American Unitarian Hymn Writers and Hymns, compiled by Henry Wilder Foote: a Project Gutenberg eBook

Edited by Rev. Abiel Abbott Livermore (1811-1892), Chairman; Rev. Levi W. Leonard (1790-1864), Rev. William A. Whitwell (1804-1865) and Rev. Curtis Cutler (1806-1874), ministers at Keene, Dublin, Wilton, and Peterboro, New Hampshire, respectively. The editorial work was chiefly done by Livermore, who also contributed to it his communion hymn, “A holy air is breathing round.”

This book, commonly called The Cheshire Collection, ran through sixty editions and was widely used. Its popularity was due in part to its wide range—908 hymns—and to its provision for special occasions, but more to the inclusion of fresh material of high quality.

Edited by Rev. George E. Ellis (1814-1894) for use in the Harvard Church in Charlestown, Mass., of which he was then minister. It contains 658 hymns and psalms, and is based on Greenwood’s Collection (13) and The Springfield Collection (14). A Selection from the Psalms, apparently intended for responsive reading, is bound up with the hymn-book, of which it is an unusual feature.

Edited by Rev. George W. Briggs (1810-1895), minister of the First Church at Plymouth, Mass. (1838-1852). The book contains 601 hymns; no musical directions beyond indication of metres. There is a strong emphasis on hymns of the inner life, the compiler having sought “to bring together the most fervent expressions of a profound spiritual life,” many of which “have never been in familiar use in Unitarian churches.”

23. Service Book: for the Church of the Saviour, with a Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship—Boston, 1845.

Edited by Rev. Robert Cassie Waterston (1812-1893), minister of the Church of the Saviour, Boston. The Collection of Psalms and Hymns bound up with the services is Greenwood’s Collection (13) with a supplement of 116 hymns selected by Waterston, so that the book is more accurately described as one of the editions of Greenwood than as an independent publication. The supplement, however, is notable for the high proportion of good new hymns, not available when Greenwood’s Collection first appeared. Among them are hymns by Samuel F. Smith, G. W. Doane, the early and mid-century Unitarian writers, and some taken from Breviary sources.

24. A Book of Hymns for public and private devotion—Cambridge: Metcalf & Company, printers to the University. 1846.

Edited by Samuel Longfellow (1819-1892) and Samuel Johnson (1822-1882). The editors were, at the time, students in the Harvard Divinity School (class of 1846), and the book “grew out of an offer to provide a new book for a minister who found even the recent ones too antiquated.” It was marked by poetic excellence and freshness, and introduced to American use “Lead, Kindly Light,” and hymns by Whittier, Longfellow, Lowell, Jones Very, Mrs. Stowe and others, besides hymns by the editors themselves. First used in Church of the Unity, Worcester, Mass., of which Edward Everett Hale was minister; then in the Music Hall congregation of Theodore Parker, who is said, on receiving a copy, to have remarked, “I see we have a new book of Sams.” It ran to a twelfth edition in two years, but its greatest influence was as a source-book for later editors. A somewhat enlarged edition appeared in 1848.

Edited by Rev. Cyrus A. Bartol (1813-1900), minister of the West Church in Boston, assisted by Charles G. Loring, Joseph Willard, and other laymen of the church. The book is a revised and enlarged edition of the “West Boston Collection” (10) of which the original edition had been prepared by Rev. Simeon Howard (1). It contains 643 hymns and a few chants. No musical directions beyond indication of metres.

26. Hymns for the Church of Christ—Edited by Rev. Frederic H. Hedge and Rev. Frederic D. Huntington, Boston, 1853.

Frederic Henry Hedge (1805-1890) later became a distinguished professor in the Harvard Divinity School. Frederic Dan Huntington (1819-1904) later joined the Episcopal Church, in which he attained a bishopric.

The book contains 872 hymns,—no musical instructions beyond indication of metres. It is conservative in tone but is marked by high literary standards, and by a catholic inclusiveness beyond that of most books in this series. It includes a number of translations of Breviary hymns, and in it appears, for the first time, Hedge’s translation of Luther’s “Ein’ feste Burg.” Better printed than most contemporary hymn-books, it was hailed as “much the best book of hymns yet published.” Many hymns are listed as “Anon.” and some authors are given by surname only, making identification doubtful.

