguished by lyric fire. His hymns are correct and solid, but none reach the highest rank. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

John White Chadwick

1840 - 1904 Hymnal Number: 547 Author of "Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Chadwick, John White, was born at Marblehead, Mass., U.S., Oct. 19, 1840; graduated at the Cambridge Divinity School, July 19, 1864, and ordained minister of the Second Unitarian Church, Brooklyn, N.Y., Dec. 21, 1864. A frequent contributor to the Christian Examiner; The Radical; Old and New; Harper's Magazine; and has published many poems in American periodicals. His hymn on Unity, "Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round," was written for the graduating class of the Divinity School, Cambridge, June 19, 1864. It is in Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884. It is a hymn of superior merit. [Rev. W. Garrett Horder] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ======================== Chadwick, J. W, p. 216, i. Mr. Chadwick's important prose works were the Life of Theodore Parker, 1890, and that of William Ellery Channing, 1903; and his poetical productions A Book of Poems, 1876, and In Nazareth Town and other Poems, 1883. He received his M.A. from Harvard in 1888; and d. Dec. 11, 1901. In addition to "Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round," already noted on p. 216, ii., Mr. Chadwick's widow has supplied us with the following data concerning his hymns:— 1. A gentle tumult in the earth. [Easter.] Dated 1876. 2. Another year of setting suns. [New Year.] Written as a New Year's Hymn for 1873, and originally began "That this shall be a better year." In The Pilgrim Hymnal, Boston, 1904. 3. Come, let us sing a tender song, [Communion of Saints.] Dated 1901, and included in The Pilgrim Hymnal, 1904. 4. Everlasting Holy One. [Invocation.] 1875. 5. It singeth low in every heart. [In Memoriam.] Written in 1876, for the 25th Anniversary of the Dedication of his Church at Brooklyn. It has passed into a great many collections in America, and a few in Great Britain, including Horder's Worship Song, 1905. 6. Now sing we a song for the harvest. [Harvest.] Written for a Harvest Thanksgiving Service in 1871. Given in The Pilgrim Hymnal, 1904, and others. 7. 0 God, we come not as of old. [Perfect Law of Liberty.] Written in 1874, and entitled "The Perfect Law." 8. 0 Love Divine of all that is. [Trust.] Written in 1865, and included in his Book of Poems, 1876, as "A Song of Trust." In several American collections. 9. 0 Thou, Whose perfect goodness crowns. [For an Anniversary.] "Written for the 23th Anniversary of his Installation, Dec. 21, 1889." In The Pilgrim Hymnal, and other collections. 10. Thou Whose Spirit dwells in all. [Easter.] Written in 1890. 11. What has drawn us thus apart? [For Unity.] Undated, in the Boston Unitarian Hymns for Church and Home, 1895. During the past ten years Mr. Chadwick's hymns have become very popular in America, and especially with the compilers of Congrega¬tional and Unitarian collections. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

Charles T. Brooks

1813 - 1883 Hymnal Number: 360 Author of "The poor ye always have with you" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Brooks, Charles Timothy. An American Unitarian Minister, born at Salem, Mass., June 20, 1813, and graduated at Harvard, 1832, and the Divinity School, Cambridge, U.S., 1835. In that year he began his ministry at Nahant, subsequently preaching at Bangor and Augusta (Maine), Windsor (Vermont). In 1837 he became pastor of Newport, Rhode Island, and retained the same charge until 1871, when he resigned through ill-health. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ================ Brooks, C. T. (p. 184, i,). He died at Newport, Rhode Island, June 14, 1883. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Washington Very

1815 - 1853 Hymnal Number: 383 Author of "Sleep on, sleep on, beneath the sod" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Very, Washington, brother of Jones Very, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, Nov. 12, 1815. After following mercantile pursuits for some time, he entered Harvard College, and graduated there in 1843. Subsequently he conducted a private school in Salem, where he died April 28, 1853. Putnam gives three of Very's poetical pieces in his Singers and Songs, &c, 1874, one of which, "There cometh o’er the spirit" (Spring), appeared in Longfellow and Johnson's Book of Hymns, 1816. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Bryant

Hymnal Number: 114 Author of "Our Father, to thy love we owe" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith

William Everett

1839 - 1910 Hymnal Number: 535 Author of "Attend, all ye faithful, your leader's command" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Everett, William, LL.D., s. of the Hon. Edward Everett, was born at Watertown, Massachusetts, Oct. 10, 1839, and educated at Harvard College and Trinity College, Cambridge, England, M.A. 1869. He became Latin Tutor in Harvard Coll. in 1870, and Assistant Professor of Latin in 1873. He entered the Unitarian Ministry in 1872. Putnam gives six of his hymns in Singers and Songs, &c, 1874, p. 504. The best are "Deal gently with us, Lord" [God’s tenderness], from the American Christian Register, 1866; and "Almighty Father, Thou didst frame" [God the Father]," written for the Unitarian Festival at the Music Hall, May 27, 1869." He has published College Essays; School Sermons , and other works. He is LL.D. of Williams College, Mass. [Rev. C. L. Noyes, D.D.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907) ========================== Everett, William. (Watertown, Massachusetts, October 10, 1839--February 16, 1910, Quincy, Massachusetts). Son of Hon. Edward Everett. He graduated from Harvard College in 1859; took the B.A. degree at Cambridge University, England, in 1863; and the degrees of A.M. and LL.B. at Harvard in 1865. He received the honorary degree of Litt.D. from Williams College in 1889 and the degree of LL.D. from the same in 1893, and from Dartmouth in 1901. After graduation from the Harvard Law School he did not enter the legal profession, but served the College as tutor and then Assistant Professor of Latin for several years. In 1872, the Boston Association of Ministers licensed him as a lay preacher and thereafter he spoke frequently in Unitarian pulpits in New England, abut he was never ordained as a settled minister. He served Adams Academy in Quincy, Massachusetts as headmaster from 1877 to 1907, with an interruption of two years when in 1893 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives in Washington. In 1866, The Christian Register printed his hymn beginning "Deal gently with us, Lord" and three years later he wrote "for the Unitarian Festival at the Music Hall [Boston], May 27, 1869" a hymn beginning "Almighty Father, Thou didst frame." These hymns, and four others by him, are included in Putnam's Singers and Songs, Etc.. --Henry Wilder Foote, DNAH Archives

John Quincy Adams

1767 - 1848 Hymnal Number: 6 Author of "Turn to the stars of heaven thine eyes" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Adams, John Quincy. (Braintree, Mass., July 11, 1767-February 21, 1848, Washington, D.C.). Most of Adams' verse, both religious and secular, was written after he had left the Presidency. In his later years he composed a metrical version of the Psalms, best described as a free rendering in fairly good verse of what he felt was the essential idea of each Psalm. When his minister, William P. Lunt, of the First Parish, (Unitarian), Quincy, Mass., undertook the preparation of his hymn book The Christian Psalter, Mrs. Adams put the manuscript of her husband's metrical Psalms into Lunt's hands, and the latter included 17 of them in his book, and five other hymns by his distinguished parishioner. The effect on Adams is recorded in a moving entry in his Journal which reveals an aspect of his character quite unknown to those who regarded him as an opinionated and uncompromising though sincere and upright politician. He wrote on June 29, 1845: "Mr. Lunt preached this morning, Eccles. III, 1. For everything there is a season. He had given out as the first hymn to be sung the 138th of the Christian Psalter, his compilation and the hymn-book now used in our church. It was my version of the 65th Psalm; and no words can express the sensations with which I heard it sung. Were it possible to compress into one pulsation of the heart the pleasure which, in the whole period of my life, I have enjoyed in praise from the lips of mortal man, it would not weigh a straw to balance the ecstasy of delight which streamed from my eyes as the organ pealed and the choir of voices sung the praise of Almighty God from the soul of David, adapted to my native tongue by me. There was one drawback. In the printed book, the fifth line of the second stanza reads, "The morning's dawn, the evening's shade," and so it was sung, but the corresponding seventh line of the same stanza reads, "The fields from thee the rains receive," totally destroying the rhyme. I instantly saw that the fifth line should read, "The morning's dawn, the shades of eve," but whether this enormous blunder was committed by the copyist of the pressman I am left to conjecture." After Adams' death his verses, both religious and secular, were published in a small volume entitled Poems of Religion and Society, New York, 1848, which ran to a fourth edition in 1854. This collection included the five hymns and 17 metrical Psalms printed in the Christian Psalmist, unchanged except that the opening line of each psalm has been substituted for the number of the psalm as its heading. Nor was the misprint which Adams lamented amended. --Henry Wilder Foote, DNAH Archives ================================= Adams, John Quincy. Born at Braintree (afterwards called Quincy), Mass., 1767, was a son of President Adams. After graduating at Harvard College he was, from 1794 to 1801, minister to the Netherlands, to England, and to Prussia. In 1806 he was appointed Professor of Rhetoric in Harvard College; in 1809 minister to Russia; 1817 Secretary of State; and, from 1824 to 1829, President of the United States. In 1831 he was elected a Member of the House of Representatives. Died suddenly, Feb. 21, 1848. His high position and principle are well known, as also the incidents of his political life. He was a member of the Unitarian body. His Memoir, by the Hon. Josiah Quincy, was published soon after his death, and also his Poems of Religion and Society, N. Y., 1848 (4th ed., 1854). He wrote, but never printed, an entire Version of the Psalms, seventeen of which, with five hymns, were inserted by his pastor, Dr. Lunt, in the Christian Psalmist, 1841. Of these the following are still in use:— 1. Sure to the mansions of the blest. [Burial.] This is part of a piece of 20 stanzas, which appeared in the Monthly Anthology and Boston Review, Jan., 1807. It is entitled "Lines addressed to a mother on the death of two infants, 19th Sept. 1803, and 19th Decr., 1806." 2. Alas! how swift the moments fly. [Time.] Sometimes given as "How swift, alas, the moments fly," was written for the 200th anniversary of the First Congregational Church, Quincy, Sept. 29, 1839. 3. Hark! 'tis the holy temple bell. [Sunday.] Of these Nos. 2 and 3 are found in Lyra Sacra Americana and 2 in Putnam's Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, 1875. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

William H. Burleigh

1812 - 1871 Person Name: William Henry Burleigh Hymnal Number: 314 Author of "Still will we trust, though earth seem dark and dreary" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Burleigh, William Henry, an active reformer and member of the Unitarian body, was born at Woodstock, Connecticut, Feb. 12, 1812, and brought up on a farm at Stainfield in the same state. In 1837 he went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where, having been previously apprenticed to the printing trade, he published the Christian Witness and Temperance Banner. In 1843 he undertook the duties of editor of the Christian Freeman, at Hartford. From 1849 to 1855 he was agent of the New York State Temperance Society; and from 1855 to 1870 Harbour Master at New York. Died at Brooklyn, March 18, 1871. His poetical pieces and hymns were contributed to various periodicals and journals. Many of these were collected and published as Poems, Phila. in 1841. This volume was enlarged by additional pieces, and republished by his widow, in 1871. The dates of these hymns and poems are most difficult to determine. Where possible they are given in detail. It is somewhat curious that Burleigh's hymns are generally more extensively used in England than at home. The introduction of some of his best compositions into the English collections is due to the Lyra Sacra Americana, whence they were mostly taken by the compilers. Those in use in Great Britain and America are:— 1. Fades from the west the farewell nigh. Night . This poem, entitled “A Psalm of Night," is given in his Poems, N. Y., 1871, pp. 275-6. Although not in the 1st edition of his Poems, 1841, it was in common use as early as 1844. It is in 5 stanzas of 8 lines. From it the following centos have come into common use:— (1) “Day unto day uttereth speech." This is composed of stanzas iii.-v., and was given in the Christian Hymns of the Cheshire Pastoral Association (Amer. Unitarian), 1844, as an "Evening Hymn." (2) "O Holy Father, mid the calm." This cento In Longfellow and Johnson's Book of Hymns, 1846, and their Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, &c, is composed of stanzas iv.-v. (3) "Not only doth the voiceful day," No. 324 in Longfellow and Johnson's Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, is composed of st. ii.-iii. Another arrangement beginning with the same stanza is in the Lyra Sacra Americana, p. 41. (4) “The brightening dawn and voiceful day." In the Hymnary (Lond.), 1872, is, altered from the Lyra Sacra Americana as above, with the addition of a doxology. In and through these various forms, the use of this hymn is very extensive. 2. Father, beneath Thy sheltering wing. Trust and Peace. Appeared in Longfellow and Johnson's Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, No. 471, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines. It is given in many American collections, and in the Baptist Hymnal, 1879, Horder's Cong. Hymns , 1884, and others in Great Britain. Orig. text in Lyra Sacra Americana, p. 39, with "that" for "which” in st. ii. line 4. 3. For the dear love that kept us through the night. Morning. From Poems, 1871, into Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884. 4. From profoundest depths of tribulation. Lent. This appeared in the Supplement to Hedge and Huntington's Hymns, &c. (Unitarian), 1853, No 843. 5. Lead us, 0 Father, in the paths of peace. Divine Guidance. No. 32 of the Lyra Sacra Americana, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, being "A Prayer for Guidance." With English compilers this hymn ranks amongst Burleigh’s productions next in popularity to No. 8, and is found in most of the collections there named. 6. Not in vain I poured my supplication . Lent. This is a continuation of the same thought as No. 4 preceding, and follows it in the same Supplement. 7. O deem not that earth's crowning bliss. Mourning. This, passed from the Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868, into the Eng. Bap. Hymnal , 1879; Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884, and others. It is in his Poems, 1i871, p. 258. The hymn, "From lips divine, like healing balm," in the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, N. Y., 1878, is a cento from this hymn. 8. Still will we trust though earth seems dark and dreary. Faith. Appeared in the Lyra Sac. Amer., 1868, pp. 43-44, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. This is the most widely adopted of this author's hymns by the English compilers. It is given in some of the best collections, as the New Congregational Hymn Book, Thring, Horder, the Baptist Hymnal, Allon, &c. 9. There is a beautiful land by the spoiler untrod. Heaven. Dr. Cleveland Lyra Sac. Americana, 1868, p. 298) says, "This piece was first published in the Independent, Jan. 18, 1866." 10. They who have kept their spirit's virgin whiteness. Purity. In Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868, p. 46. 11. Thou Who look'st with pitying eye. Lent. In Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868, p. 47. 12. Through the changes of the day. Evening. From his Poems, 1841. It is given in the Lyra Sac. Amer., p. 50, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Psalms. and Hymns, 1852, Thring's Collection, and others. 13. We ask not that our path be always bright. Trust in God. From the Lyra Sac. Amer, 1868, into Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884. 14. When gladness gilds our prosperous day. Good in all. Also from Lyra Sacra Americana into Horder's Cong. Hymns, 1884. It has been already noted that Burleigh's hymns have a more extended use in Great Britain, than in his own country. The foregoing notes will also show that his productions are more widely known and used outside of his own denomination than by his own people. Concerning the hymns included in the Lyra Sac. Amer., Dr. Cleveland, the editor, says, "Most of these beautiful hymns of Mr. Burleigh's were given to me in manuscript by the author," but he does not indicate what was new and what was old. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

William Channing Gannett

1840 - 1923 Hymnal Number: 541 Author of "God ploughed one day with an earthquake" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Gannett, William Channing, M.A., s. of Dr. Ezra Stiles Gannett, was b. at Boston, March 13, 1840, and educated at Harvard College, 1860, and the Divinity School, Cambridge. Entered the Unitarian Ministry in 1868, and after filling several pastorates he became Pastor of the Unitarian Church at Rochester, N.Y., 1889. Mr. Gannett's hymns, mainly written for special occasions, were included in great part in The Thought of God in Hymns and Poems, Boston, 1st Series 1885,2nd Series 1894, the combined production of F. L. Hosmer (q.v.) and himself. Of Mr. Gannett's hymns the following are in common use:— 1. Bring, 0 morn, thy music [God Everlasting.] Written in 1893, and printed in A Chorus of Faith, being an account and resume of the Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago, 1893. Included in The Thought of God, 2nd Series, 1894, and again in several hymnals. 2. Clear in memory's silent reaches. [Memory.] Written in 1877 for a Free Religious Assoc. Festival, and published in The Thought of God, 1st Series, 1885. 3. Prom heart to heart, from creed to creed. [Faith.] Written in 1875 for the 150th anniversary of the First Religious Society in Newburyport, and given in The Thought of God, 1ist Series, 1885. Usually st. ii. is omitted. 4. He hides within the lily. [Divine Providence.] "Consider the lilies, how they grow." Written in 1873, and printed for use at the Free Religious Assoc. Festival, May 30th, 1873. Published in The Thought of God, &c, 1st Series, 1885, in 4 stanzas of 8 lines. The most widely used of the author's hymns. 5. I hear it often in the dark. [The Voice of God.] Written at Milwaukee, in 1870, and published in The Thought of God, &c, 1st Series, 1885. Sometimes it begins with st. iii., "0 God within, so close to me," as in Hymns for Church and Home, Boston, 1895. 6. Praise to God and thanksgiving. [ Harvest.] Written in 1872 for a Harvest Festival at St. Paul's, Minn., of which he was then Pastor, and included in The Thought of God &c, 1st Series, 1885. in the Boston Pilgrim Hymnal, 1904, it begins "Praise to God, and thanks we bring." 7. Sleep, my little Jesus. [ Christmas Carol.] Written for the Sunday School, St. Paul's, Minn., in 1882, and given in The Thought of God, 2nd Series, 1894, as "Mary's Manger Song." 8. The Lord is in His holy place. [Dedication of a Place of Worship.] Written for the Dedication of the Rev. C. W. Wendte's Church, Chicago, April 24, 1873, and pub. in The Thought of God, &c, 1st Series, 1885. It is one of the most popular and widely used of the author's hymns. 9. The morning hangs its signal. [Morning.] This is dated by the author "Chicago, July 30, 1886," and printed in Love to God and Love to Man, being No. 28 ot the Chicago "Unity Mission" series of hymns (N.D.). Also included in The Thought of God, &c, 2nd Series, 1894. Although in some sense a Morning hymn, it is adapted for use in Advent. It is usually known as “The Crowning Day." 10. The Truth is the Voice of God. In the "Unity Mission" Series, No. 28 (see above), this is given as No. 33, with the title "Truth and Righteousness and Love," in 4 stanzas of 4 lines and a refrain of 4 lines. These annotations are based upon manuscript notes kindly supplied by the author. The use made of Mr. Gannett's hymns shows that their poetic beauty and loving sympathy with all things beautiful and pure, are widely appreciated in America and to a limited extent in Great Britain also. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