27. Services and Hymns for the use of the Unitarian Church of Charleston, S.C., 1854, 1867.

The preface to the first edition, dated “April, 1854,” was signed by S. Gilman and C. M. Taggart, then joint ministers of the church. No copy of this edition appears to be extant. A new and enlarged edition, with an unsigned preface but reprinting the earlier preface signed by Gilman and Taggart, appeared in 1867, “Printed by Joseph Walker, Agt., Charleston.” “Hymns for Christian Worship,” 171 in number, make up the second half of this volume. Almost all of them are the standard English hymns in current use in the first half of the 19^th century, with 10 hymns by American authors, three of which are by Dr. Gilman and two by his wife, Caroline Gilman, all of which had appeared in earlier collections.

There is no preface and the name of the compiler nowhere appears. It was, however, edited by Rev. Chandler Robbins (1810-1882), minister of the Second Church in Boston, and is, in effect, an enlargement of his earlier Social Hymn Book, (18), with 761 hymns, better adapted to church use. Like its predecessor, it contained chiefly the older type of hymns,—107 by Watts, 62 by Doddridge, 40 by James Montgomery, 13 by C. Wesley, and 20 more called “Wesleyan.”

29. The Soldier’s Companion: Dedicated to the Defenders of their Country in the Field, by their Friends at Home, published as the issue of The Monthly Journal, Boston, for October, 1861, vol. II, No. 10.

This was a small paper bound collection of a few traditional hymns, supplemented by a dozen anti-slavery or wartime songs by living writers, including J. Pierpont, E. H. Sears, and J. R. Lowell, with a supplement of devotional readings and prayers. Presumably it had some use in the Army, but copies are now very rare.

Edited by Rev. Samuel Osgood (1812-1880), then minister of the Church of the Messiah, New York, and Rev. Frederic A. Farley (1800-1892), minister of The First Unitarian Congregational Church, Brooklyn, N. Y.

A small collection of 159 hymns, bound up with a liturgical type of service-book indicating the trend which later took Osgood into the Episcopal Church.

31. The Soldier’s Hymn Book, containing a supplement of national songs for the use of chaplains and soldiers in the army and navy of the United States—Prepared by J. G. Forman, Chaplain of the 3d Regiment Missouri Infantry, Army of the U. S., Alton, Illinois, 1863.

Rev. Jacob G. Forman (d. 1885), the compiler, was at the time minister of the Unitarian Church at Alton. This little pocket hymnal contains 99 hymns, and 26 additional patriotic songs.

32. The Soldier’s Hymn Book for Camp and Hospital—Cambridge, printed at the University Press, 1863.

There is no indication as to the source of this little book, and the identity of its compiler has not been discovered. Its contents, however, indicate that it came from a Unitarian source. It is a pocket hymnal containing 150 familiar hymns and a few prayers, somewhat larger and better printed than (31).

Edited by Samuel Longfellow (1819-1892) and Samuel Johnson (1822-1882). This is the second and more famous hymn-book compiled by the editors. It contains 717 hymns and represents their later and more radical trend of thought, the book being theistic rather than explicitly Christian in its emphasis. It introduced many hymns by the editors themselves, and made drastic adaptations or revisions of hymns by other authors. Like their first book (24), it was more generally drawn upon as a source-book by later editors than it was used in the churches. In that respect it was one of the most important books in this series.

This book was compiled by a committee appointed by the American Unitarian Association, but the editorial work was chiefly done by Rev. Leonard J. Livermore (1822-1886). It is the first hymn-book to be issued by the Association and the first American Unitarian hymn-book to be completely furnished with tunes. It contained 740 hymns, about 30 chants, etc., and 299 tunes, a large proportion of which have since dropped out of use. Regarded as in some measure an authorized denominational hymn-book, it had wide use, though it “marked no advance over its predecessors, but its tunes were well up to the average level and gave it a great advantage,” and stimulated congregational singing.

35. Hymns for the Christian Church, for the use of the First Church of Christ in Boston—Boston, 1869.

Edited by Rev. Rufus Ellis (1819-1885), minister of the First Church, Boston. It was based on Lunt’s conservative Christian Psalter (15) which had been in use in the First Church for 25 years. About 250 hymns were retained from the earlier volume and enough more added to bring the total to 469. The selections were well made, but, without music, the book could not compete with the more inclusive Hymn and Tune Book (34) which the American Unitarian Association had published the preceding year.