Eliza Lee Cabot Follen

1787 - 1860 Person Name: Eliza Lee Follen Hymnal Number: 50 Author of "How sweet, upon this sacred day" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Follen, Eliza Lee, née Cabot, a well-known Unitarian writer, daughter of Samuel Cabot, born at Boston, August 15, 1787, and married, in 1828, to Professor Charles Follen, who perished on board the "Lexington," which was burnt on Long Island Sound, Jan. 13,1840. Mrs. Follen died at Brookline, Mass., 1860. She was a voluminous writer. Her Poems were first published at Boston (Crosby & Co.), 1839, and whilst she was in England she issued another volume for children's use, entitled The Lark and the Linnet, in 1854. Both volumes also contain some translations from the German, and versions of a few Psalms. Her best known hymns are:— 1. How sweet to be allowed to pray. Resignation. Appeared in the Christian Disciple, Sept., 1818, and in her Poems, 1839, p. 116, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled, "Thy will be done." 2. How sweet upon this sacred day. Sunday. In her Poems, 1839, pp. 113-114, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled “ Sabbath Day.” It previously appeared in Sabbath Recreations, 1829. 3. Lord, deliver, Thou canst save. Prayer for the Slave. Found in Songs of the Free, 1836; but is not given in her Poems, 1839. In Adams and Chapin's Hymns for Christian Devotion, Boston, U.S., 1846, it is No. 802, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. In common with No. 2 it has found acceptance out¬side Unitarian Collections. 4. God, Thou art good, each perfumed flower. This is the original of J. H. Gurney's hymn," Yes, God is good," &c. (q.v.) There is some obscurity about the text. It is found in her Hymns for Children, Boston, 1825, beginning, "God is good," each perfumed flower," and this obvious misprint (which destroys the metre) was usually copied in later books. It is also given with the same first line as an original piece, never before published, and signed "E. L. C." (initials of Mrs. Follen's maiden name), in Emily Taylor's Sabbath Recreations, Wellington, Salop, 1826, p. 203. This suggests that it was printed in the American book after the US. was posted to England. Mrs. Follen may have written at first “Yes, God is good," but this cannot now be determined. It begins, “God, Thou art good," &c, in her Poems, 1839, p. 119, and in her verses, The Lark and the Linnet, &c, 1854, and in each case is in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, with the title, "God is Good." 5. Will God, Who made the earth and sea. A Child's Prayer. Given in her Poems, 1839, p. 164, in 7 stanzas of 4 lines. In Dr. Allon's Children's Worship, 1878, No. 212, it is abbreviated to 4 stanzas (i.-iv.), and attributed to H. Bateman in error. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Samuel Johnson

1822 - 1882 Hymnal Number: 468 Author of "Father, in thy mysterious presence kneeling" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Johnson, Samuel, M.A, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, Oct. 10, 1822, and educated at Harvard, where he graduated in Arts in 1842, and in Theology in 1846. In 1853 he formed a Free Church in Lynn, Massachusetts, and remained its pastor to 1870. Although never directly connected with any religious denomination, he was mainly associated in the public mind with the Unitarians. He was joint editor with S. Longfellow (q. v.) of A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion, Boston, 1846; the Supplement to the same, 1848; and Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. His contributions to these collections were less numerous than those by S. Longfellow, but not less meritorious. He died at North Andover, Massachusetts, Feb. 19, 1882. His hymns were thus contributed:— i. To A Book of Hymns, 1846. 1. Father [Saviour] in Thy mysterious presence kneeling. Divine Worship. 2. Go, preach the gospel in my name. Ordination. 3. Lord, once our faith in man no fear could move. In Time of War. 4. O God, Thy children gathered here. Ordination. 5. Onward, Christians, [onward] through the region. Conflict. In the Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, it was altered to "Onward, onward through the region." 6. Thy servants' sandals, Lord, are wet. Ordination. 7. When from Jordan's gleaming wave. Holy Baptism. ii. To the Supplement, 1848. 8. God of the earnest heart. Trust. iii. To the Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. 9. City of God, how broad, how far. The Church the City of God. 10. I bless Thee, Lord, for sorrows sent. Affliction— Perfect through suffering. 11. Life of Ages, richly poured. Inspiration. 12. Strong-souled Reformer, Whose far-seeing faith. Power of Jesus. 13. The Will Divine that woke a waiting time. St. Paul. 14. Thou Whose glad summer yields. Prayer for the Church. 15. To light that shines in stars and souls. Dedication of a Place of Worship. Of these hymns No. 8 was "Written for the Graduating Exercises of the Class of 1846; in Cambridge Divinity Schools ; and No. 10 “Written at the request of Dorothea L. Dix for a collection made by her for the use of an asylum." It is undated. A few only of these hymns are in use in Great Britain. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

William Parsons Lunt

1805 - 1857 Hymnal Number: 195 Author of "When, driven by oppression's rod" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Lunt, William Parsons, D.D., son of Henry Lunt, was born at Newburyport, Massachusetts, April 21, 1805. He entered Harvard College in 1819, and graduated in 1823. After acting as a tutor in a school for one year, and studying law a second, he joined the Cambridge Divinity School in 1825, and entered the Unitarian Ministry, June 19, 1828, his first charge being the Second Congregational Unitarian Society of New York City. In 1835 he became co-pastor of the Unitarian congregation at Quincy, Massachusetts, with the Rev. P. Whitney, and in 1843 sole pastor of the same congregation. During a tour in the East he died at Akabah (the ancient Ezion-Geber), March 21, 1857, and was buried a short distance from that village. Dr. Lunt was the author of several sermons, and contributed largely to the Christian Examiner and other periodicals. His hymns and poems, together with selections from his prose works, were published by his son as Gleaning. His most widely used hymn is “When driven by oppression's rod." It was "written for the public schools of Quincy, and sung by them at their Fourth of July Celebration, 1837." It is in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. This, together with several others, including one of more than ordinary merit for Sunday schools, "Hark, the gentle Shepherd's voice" (written in 1846), are given in full in Putnam's Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, 1875. To this work we are indebted for the above facts. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Friedrich Rückert

1788 - 1866 Person Name: Friedrich Rueckert Hymnal Number: 379 Author of "I know not whither I go" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Rückert, Friedrieh, son of Johann Michael Rückert, advocate at Schweinfurt, in Bavaria, was born at Schweinfurt, May 16, 1788. He matriculated at the University of Würzburg Nov. 9, 1805 (where he became a great friend of Baron von Stockmar of Coburg), and finished his course there in the spring of 1809. He graduated PH. D. at Göttingen in 1810, and on March 30, 1811, began to lecture at Jena as a privatdocent in philology, but left April 16, 1812. On Nov. 2, 1812, he was appointed Professor of the Gymnasium at Hanau, but resigned before entering on his duties, and left Hanau Jan. 21, 1813. He was then for some time living at Würzburg as a man of letters, thereafter at Bettenburg near Hassfurt, &c. In Dec. 1815 he began work at Stuttgart as joint editor of the Morgenblatt, retiring from it Jan. 6, 1817. For some time he travelled in Italy, &c, and then in the end of 1820 settled at Coburg as a man of letters. On his appointment as Professor of Oriental Languages at Erlangen he went there in Nov. 1826; and then, in 1841, was appointed Professor of Oriental Languages at Berlin. During the Revolutionary period of March, 1848, he left Berlin and never returned, but received a pension in 1849. He retired to his estate of Neusess, near Coburg, and resided there till his death on Jan. 31, 1866… Rückert was one of the greatest Lyric writers, and one of the most thoughtful and earnest poets that Germany has produced. From the time that, unable to take part in the wars against Napoleon, he issued his Deutsche Gedichte (at Heidelberg) in 1814, containing his famous "Geharnischte Sonnette," he published himself or contributed to the publications of others, a most voluminous mass of poetry original and translated; a complete edition of his poems appearing finally at Frankfurt am Main, 1868-69, in 12 vols. as his Gesammelte poetische Werke. A considerable proportion of his poems are translations and adaptations from the Persian, Arabic, Sanscrit and Chinese. Throughout his poems he preserves a high level of purity of thought and expression; and displays a wonderful mastery of form and power of handling the German language. He was of deeply religious spirit, and wrote various epic poems on Biblical history, e.g. Leben Jesu, 1839; Saul und David, 1843; and Herodes der Grosse, 1844. He can hardly however be called a hymn-writer; the second of the poems noted below being almost the only piece by him which has passed into the German hymnbooks. A large number of his poems have been translated into English by Archbishop Trench, Dr. John Hunt, Dr. N. L. Frothingham, Dr. C. T. Brooks, and various others. Of Rückert's pieces we need here only note four, namely:— i. Das Parodies muss schöner sein. Eternal Life. First published as one of his Neue östliche Rosen in the Aglaja for 1823. Included in his Gesammelte Gedichte, Erlangen, 1834, vol. i. p. 83, in 14 stanzas, entitled "Paradise." The translations are (1) "Oh! Paradise must show more fair," by Abp. Trench, in his Poems from Eastern Sources, 1842, p. 199. (2) "Oh, Paradise must fairer be." Given, without name of translator, in Dr. H. Bonar's New Jerusalem, 1852, p. 84, and in Schaff’s Christ in Song, 1869, p. 657. ii. Dein Konig kommt in niedern Hüllen. Advent. This seems first to have appeared in his Gesammelte Gedicht, Erlangen, 1834, vol. i. p. 95, in 6 stanzas of 6 lines. It is based on St. Matt, xxi. 1-11, the Gospel for the 1st Sunday in Advent. It is included in the Berlin Geistliche Lieder, ed. 1863, No. 1545, and in various other recent German hymnbooks. The translations are: (1) "He comes, no royal vesture wearing." By T. C. Porter. Written April 5, 1868, for Hours at Home, N. Y., June, 18C8. (2) "In lowly guise thy King appeareth." By Dr. J. Troutbeck, as Schumann's Advent Hymn, Novello, N. D., 1876. iii. Er ist in Bethlehem geboren. Bethlehem and Calvary. First published as No. 5 of a series of "Hymns for Festivals by Friedrich Rückert," in the Taschenbuch zum geselligen Vergnügen auf das Jahr 1824, Leipzig, 1824, p. 276, in 10 st. of 8 1. The translations are:-- (1) "In Bethlehem He first arose." By N. L. Frothingham, 1855, p. 168. (2) "In Bethlehem the Lord was born." By Miss Winkworth, 1869, p. 338. (3) "In Bethlehem, the Lord of glory." By T. C. Porter for Hours at Home, N. Y., March, 1868. iv. Um Mitternacht hab ich gewacht. Midnight. The trs. are (1) "At still midnight I raise my sight." By N. L. Frothingham, 1855, p. 175. (2) "At dead of night Sleep took her flight." By Miss Winkworth, in Lyra Mystica, 1865, p. 266, and repeated in her Christian Singer, 1869, p. 337. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --edited from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

J. W. von Goethe

1749 - 1832 Hymnal Number: 211 Author of "The sun is still forever sounding" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, son of Johann Caspar Goethe, a lawyer at Frankfurt-am-Main; was born at Frankfurt Aug. 28,1749, and died at Weimar, March 22, 1832. The greatest German poet of his day, and one of the most famous literary men of his own or any age, his sympathies were Classical rather than distinctively Christian; and as he himself said (Conversations with Eckerman, January 4, 1827), he wrote no poems suited for use in public worship. A few pieces, principally from his well-known dramatic poem of Faust (pt. i. 1808; pt. ii. pub. posthumously, 1832), are found under his name in one or two Unitarian hymn-books. Good translations of both parts of Faust have been published by Dr. John Anster, Bayard Taylor, Sir Theodore Martin, and others; while a very large number of other persons have published translations of the first part. No attempt has accordingly been made to notice any translations except those in the hymn-books. i. From Faust, pt. i., 1808. i. Christ ist erttanden! Freude dem Sterbliche. Easter. The chorus of angels on Easter Day. Translated as “Christ has arisen! Joy to our buried Head," by Dr. F. H. Hedge, in his Supplement to Hymns for the Church of Christ, Boston, U.S., 1853, No. 836. A free version is also noted under A. C. Cox, No. 4. ii. Die Sonne tönt nach alter Weise. Praise. The Song of the three Archangels in the Prologue in Heaven. Translated as "The sun is still for ever sounding," by Dr. F. H. Hedge, as above, 1853, No. 190. iii. Verlassen nab ich Feld und Auen. [Evening]. Faust's Soliloquy on entering his study with the dog, Translated as "O'er silent field and lonely lawn," as No. 21 in W. J. Fox's Hymns & Anthems, 1841, repeated in English and American Unitarian collections. ii. Miscellaneous. iv. Des Maurers Wandeln. Written for the Freemasons' Lodge at Weimar, of which he became a member in 1780, and included in his Werke, 1828, vol. iii. p. 61, entitled "Symbolum." Translated as "The Mason’s ways are A type of Existence," by T. Carlyle, in his Past and Present, 1843, p. 318. Included,beginning "The future hides in it" (st. ii.), as No. 854 in Dr. Hedge's Collection, 1853, as above. Two pieces are also found in collections under his name, viz.:— 1. Without haste! without rest, in Hymns of the Ages, Boston, U.S., 3rd Ser., 1865, p. 76, and repeated as "Without haste and without rest," in Stopford Brooke's Christian Hymns, 1881, &c. It is suggested by " Wie das Gestern Ohne Hast, Aber Ohne Hast, Drehe sich jeder, Urn die eigne Last," in Goethe's Zahme Xenien, 2nd Ser., 1823 (Werke, 1828, iii. p. 245). 2. Rest is not quitting The busy career. [Rest]| This is part of a piece beginning "Sweet is the pleasure Itself cannot spoil." No. 853 in Dr. Hedge's Collection, 1853, as above, marked as by " J. S. Dwight." There does not appear to be any equivalent poem in Goethe's Werke. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, (1907) =========================== Goethe, J. W. von, p. 441, i. The Exeter Unitarian Hymns, Psalms and Anthems, of 1863 and 1884, contains the several additional hymns from Goethe, the translations in each case being by the Rev. T. W. Chignell. Some of the versions are very free, and the distinctively Christian character of the translations is only very faintly present in the originals. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Caroline A. Mason

1823 - 1890 Hymnal Number: 479 Author of "The Sabbath bells ring out upon the air" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Mason, Caroline Atherton, née Briggs, daughter of Dr. Calvin Briggs, of Marblehead, b. there July 27, 1823, married Charles Mason, a lawyer at Fitchburg, in 1853, and d. there June 13, 1890. She published a volume of poems as Utterance: or Private Voices to the Public Heart, 1852. Her Lost Ring and other Poems was issued in 1891. Of her hymns the following are in common use:— 1. I cannot walk in darkness long. [Evening.] This begins with st. v. of her poem on eventide, "At cool of day with God I walk." In her Lost Ring, 1891, p. 165. 2. 0 God. I thank Thee for each sight. [The Joy of Living.] From her Lost Ring, Dec, 1891, p. 164, where it is entitled "A Matin Hymn," and begins "I lift the sash and gaze abroad." 3. The changing years, eternal God. [Adoration.] Written for the Bicentennial of the First Cong. Church, Marblehead, Aug. 13, 1884 (Lost Ring, 1891, p. 174). It begins "The changing centuries, O God." Of these Nos. 1 and 2 are in Putnam's Singers & Songs, 1875, pp. 464-5. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

John Pierpont

1785 - 1866 Hymnal Number: 24 Author of "O God, I thank thee that the night" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Pierpont, John, son of James Pierpont, of Litchfield, Connecticut, was born at Litchfield, April 6, 1785, and educated at Yale College, where he graduated in 1804. After fulfilling engagements as a Tutor in New Haven, and in Charlestown, South Carolina, he was admitted to the Bar in 1812. Shortly after he retired and went into business, only to leave it also, and to pass on to Harvard College as a student in theology. In 1819 he succeeded Dr. Holley as the pastor of the Unitarian congregation in Hollis Street, Boston. At length his zeal against intemperance and slavery caused him to resign his charge in 1840 [sic. 1845] (see Lothrop's Proceedings of an Eccl. Council in the case of the Hollis Street Meeting and the Rev. J. Pierpont). At this date he published his Poems & Hymns, including his anti-slavery and temperance poems and songs. In 1845 he became the pastor of an Unitarian congregation at Troy, New York. This he vacated for another at Medford, Massachusetts, in 1849. That he resigned in 1859. When over 70 years of age he became Chaplain in the United States Army (1862), and was finally a Government clerk in the Treasury Department at Washington. He died suddenly at Medford, Aug. 27, 1866. Pierpont's publications include Airs of Palestine, 1816, some school books, and his Poems & Hymns, 1840 and 1854. His hymns in common use include:— 1. Another day its course hath run. Evening. Appeared in Hymns for Children, Boston, 1825; in Greenwood's Chapel Liturgy, 1827; and in the author's Poems & Hymns, 1840. 2. Break forth in song, ye trees. Public Thanksgiving. Written for the Second Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of Boston, Sept. 17, 1830, and included in the Poems & Hymns, 1840. 3. Break the bread and pour the wine. Holy Communion. In Harris's Hymns for the Lord's Supper, 1820. 4. Father, while we break the bread. Holy Communion. 5. God Almighty and All-seeing. Greatness of the Father. Contributed to Elias Nason's Congregational Hymn Book, Boston, 1857. 6. God of mercy, do Thou never. Ordination. Written for the Ordination of John B. P. Storer at Walpole, Nov. 15, 1826; and published in the author's Poems, &c, 1840. 7. God of our fathers, in Whose sight. Love of Truth desired. This hymn is composed of st. ix., x. of a hymn written for the Charlestown Centennial, June 17, 1830. In this form it was given in the Boston Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, and others. 8. Gone are those great and good. Burial. Written in 1830. Part of No. 2 above. 9. I cannot make him dead. Gone Before. "A part of an exquisitely touching and beautiful poem of ten stanzas, originally printed in the Monthly Miscellany, Oct. 1840." 10. Let the still air rejoice. Praise. 11. Mighty One, Whose name is Holy. Charitable Institutions. Written for the anniversary of the Howard Benevolent Society, Dec. 1826, and included in the author's Poems, &c, 1840. 12. My [0] God, I thank Thee that the night. Morning. Appeared in his Poems, &c, 1840. In Martineau's Hymns, &c, 1873, it begins "O God, I thank Thee," &c. 13. 0 bow Thine ear, eternal One. Opening of Divine Service. This is dated 1823, but was not included in the author's Poems, &c, 1840, although one of his best productions. 14. 0 Thou to Whom in ancient time. Universal Worship. “Written for the opening of the Independent Congregational Church in Barton Square, Salem, Massachusetts, Dec. 7, 1824," and printed at the close of the sermon preached by Henry Colman on that day. It was given in Pierpont's Poems, &c, 1840, and is found in several collections in Great Britain and America. It is widely known. 15. 0 Thou Who art above all height. Ordination. “Written for the Ordination of Mr. William Ware, as Pastor of the First Congregational Church in New York, Dec. 18, 1821," and included in his Poems, &c, 1840. 16. 0 Thou Who on the whirlwind rides. Dedication of a Place of Worship. Written for the opening of the Seamen's Bethel in Boston, Sept. 11, 1833. Sometimes given as “Thou Who on the," &c. 17. O'er Kedron's stream, and Salem's height. Gethsemane. One of eight hymns contributed to Dr. T. M. Harris's Hymns for the Lord's Supper, 1820. It is in Martineau's Hymns, &c, London, 1873, and others. 18. On this stone, now laid with prayer. Foundation-stone Laying. Written for the laying of the cornerstone of Suffolk Street Chapel, Boston, for the Ministry of the Poor, May 23, 1839. 19. With Thy pure dews and rain. Against Slavery. Written for the African Colonization Society, and included in Cheever's American Common Place Book, 1831. Not in the author's Poems, &c, 1840. Pierpont's talents as a hymn-writer, as in other fields, were respectable rather than commanding, but so energetically employed as to make their mark. Thus, although he never wrote a single hymn that can be called a great lyric, yet he has attained to a prominent position in American hymnody. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