36. Hymn and Tune Book for the Church and Home—Revised edition. American Unitarian Association, Boston, 1877.

The compiler’s name nowhere appears in the book, which was edited by Rev. Rush R. Shippen (1828-1911), then Secretary of the American Unitarian Association. It is a thorough-going revision of (34), virtually a new book. It contains 871 hymns, 14 chants, etc., 316 tunes, a much richer selection than its predecessor, although the music was still of the mid-century type, with only a few examples of the newer English tunes which were being introduced into America by the choirs of Episcopal churches. The book was well adapted to the general needs of Unitarians and was the most widely used book among the Unitarian churches for the ensuing forty years.

37. Unity Hymns and Chorals—Edited by W. C. Gannett, J. V. Blake, F. L. Hosmer. Chicago, 1880.

A later and largely revised edition was published in 1911 by Hosmer and Gannett. The editors, Frederick Lucian Hosmer (1840-1929), William Channing Gannett (1840-1923), and James Vila Blake (1842-1925), were hymn-writers and ministers in the Western Unitarian Conference. This small book, noted for its “split-leaf” arrangement, represented the point of view of the “left-wing” group in the denomination. In its two editions it contained most of the hymns by its editors, and a good many by other authors which appeared for the first time within its covers. In this respect, as in its radical character, it may be compared to the hymn-books by Longfellow and Johnson (24 and 33). It was widely used in the Western Unitarian Conference. Musically it was mediocre.

38. Sacred Songs for Public Worship: A Hymn and Tune Book—Edited by M. J. Savage and Howard M. Dow. Boston, 1883.

This small book contains 195 hymns and songs for popular use, selected by Minot J. Savage (1841-1918), minister of Unity Church, Boston, Mass., and set to music by Howard M. Dow. Forty-two items are from Mr. Savage’s pen, the rest mostly from familiar sources. It is much more of a “one-man book” and musically nearer akin to the typical gospel song-book than any other collection in this series.

39. Hymns of the Church Universal—Compiled by the Rev. Henry Wilder Foote [I]: Revised and edited by Mary W. Tileston and Arthur Foote. Boston, 1890.

This book was compiled for use in King’s Chapel, Boston, of which Mr. Foote (1838-1889) was minister, but was not published until after his death, the editorial work being completed by his sister and brother. The book superseded Greenwood’s Collection (13) in King’s Chapel, and had considerable use elsewhere. It contained 647 hymns, a number of chants, and 299 tunes. It introduced many hymns and tunes of the later 19^th century English authors and composers which were not found in any earlier American Unitarian collections, and was influential in setting a standard for later books.

40. Hymnal: Amore Dei—Compiled by Mrs. Theodore C. Williams, Boston, 1890. Revised, 1897.

Edited by Mrs. Williams in co-operation with her husband, Rev. Theodore C. Williams (1855-1915), minister of All Souls’ Church, New York.

It contained 382 hymns, about 25 chants and responses and 272 tunes. A collection similar to Hymns of the Church Universal (39) in utilizing the newer English hymns and tunes of the nineteenth century, it had many excellencies and considerable use. The biographical indexes of composers and authors are far more complete than those of any earlier book in this series.

Edited by Mary Wilder Tileston and Arthur Foote, it was in effect a revised and enlarged edition of Hymns for the Church Universal (39), containing 801 hymns. It was an admirable compilation but rather large and heavy for handling.

Edited by Louisa Putnam Loring (1854-1924). A book of high literary and musical standards, based upon the (Harvard) University Hymn Book (1895). It contained 316 hymns and 205 tunes, but it represented a rather limited and individualistic point of view and did not prove adaptable to general use.

44. Isles of Shoals Hymn Book and Candle Light Service—The Isles of Shoals Association, 1908.

Edited by Rev. George H. Badger (1859-1954). Since the book was intended for use at the summer meetings on the Isles of Shoals, off Portsmouth, N. H., the religious interpretation of nature is strongly emphasized. The book contains 219 hymns and 96 tunes, mostly selected from Hymns for Church and Home (41), but nine of them are original contributions to this book, some with lines referring directly to the island setting or history. Both words and music represent the highest standards at the time of publication, and the book is an exceptional collection of hymns expressing this aspect of religion.

45. The New Hymn and Tune Book—American Unitarian Association: Boston, 1914.

Edited by a commission: Rev. Samuel A. Eliot (1862-1950), Chairman; Rev. Henry Wilder Foote, (II), (1875-____), Secretary; Rev. Rush R. Shippen, (1828-1911), Rev. Lewis G. Wilson, (1858-1928).