William Cutter

1801 - 1867 Hymnal Number: 151 Author of "Who is thy neighbor, he whom thou" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Cutter, William, born at North Yarmouth, Maine, May 15, 1801, and was removed in childhood to Portland, and educated at Bowdoin College, graduating in 1821. He was subsequently engaged for some time in business in Portland, and again in Brooklyn, New York. Died Feb. 8, 1867. Mr. Cutter, who was a member of the Congregational body, was a deserving writer, who has hitherto missed his due meed of acknowledgment. To his friend Mr. Colesworthy we are indebted for the details of his life and hymnological work. His hymns include:— 1. Thy neighbour? it is he whom thou. Christian Brotherhood. This appeared in the Christian Mirror for May 30, 1828 (Mr. Colesworthy thinks that he set the types for it), and again in Cheever'sAmerican Poetry, 1831. An altered form of the hymn, "Who is thy neighbour? he whom thou," soon came into use, and was often printed before it was included anonymously in W. B. O. Peabody's Unitarian Springfield Collection, 1835. From being found in that collection it has been attributed to Peabody in error. 2. Hide not thy talent in the earth. Duty. Appeared in the Christian Mirror, Oct. 10, IS28. In some collections it begins with stanza ii., "What if the little rain should say." 3. She loved her Saviour, and to Him. Thankfulness and Duty. Was first published in the Christian Mirror, but the date is uncertain. It was reprinted by Cheever in his American Poetry, 1831. In addition to the above, Cutter wrote several hymns which appeared in the Mirror, and in the Sunday School Instructor, of which he and Mr. Colesworthy were joint editors. His hymns are unknown to the English collections. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

John Davis

Hymnal Number: 2 Author of "Sons of renowned sires" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith

Samuel Gilman

1791 - 1858 Hymnal Number: 71 Author of "This child we dedicate to thee" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Gilman, Samuel, D.D., was born at Gloucester, Massachusetts, Feb. 16, 1791; graduated at Harvard, 1811, and was a tutor there from 1817 to 1819. In 1819 he became the pastor of a Unitarian congregation at Charlestown, South Carolina, and retained the same to his death. He died at Kingston, Mass., Feb. 9, 1858. His hymns include:— 1. 0 God, accept the sacred hour. Holy Communion. Contributed to Dr. Harris's Hymns for the Lord's Supper , July, 1820, republished in Sewall's Unitarian Collection, New York, 1820, and in later collections. 2. We sing Thy mercy, God of love. Holy Communion. Published as in the case of No. 1. 3. Yes, to the [that] last command. Holy Communion. Published as in the case of Nos. 1 & 2. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

William T. Davis

1822 - 1907 Hymnal Number: 5 Author of "To thee, O God, whose guiding hand" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Davis, William T., born at Plymouth [U.S.A.], in 1822, educated at Harvard College, and is a lawyer by profession. His quasi American National Hymn was written for the 250th Anniversary of the Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth, Massachusetts, Dec. 21, 1870. It begins, "To Thee, O God, Whose guiding hand." --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Robert Collyer

1823 - 1912 Hymnal Number: 504 Author of "With thankful hearts, O God, we come" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Collyer, Robert, born at Keighley, Yorkshire, Dec. 8, 1823, at one time a working blacksmith, emigrated to America in 1850, where he was a Methodist local preacher until he joined the Unitarians in 1859; and Pastor of the Church of the Messiah, N.Y., from 1879. Has published several works on various subjects. His hymn, "With thankful hearts, O God, we come" (Dedication of a Church), in the Boston Unitarian Hymns for Church and Home, 1895, is given in Horder's Worship Song, 1905, as "Unto Thy temple, Lord, we come," and appointed for Sunday morning. It was written for the Dedication of Unity Church, Chicago (which was burnt in the great fire of 1870), of which he was the first Pastor in 1859. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

Sarah Elizabeth Miles

1807 - 1877 Hymnal Number: 231 Author of "Thou, who didst stoop below" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Miles, Elizabeth, nee Appleton, was born at Boston, U.S.A,, March 28, 1807, and married in 1833 to Solomon P. Miles, Head Master of the Boston High School, and afterwards the Principal of a private school for young ladies in the same city. He died in 1842. On leaving Boston, Mrs. Miles went to reside with her son at Brattleborough, Vermont. Her principal hymns are:— 1. The earth all light and loveliness. Part i. Summer. 2. When on devotion's seraph wing. Part ii., st. v., vii. Foretaste of Heaven. These two parts appeared as one hymn in The Christian Examiner, 1828. 3. Thou Who didst stoop below. Looking unto Jesus. Appeared in The Christian Examiner, 1827. Sometimes it begins with st. ii., "It was no path of flowers," as in the Boston Unitarian Book of Hymns, 1846. 4. Father, direct my ways. Divine Guidance desired in Affliction. In the Boston Book of Hymns, 1846; the Boston Hymns of the Spirit, 1864; and some other collections, it begins with st. ii., "Thou, infinite in love." Three additional hymns were published for the first time in Putnam's Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, 1875. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Caroline Gilman

1794 - 1888 Hymnal Number: 76 Author of "We bless thee for this sacred day" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Mrs. Caroline Gilman was born in Boston, in 1794. She married the Rev. Samuel Gilman, a Unitarian minister, in 1819. Soon after, they removed to Charleston, South Carolina. Mrs. Gilman has written considerable prose and some poetry. --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A., 1872. ================== Gilman, Caroline, née Howard, daughter of Samuel Howard, and wife of Dr. S. Gilman (q.v.), was b. at Boston, U. S., in 1794, and married to Dr. Gilman in 1819. After Dr. Gilman's death in 1858, she resided for a time at Cambridge, U. S., and subsequently at Tiverton, Long Island. Mrs. Gilman is the author of several tales, ballads, and poems, and of the following hymns:— 1. Is there a lone and dreary hour? Providence. Contributed to Sewall's Unitarian Collection, N. York, 1820, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, In 1867 Mrs. Gilman added a stanza thereto for the Charlestown Services & Hymns. The original hymn is in extensive use amongst the Unitarians in Great Britain and America. 2. We bless Thee for this sacred day. Sunday. Also contributed to Sewall's Collection, 1820, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, to which another was added by Mrs, Gilman, for the Charlestown Services & Hymns, 1867. In extensive use. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ================= Gilman, Caroline (Howard). (Boston, Massachusetts, October 8, 1794--September 18, 1888, Washington, D.C.) Unitarian. She married Rev. Samuel Gilman on October 14, 1819, and after his death in 1858 lived for a time in Cambridge, Mass., and later in Tiverton, Long Island, New York. She began to write stories and poems at an early age, many of which were published in The Rosebud, later called The Southern Rose, a juvenile weekly paper published in Charleston, South Carolina, which she edited for several years, beginning in 1832. Her book entitled Verses of a Lifetime was published in 1854, as were a number of other books which gave her a considerable reputation as an author. Five of her poems are included in Putnam's Singers and Songs, etc. --Henry Wilder Foote, DNAH Archives

Louisa J. Hall

1802 - 1892 Person Name: Louisa Jane Hall Hymnal Number: 155 Author of "Of idle hopes and fancies wild" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Hall, Louisa Jane (Park). (Newburyport, Massachusetts, February 2, 1802--1892). Wife of Rev. Edward B. Hall, she began to publish poems anonymously in periodicals. Her husband was minister of the First Unitarian Church of Providence, Rhode Island. She moved to Boston after his death. --Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, 1875, DNAH Archives

Theodore Parker

1810 - 1860 Hymnal Number: 293 Author of "The humble pile our fathers raised" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Parker, Theodore, M.A., was born at Lexington, Massachusetts, Aug. 24, 1810; laboured with his father as a farmer and mechanic; entered Harvard College in 1830, but continued his work at home and attended the College for examinations; attended the Divinity School from 1834 to 1836, and became pastor of the Unitarian congregation in West Roxbury, June 21, 1837. He received the degree of M.A. from his College in 1840. Changes in his theological views led him to undertake the pastorate of a congregation in Boston, in January 1846. He continued his writing, preaching, and lecturing till 1859, when bleeding at the lungs compelled him to seek relief in Europe. He died at Florence, May 10, 1860. His publications were numerous, and have been republished in Great Britain. An extended list is given, together with 12 poetic pieces, in Putnam's Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, Boston, U. S. A., 1875. His life has been published by Weiss, and by Frothingham. A few of his poetical pieces are given in American Unitarian hymn-books. These include :— 1. In darker days and nights of storm. Almighty Love. "Introduced in a sermon which Mr. Parker preached, entitled ‘The Practical Effects of the Ecclesiastical Conception of God.’” 2. 0 Thou great Friend of all the sons of men. Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This in the original is a sonnet. Altered for use as a hymn, it is widely used by American Unitarian; and is also given in some English hymnbooks. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Thomas Gray

1803 - 1849 Hymnal Number: 174 Author of "Our Father, here again we raise" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Born: February 14, 1803, Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, Massachusetts. Died: March 6, 1849, Boston, Massachusetts. Gray, Thomas, jun., M.D., was b. at Jamaica Plain Roxbury, Massachusetts, Feb. 4, 1803, and educated at Harvard College, where he graduated in 1823. After visiting England and the Continent ho took his M.D. in 1827, and commenced the practice of medicine in Boston, U.S.A. He subsequently exchanged the practice of medicine for that of chemistry. He died in Boston, March 6, 1849. His hymns were mainly written for children, and for occasional services. They are of more than ordinary merit, and are much used by the Unitarians, of which body Dr. Gray was a member. They include:— 1. Good-night, good-night, our song is said. Evening. Popular with children. 2. Jehovah! at Thine awful throne. Ordination. “Written for the Ordination of Mr. George Whitney as Pastor of the Second Church and Society in Roxbury, June 15,1831." 3. Our Father, here again we raise. Morning. In Gray's Sunday School Collection, 1833. 4. Suppliant, lo! Thy children bend. Prayer. Also in Gray's Sunday School Collection, 1833. 5. We come in childhood's innocence. Opening of a Sunday School. Given in Gray's Sunday School Collection, 1844. 6. While round Thy throne, 0 God, we bend. Anniversary of Sunday School “Written for the Jubilee of the Boston Sunday School Society, at the Federal Street Church, Sept. 14, 1831." It was given in Gray's Collection, 1833. For these details we are indebted to Putnam's Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, 1874, pp. 171-176. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology

Chandler Robbins

1810 - 1882 Hymnal Number: 305 Author of "While thus thy throne of grace we seek" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Robbins, Chandler, D.D., was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Feb. 14, 1810, and educated at Harvard College (1829), and the Cambridge Divinity School (1833). In 1833 he became Pastor of the Second [Unitarian] Church, Boston, succeeding Dr. H. Ware, jun., and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He received his D.D. degree from Harvard in 1855, and died at Westport, Massachusetts, Sept. 12, 1882. Dr. Robbins published several prose works. He also edited The Social Hymn Book in 1843, and Hymns for Christian Worship, 1854. His two hymns,"Lo, the day of rest declineth" (Evening), and "While thus [now] Thy throne of grace we seek " (The Voice of God), appeared in Dr. G. E. Ellis's Psalms & Hymns for the Sanctuary, 1845. L. B. Barnes's tune, "Bedford Street," was written for the former. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

George Osgood

b. 1817 Hymnal Number: 393 Author of "'Tis sweet, when life's last work is done" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Osgood, George. (Kensington, New Hampshire, October 8, 1817--?). Graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1847. Minister at Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, in 1855. Editor of the "Exeter, N.H., Newsletter." Contributed poetry to newspapers and the Salem Register. --Putnam, Alfred P. (1875). Songs and Singers of the Liberal Faith. Boston: Roberts Brothers.

Caroline H. Dall

Hymnal Number: 560 Author of "What do you say to God, little bird" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith

Samuel Dowse Robbins

1812 - 1884 Hymnal Number: 322 Author of "Thou art our master, Thou of God the Son" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Robbins, Samuel Dowse, M.A., brother of Dr. Chandler Bobbins, was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, March 7, 1812, and was educated for the ministry at the Cambridge Divinity School. In 1833 he became Pastor of the Unitarian congregation in his native town, and subsequently held pastorates at Chelsea (1840), Farmingham (1859), and Wayland (1867), and retired from the last in 1873. Four of his hymns are given in the Boston Unitarian Hymn [and Tune] Book, 1868:— 1. Down towards the twilight drifting. Sunset. 2. Saviour, when Thy bread we break. Holy Communion. 3. Thou art, 0 God! my East, In Thee I dawned. God, All in All. 4. Thou art my morning, God of Light. Daily Hymn. 5. Thou art our Master, Thou of God the Son. Christ the Master. These, together with other hymns and poetical pieces, are in Putnam's Singers and Songs, &c, 1875, and the text of No. 3 is revised therein. We are indebted to Putnam for these details. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ======================== Death date provided by Henry Wilder Foote, DNAH Archives.

Francis Brown

Hymnal Number: 153 Author of "Our Father, nature's God" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith

Octavius B. Frothingham

1822 - 1895 Hymnal Number: 480 Author of "Thou Lord of hosts, whose guiding hand" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Frothingham, Octavius Brooks, M.A., son of Dr. N. L. Frothingham, was born at Boston, Nov. 26, 1822, and educated at Harvard, graduating in Arts, 1843, and in Theology, 1846. In 1847 he became Pastor at Salem, from whence he passed to Jersey City, 1855; and again to the 3rd Unitarian Society, New York, 1860. His works are numerous and well known. Mr. Frothingham is known as a leader of the Free Religious movement. His hymn, "Thou Lord of Hosts, Whose guiding hand" (Soldiers of the Cross), was written for the Graduating Exercise of the class of 1846 (see also "God of the earnest heart"), and published in the same year in Longfellow and Johnson's Book of Hymns, No. 425. It has been adopted by Dr. Martineau in his Hymns of Praise & Prayer, 1873. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

William Bourn Oliver Peabody

1799 - 1847 Person Name: William B. O. Peabody Hymnal Number: 136 Author of "He made the sun, and gave him light" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Peabody, William Bourne Oliver, D.D., twin brother of Oliver William Bourne, was born at Exeter, New Hampshire, July 9, 1799, and educated in his native town and at Harvard College. Leaving Harvard in 1817, he taught for a year at an academy in Exeter, and then proceeded to study theology at the Cambridge Divinity School. He began to preach in 1819, and became the Pastor of the Unitarian Congregation at Springfield, Massachusetts, in October, 1820. This charge he held to his death on May 28, 1847. His Memoir (written by his brother) was published with the 2nd ed. of his Sermons, 1849; and his Literary Remains followed in 1850. "He was a man of rare accomplishments, and consummate virtue," whose loveliness of character impressed many outside his own sect. In 1823 he published a Poetical Catechism for the Young to which were appended some original hymns. He also edited The Springfield Collection of Hymns for Sacred Worship, Springfield, 1835. A few of his hymns also appeared in that collection. His hymns in common use are:— 1. Behold the western evening light. Death of the Righteous, or Autumn Evening. Published in his Catechism, 1823, in 6 st. of 4 1., and again in his Springfield Collection, 1835, No. 484. It is in common use in its original form; also as altered in the Leeds Hymn Book, 1853; and again as altered by George Rawson in the Baptist Psalsm & Hymns, 1858, where it reads "How softly on the western hills." 2. God of the earth's extended plains. Hymn of Nature. This is in Griswold's Poets and Poetry of America, in 6 st. of 8 1. This is thought by some to be the production of his brother Oliver; but Putnam assigns it to William. It is given abbrevi¬ated in a few collections. The hymn "God of the rolling orbs above," in the Boston Unitarian Hymns [and Tune"] Book, 1868, and others, begins with st. v. 3. 0 when the hours of life are past. The Hereafter. This hymn, in 6 st. of 4 1., was given in his Catechism, 1823, as the Answer to "Question xiv. What do you learn of the Future State of Happiness." It is in use in its original form, and also altered as "When all the hours of life are past." 4. The moon is up: how calm and slow. Evening. A poem rather than a hymn, in 6 st. of 4 1., appended to his Catechism, 1823. 5. When brighter suns and milder skies. Spring. Appended to his Catechism, 1823, in 6 st. of 4 1. The full texts of all these hymns are in Putnam's Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, Boston, U. S. A., 1875. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