Nominally a revision of the Hymn and Tune Book of 1877 (36), it was in effect a new compilation, drawing largely upon Hymns for Church and Home (41), Amore Dei (40) and Unity Hymns and Chorals (37). It contained 546 hymns, 28 chants, etc., and 268 tunes. It also included a set of services and responsive readings, prepared by another committee. It represented a great advance on earlier books and was more widely adopted than any of them. In its music it was less progressive than in its selection of hymns, representing the musical standard and practice of about 1900.

46. Twenty-five Hymns for Use in Time of War—The Beacon Press. Boston, n. d. (1916).

A pamphlet of hymns, more than half of them reprinted from the Hymn and Tune Book of 1914 (45) for use during the Great War.

47. Songs and Readings—compiled and edited by Jacob Trapp and R. T. Porte. Salt Lake City, 1931.

This booklet contains 58 songs and hymns, without music, and 32 responsive readings for use in the First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City, of which Mr. Trapp (1899-____) was then minister. Intended for ministers with “Humanist” leanings.

Edited by a Unitarian Commission: Rev. Henry Wilder Foote, (II) (1875-____), Chairman; Rev. Edward P. Daniels (1891-____), Rev. Curtis W. Reese (1887-____), Rev. Von Ogden Vogt (1879-____), working in co-operation with a Universalist Commission: Rev. L. G. Williams (1893-____), Chairman; Rev. Prof. Alfred S. Cole, (1893-____), Rev. Prof. Edson R. Miles (1875-1958), and Rev. Tracy M. Pullman (1904-____).

The title is borrowed from the second collection, edited by Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson, 1864, (33). The book is printed with services and responsive readings prepared by the same two commissions. It is an extensive revision of the New Hymn and Tune Book (45) of 1914, with special emphasis on “the social gospel” and on hymns dealing with “man in the universe.” Its most notable advance over its predecessors is in its music, edited by E. P. Daniels and Robert L. Sanders. It contains 533 hymns, 42 chants, etc., 366 tunes.

Alphabetical List of Unitarian Hymn Writers In the Following Catalogue

Biographical Sketches
with Notes on Hymns

Adams, Hon. John Quincy, Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, July 11, 1767—February 21, 1848, Washington, D. C. He graduated from Harvard in 1787. From 1794-1801 he was United States Minister to England, the Netherlands and Prussia. In 1806 he was appointed Professor of Rhetoric at Harvard. In 1809 he became United States Minister to Russia, in 1817 he was Secretary of State, and from 1824 to 1828 he was President of the United States. In 1831 he was elected to the House of Representatives, in which body he served until his death.

Most of his verse, both religious and secular, was written after he had left the Presidency, but he remains the only hymn writer who has ever been President of this country. 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, Rev. William P. Lunt, q.v., of the First Parish, (Unitarian) Quincy, Massachusetts, undertook the preparation of his hymn book The Christian Psalmist, (1841), Mrs. Adams put the manuscript of her husband’s metrical Psalms into Mr. 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 138^th of the Christian Psalter, his compilation and the hymn-book now used in our church. It was my version of the 65^th 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 or 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. Judged by the conventional standards of his time Adams’ poetry was consistently respectable verse, but without any notable distinction other than that lent to it by the fame of the author.

His five hymns are,

1. Sure to the mansions of the blest, (Death of Children)

This is part of a piece of 20 stanzas, which appeared in the Monthly Anthology and Boston Review, January 1807. It is entitled “Lines addressed to a mother on the death of two infants, 19th Sept. 1803, and 19th Decb. 1806.”

2. Alas! how swift the moments fly, (The Hour-Glass)

Sometimes given as

How swift, alas, the moments fly,

written for the 200^th anniversary of the First Parish Church in Quincy, September 20, 1839.

3. Hark! ’tis the holy temple bell, (Sabbath morning) undated

4. When, o’er the billow-heaving deep,

“A Hymn for the twenty-second of December,” i.e., the coming of the Pilgrim Fathers, undated.

5. Lord of all worlds, let thanks and praise,

“Written in Sickness;” undated.

A few of these hymns and psalms found their way into other collections. Nos. 2 and 3 were included in Lyra Sacra Americana; no. 18 is in Hymnal for American Youth and the American Student Hymnal; no. 16 is in the Jewish Union Hymnal for Worship, 1914.

Alphabetical List of Unitarian Hymn Writers In the Following Catalogue

Biographical Sketches with Notes on Hymns

Biographical Sketches
with Notes on Hymns