James Freeman Clarke

1810 - 1888 Hymnal Number: 281 Author of "Infinite Spirit, who art round us ever" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Clarke, James Freeman, D.D., is a grandson of James Freeman (q. v.)> from whom he was named. He was born at Hanover, New Hampshire, April 4, 1810, and graduated at Harvard College, in Arts, in 1829, and in Divinity, 1833. Receiving ordination as a Unitarian Minister, he was Pastor at Louisville, Kentucky, from 1833 to 1840; of the Church of the Disciples, Boston, from 1811 to 1830; and also from 1853. Dr. Clarke for some time edited, whilst at Louisville, The Western Messenger, and is the author of Orthodoxy, its Truths and Errors, 1866; The Christian Doctrine of Forgiveness, 1852; The Christian Doctrine of Prayer, 1854, and other works. In 1844 he published the Hymn Book for the Church of the Disciples. This he enlarged in 1852. To each edition be contributed five hymns. Of these ten hymns five are found in the Lyra Sacra Americana The best known of Dr. Clarke's hymns are:— 1. Father, to us Thy children, humbly kneeling. [thoughts desired.] Dr. Clarke says this was manufactured from:— 2. Infinite Spirit, who art round us ever. [Holy thoughts desired], “which was written in Kentucky about 1833, and printed in the Dial soon after." 3. Brother, hast thou wandered far! [The Prodigal Son.] This appeared in his Disciples' Hymn Book, 1844, and is somewhat extensively used. It appeared in an Brother abbreviated form as, "Hast thou wasted all the powers?" beginning with stanza ii., in Hymns for the Church of Christ, Boston, 1853; Beecher's Plymouth Collection, 1855, and subsequently in others in Great Britain and America. The next three are also in one or two English collections. 4. To Thee, 0 God, in heaven. [Holy Baptism.] 1844. 5. To Him who children blessed. [Holy Baptism.] 1844. 6. Friend, whose presence in the house. [Christ's presence desired.] 1855. The beauty and value of this last hymn have been partly, and deserve to be more fully, recognized. It is found in Lyra Sac. Amer., which also has the following on "The Protestant Reformation":— 7. For all Thy gifts we praise Thee, Lord. This hymn was sung at the collation given by the Unitarians of New York and Brooklyn to the Members of the Convention assembled in the former city, Oct. 22, 1845. As originally written it contained 8 stanzas; the last two are omitted from both Lyra Sac. Americana and Putnam's Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Thomas W. Higginson

1823 - 1911 Hymnal Number: 506 Author of "To veil thy truth by darkening or by hiding" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, M.A., was born at Cambridge, U.S.A., Dec. 22, 1823, and educated at Harvard. From 1847 to 1850 he was Pastor of an Unitarian Church at Newburyport, and from 1852 to 1858 at Worcester. In 1858 he retired from the Ministry, and devoted himself to literature. During the Rebellion he was colonel of the first negro regiment raised in South Carolina. In addition to being for some time a leading contributor to the Atlantic Monthly, he published Outdoor Papers, 1863; Malbone, 1869; and other works. During his residence at the Harvard Divinity School he contributed the following hymns to Longfellow and Johnson's Book of Hymns, 1846:— 1. No human eyes Thy face may see. God known through love. 2. The land our fathers left to us. American Slavery. 3. The past is dark with sin and shame. Hope. 4. To Thine eternal arms, O God. Lent. In the Book of Hymns these hymns are all marked with an asterisk. They, together with others by Mr. Higginson, are given in Putnam's Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, 1875. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology

Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch

1809 - 1870 Hymnal Number: 237 Author of "Toiling through the livelong night" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Bulfinch, Stephen Greenleaf, D.D. This Unitarian minister was born at Boston, June 18, 1809, and removed to Washington in 1818, his father being the architect of the Capitol. He graduated at Columbian College and the Cambridge Theological School. In 1831 lie was ordained at Charleston, S.C., as assistant to Dr. Gilman. Subsequently he was pastor at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Washington, 1838; Nashua, New Hampshire, 1845; Dorchester, Mass., 1852; and "East Cambridge, Mass., 1865. He died at the last place, Oct. 12, 1870. His works include:— (1) Contemplations of the Saviour; A Series of Extracts from the Gospel History, with Reflections and Original and Selected Hymns. Boston, Carter and Hendee, 1832. This has been reprinted in England. (2) Poems, Charleston, S.C., 1834. (3) Lays of the Gospel, 1845. In addition to these works, which contain his original hymns, he also published (4) The Harp and Cross, a selection of hymns, in 1857. Those of his hymns which have attained ta the greatest popularity are:— 1. Hail to the Sabbath day. Sunday. In the Contemplations, &c, p. 45. It is appended to Sect. xii. on the “Walk through the corn¬fields," and is in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. It is in extensive use both in Great Britain and America, and is the best known of this author'ess hymns. In many collections it begins with st. ii., " Lord, in Thy [this] sacred hour." 2. Hath not thy heart within thee burned? Presence of Christ. In the Contemplations, &c, p. 148, as the accompanying hymn to the Reflections on Jesus appearing to His disciples on their way to Emmaus, It is in 5 stanzas of 4 lines and is given in the Collections of Beard, Martineau, and others in Great Britain. 3. 0 suffering friend of human kind. Passiontide. The hymn in 4 stanzas of 4 lines appended to Sect. xxxv. on "Peter's confession of Christ," in the Contemplations, &c, p. 109. It ranks next in popularity to ”Hail to the Sabbath day." In addition to these hymns which best represent Dr. Bulfinch's power? as a sacred poet, the following are also in limited use:— 4. Burden of shame and woe. Crucifixion. 5. Holy Son of God most high. Miracles of Christ. 6. How glorious is the hour. The New Life. 7. It is finished! Glorious word. Good Friday. 8. There is a strife we all must wage. Life's Duty. These are from his Poems, 1834. The next— 9. What power unseen by mortal eye. Cure of Nobleman's Son. From the Contemplations, &c, p. 56. 10. In the Saviour's hour of death. Good Friday. Also from the Contemplations, p. 142: Dr. Bulfinch's hymns were made known to English readers through Beard's Collection, 1837, in which 19 were given. His hymns throughout are noted for solid and tranquil piety, and deserve a wider circulation than has been accorded to them. They embrace some good hymns on the miracles of Christ. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ==================== Bulfinch, Stephen Greenleaf, p. 191, ii. Several of this authors hymns, not noted in this Dictionary, were given in Longfellow and Johnson's Book of Hymns , 1846-8. Additional hymns by him in English common use are:— 1. Benignant Saviour! 'twas not Thine. The Compassion of Christ . From his Contemplations of the Saviour , &c, 1832. In Horder's Congregational Hymns. 1884, it reads “Most gracious Saviour! 'twas not Thine." 2. We gather to the sacred board. Holy Communion. This in Horder is from Bulfinch's Communion Thoughts, 2nd ed., 1852. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

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Publisher of "" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith

Alfred P. Putnam

1827 - 1906 Editor of "" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Putnam, Rev. Alfred Porter, D.D. (Danvers, Massachusetts, January 10, 1827--April 15, 1906, Salem, Mass.). He was educated at Brown University, A.B. 1852, and graduated from the Harvard Divinity School in 1855. Entering the Unitarian ministry he served a church in Roxbury, Mass., 1855-1864, and the Church of the Saviour, Brooklyn, New York, 1864-1886, when he retired. Brown University gave him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1871. He wrote no hymns but published in 1874 a book entitled Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith: being selections of hymns and other sacred poems of the Liberal Church in America, with biographical sketches of the writers. This book includes almost all the hymns by American Unitarian authors which had come into use prior to 1870, and the biographical sketches are generally accurate and adequate in brief space. --Henry Wilder Foote, DNAH Archives

William Newell

1804 - 1881 Hymnal Number: 180 Author of "Changing, fading, falling, flying" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Rv William Newell DD USA 1804-1881. Born at Littleton, MA, son of a storekeeper, his family moved to Boston when he was a child. In 1814 he entered the Latin School, graduating four years later. He wrote a lengthy poem for his graduation exercise and was accepted into Harvard, receiving a BA in 1824. He taught for a year at the Latin School, then entered Harvard Divinity School, graduating in 1828. Professor Andrews Norton, who took a lasting interest in him, said his literary acumen was unequaled. He was much consulted by men of letters as a result. After college, he traveled for several months, then accepted a pastorate at the First Parish in Cambridge. In 1830 he was ordained. In 1832 a new church was built by the college across the street. He began ministry there just after a large minority of worshippers had left the church to organize the Shepard Congregational Society. Controversy in the parish between orthodox and liberal members was bitter, and the minority protested against Newell as pastor. He refused to engage in controversy and ignored all hostility. As a result of his gentleness, the quarrel soon passed into oblivion. In 1835 he married Francis Boott Wells, and they had six children: William, Frances, Robert, Kirk, Louise, and Jane. His domestic life was a happy one. Harvard conferred to him his DD degree in 1853. He remained as pastor of the First Parish until his retirement in 1868. His congregation was very diverse, consisting of academic people, retired ministers, and common folk. Somehow he managed to please most everybody through his simple and direct sermons. He wrote Bible commentaries and much verse, but never tried to publish it. He had come to Cambridge in delicate health, but managed to labor as he wished until the last year of his life, when he developed a painful illness. However, he remained cheerful and content. He died at Cambridge. John Perry =================== Newell, William, D.D., b. at Littleton, Mass., Feb. 25, 1804, educated at Harvard, entered the Unitarian Ministry in 1830, retired in 1868, and died in 1881. In Putnam's Singers and Songs, 1874, there are 11 of his hymns and poems. His "All hail, God's angel, Truth" (Thanksgiving), is in Horder's Worship Song, with Tunes, 1905. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

Mary Whitwell Hale

1810 - 1862 Hymnal Number: 260 Author of "Home, Home, As we kneel at thy time-hallowed" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Hale, Mary Whitwell, daughter of Eliphalet Hale of Boston, U.S.A., was born at Boston, Jan. 29, 1810. After receiving a good education she devoted herself to educational work in Boston, Taunton, Keene, N. H., and elsewhere. She died Nov. 17, 1862. Her hymn-writing was brought into notice by two hymns, one on "Home," and the second on "Music," which were written for a juvenile concert at the Unitarian Church in Taunton, April 1834. Several of the hymns and poetical pieces which she subsequently wrote were contributed to the Christian Register under the initials "Y. L. E.," the concluding letters of her name. Her Poems were published at Boston in 1840. A few of her hymns also appeared in the Unitarian Christian Hymns for Public and Private Worship, commonly known as the Cheshire Collection, in 1844. [American Hymnody, § vii.] Putnam (to whom we are indebted for these details) gives the following of her hymns, with others, in full in his Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, 1874 : 1. "Praise for the glorious light." Temperance Anniversary. 2. "This day let grateful praise ascend." Sunday. 3. "Whatever dims the sense of truth." A Mother's Counsel. 4. "When in silence o'er the deep." Christmas. These hymns were given in the Cheshire Collection, 1844. Nos. 2 and 3 were taken from her Poems. Some of the other pieces given by Putnam are worthy of attention. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology

Andrews Norton

1786 - 1853 Hymnal Number: 42 Author of "My God, I thank thee, may no thought" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Norton, Andrews, D.D., son of Samuel Norton, was born at Higham, Massachusetts, Dec. 31, 1786, and was educated at Higham, and at Harvard College. After being engaged there for a short time as a tutor, he was appointed Librarian, and subsequently Lecturer on Biblical Criticism, as successor to Dr. Channing. When the Theological School was opened in 1819 he became Dexter Professor of Literature. This position he held until 1830. He died at Newport, Rhode Island, Sept. 18, 1853. He was for some time editor of the General Repository and Review, and published several prose works, one of the most extensive being The Genuineness of the Gospels, in 4 volumes. His hymns are few in number, and are mainly meditations in verse. They were contributed to various periodicals, and after his death were collected and published in a small volume. Of these hymns the following are in common use:-- 1. Another year, another year, The unceasing rush, &c. Close of the Year. Appeared in the Christian Examiner in Nov. and Dec. 1827, in 11 stanzas of 4 lines. It is used in an abbreviated form. In the American Boston Unitarian Hymns [&Tune] Book, 1868, it begins with st. vi., "O what concerns it him whose way." 2. Faint not, poor traveller, though thy way. Fortitude. Printed in the Christian Disciple, July and Aug., 1822, in 7 st. of 4 1., and again in the West Boston Collection, 1823. 3. He has gone to his God, he has gone to his home. Burial. Printed in the Christian Examiner, Jan. and Feb., 1824. 4. My God, I thank Thee! may no thought. Trust and Submission. Appeared in the Monthly Anthology and Boston Review, Sept., 1809. This is his earliest and best known hymn. 5. 0 stay thy tears:for they are blest. Burial of the Young. Printed in the General Repository and Review, April, 1812, in 5 st. of 4 1. In 1855, st. iii.-v. were given in Beecher's Plymouth Collection, No. 1094, as "How blest are they whose transient years." 6. Where ancient forests round us spread. Dedication of a Church. This "Hymn for the Dedication of a Church," is dated 1833. These hymns are in some of the American hymnals. Nos. 1, 4, 5 are in Martineau's Hymns, 1873, and the full texts of all are in Putnam's Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, Boston, U.S.A., 1875. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Jones Very

1813 - 1880 Hymnal Number: 336 Author of "Father, I wait thy word, The sun doth stand" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Very, Jones, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, Aug. 28, 1813, his father, Jones Very, being a shipmaster. He graduated at Harvard College in 1836. He remained at his College, as tutor in Greek, for two years, and then entered the Unitarian Ministry (1843). He has been engaged in the work of a preacher without a pastorate from the first, a great part of his time being devoted to literary pursuits. In 1839 he published a volume of Essays and Poems, from which several pieces have been taken as hymns, including:— 1. Father! I wait Thy word. The sun doth stand. Waiting upon God. 2. Father, there is no change to live with Thee. Peace in the Father's Care. 3. Father! Thy wonders do not singly stand. The Spirit-Land. 4. Wilt Thou not visit me? The Divine Presence desired. These hymns were included in Longfellow and Johnson's Unitarian Book of Hymns, 1846. In the same collection also appeared:— 5. I saw on earth another light. The Light Within. 6. The bud will soon become a flower. Sowing and Reaping. 7. Turn not from him who asks of thee. Kind Words. In addition the following hymns appeared in Longfellow and Johnson's Hymns of the Spirit, 1864 :— 8. One saint to another I heard say,"How long?" The Future anticipated. 9. There is a world eye hath not seen. The Spirit World. Most of these hymns are in the Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868; and in Putnam's Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, 1874. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ================ Very, J., p. 1219, i. His hymn, "O heavenly gift of love divine" (Divine assistance asked), from his Poems and Essays, 1839, is given in The Pilgrim Hymnal, 1904. He d. May 8, 1880. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907) ================ Very, Jones. (Salem, Massachusetts, August 28, 1813--May 8, 1880, Salem). He was brother of Washington Very. He graduated from Harvard College in 1836, and served as tutor in Greek there for two years. Although Julian (p. 1219) says that he entered the Unitarian ministry in 1843, he was never ordained as a settled minister though he served frequently as an occasional lay preacher. Most of his life was given to literary pursuits. In 1839 he published Essays and Poems, and thereafter was a frequent contributor in prose and verse to periodicals, including The Christian Register and the Monthly Magazine. --Henry Wilder Foote, DNAH Archives

James T. Fields

1816 - 1881 Hymnal Number: 455 Author of "Hither, bright angels, wing your flight" in Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith Fields, James Thomas, born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Dec. 31, 1816; was for some years a partner in the Boston publishing firm of Ticknor and Fields, and also the editor of the Atlantic Monthly from 1862 to 1870. From the 1854 edition of his Poems, Putnam has given 13 pieces in his Singers and Songs, &c, 1874, p. 437, one of which, "Thou Who hast called our being here "(Child's Hymn), has come into common use. He died April 24, 1881. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907) ================= Born: December 31, 1817, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Died: April 24, 1881, Boston, Massachusetts. Buried: Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Fields’ father, a sea captain, died before John was three. Fields and his brother were raised by their mother and her siblings, their aunt Mary and uncle George. At age 14, Fields took a job at the Old Corner Bookstore in Boston as an apprentice to publishers Carter and Hendee. His first published poems appeared in the Portsmouth Journal in 1837, but he drew more attention when, on September 13, 1838, he delivered his Anniversary Poem to the Boston Mercantile Library Association. In 1839, Fields joined William Ticknor and became junior partner in the publishing and bookselling firm known after 1846 as Ticknor and Fields, and after 1868 as Fields, Osgood & Company. Ticknor oversaw the business side of the firm, while Fields was its literary expert. He became known for being likable, for his ability to find creative talent, and for promoting authors and winning their loyalty. With this company, Fields became the publisher of leading contemporary American writers, with whom he was on terms of close personal friendship. He was also the American publisher of some of the best known British writers of his time, some of whom he also knew intimately. The company paid royalties to these British authors, including Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray, at a time when other American publishers pirated the works of those authors. His firm published the first collected edition of Thomas de Quincey’s works (20 volumes, 1850-55) . Ticknor and Fields built their company to have a substantial influence in the literary scene which writer and editor Nathaniel Parker Willis acknowledged in a letter to Fields: "Your press is the announcing-room of the country’s Court of Poetry." In 1844, Fields was engaged to Mary Willard, a local woman six years younger than him. Before they could be married, she died of tuberculosis on April 17, 1845. He maintained a close friendship with her family and, on March 13, 1850, married her 18-year old sister Eliza Willard at Boston’s Federal Street Church. Also sick with tuberculosis, she died July 13, 1851. Grief stricken, Fields left America for a time and traveled to Europe. In 1854, Fields married Annie Adams, who was an author herself. She was instrumental in helping her husband establish literary salons at their home at 37 Charles Street in Boston, where they entertained many well known writers, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne. After Hawthorne’s death in 1864, Fields served as a pallbearer for his funeral alongside Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Edwin Percy Whipple. In 1867, he performed the same role after the death of Nathaniel Parker Willis, along with Holmes, Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and Samuel Gridley Howe. Ticknor and Fields purchased The Atlantic Monthly around 1859 for $10,000 and, in May 1861, Fields took over the editorship from Lowell. At a New Year’s Eve party in 1865, he met William Dean Howells, and 10 days later offered him a position as assistant editor of the Atlantic. Howells accepted, but was somewhat dismayed by Fields’ close supervision. Fields was less concerned with the retail store owned by the company, and wanted to focus on publishing. On November 12, 1864, he sold the Old Corner Bookstore and moved Ticknor and Fields to 124 Tremont Street. On New Year’s Day, 1871, Fields announced his retirement from the business at a small gathering of friends. No longer occupied by editorial duties, he devoted himself to lecturing and writing. He also edited, with Edwin Percy Whipple, A Family Library of British Poetry (1878). Fields became increasingly popular as a lecturer in the 1870s. In May 1879, he suffered a stroke and collapsed before a scheduled lecture at Wellesley College. By autumn, he seemed to have recovered. In January 1881, he gave what his final public lecture, coincidentally at the Mercantile Library Association, the organization that hosted his first public reading. In the field of hymnology, 13 pieces from the 1854 of edition of Fields’ Poems appeared in Putnam’s Singers and Songs. --www.hymntime.com/tch/

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