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

Anonymous Hymns

Come, Holy Spirit, hush my heart,

C.M. 3 stas. 3 Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908.

Come thou Almighty King!

The widely used hymn to the Trinity which begins with this line was written about 1757 in England. It has often been mistakenly attributed to Charles Wesley, and research has failed to discover who its author was. Perhaps he thought it prudent not to disclose his name because both his words and the tune by Felice di Giardini to which it was set in 1769 offered so marked a contrast to the British national anthem, in the same unusual metre, which had come into popular use about 1745 with the words God save our lord the King. American Unitarians in the 19^th century could sing the first stanza of the hymn, addressed to the “Father all glorious,” but not the trinitarian stanzas which followed. An unknown writer produced two additional stanzas in a carefully revised version which was included in Lunt’s Christian Psalter, 1841; in the 1851 Supplement to Longfellow and Johnson’s Book of Hymns, 1846; and in their Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. This version, however, was not satisfactory to later Unitarians and was again largely rewritten in the form in which it has been included in most of the Unitarian hymn books of more recent date. This version will be found in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

H.W.F.

For mercies past we praise thee, Lord,

Given as Anonymous in Longfellow and Johnson’s Book of Hymns, 1846, in 4 stas. of 4 l. It was repeated in their Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, and in the (Unitarian) Hymn and Tune Book, 1868.

J. 1564

My life flows on in endless song,

8.7.8.7.D. 3 stas. Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908.

Now, when the dusky shades of night retreating,

This is a free translation in five stanzas of the Latin hymn, Ecce jam noctis tenuatar umbra by Gregory the Great, c. 600, included in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853, as anonymous. It passed into Beecher’s Plymouth Collection, 1855, and into many other hymn books, British and American, often with the 3^d and 4^th stanzas omitted. There is no clue as to its author though Julian (p. 320) points out that the first stanza appears to be an altered form of W. J. Copeland’s translation from the Latin, published in 1848. The three stanza form of the hymn is included in the New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

J. 819 H.W.F.

We follow, Lord, where thou dost lead,

L.M. 5 stas. Attributed to “Book of Hymns,” in Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908.

Appleton, Rev. Francis Parker, Boston, Massachusetts, August 9, 1822—June 14, 1903, Cohasset, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Harvard Divinity School in 1845, and was minister to the Unitarian church, in South Danvers, (now Peabody) Massachusetts from 1846 to 1853. He then left the ministry for secular occupations. His hymn,

Thirsting for a living spring,

was included, anonymously, in Longfellow and Johnson’s Book of Hymns, 1846, and, attributed to him, in Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. It is included in the Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908; in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937. His hymn,

The past yet lives in all its truth, O God,

was also included in Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, and in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, but has now dropped out of use.

J. 1551, 1606 H.W.F.

Badger, Rev. George Henry, Charlestown, Massachusetts, March 27, 1859—May 11, 1953, Orlando, Florida. He was educated at Williams College, A.B. 1883, at Andover Theological Seminary and the Harvard Divinity School, receiving the degree of S.T.B. from the latter institution in 1886. He served several Unitarian churches in New England. From 1912-1918 he was a minister in San Antonio, Texas; from 1919-1936 in Orlando, Florida. The preface to The Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908, is signed with his initials as editor. That book contains three hymns of which he was author:—

1. God of the vastness of the far-spread sea,

2. Lord, I believe, and in my faith,

3. Thy way, O Lord, is in the sea,

In 1910 he wrote a hymn beginning,

4. O Thou who art my King,

which was included in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914. None of these hymns have passed into later collections.

H.W.F.

Ballou, Rev. Adin, 1803-1890. Without much formal education, but gifted in mind and spirit, he was ordained in 1827 as a Universalist minister, but in 1831 joined the Unitarian denomination in which he served a number of New England parishes. He wrote a hymn beginning,

Years are coming—speed them onward!

When the sword shall gather rust

which was included in Universalist hymnbooks and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

H.W.F.

Barber, Rev. Henry Hervey, Warwick, Massachusetts, December 30, 1835—January 18, 1923, Jacksonville, Florida. He was educated at Deerfield (Massachusetts) Academy, and at Meadville Theological School from which he graduated in 1861. After pastorates in two New England churches he became in 1881 a professor in Meadville Theological School, a position from which he retired in 1904. His hymn beginning,

Far off, O God, and yet most near,

dated 1891, had considerable use and was included in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914.

H.W.F.

Barnard, Rev. John, Boston, Massachusetts, November 6, 1681—January 24, 1770, Marblehead, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard in 1700, and was installed as minister of the Congregational Church in Marblehead in 1716, which he served with distinction through the rest of his life. A number of his sermons were printed, and in 1752 he published A New Version of the Psalms of David, 278 pp., printed in Boston, the result of his own endeavor to produce a fresh metrical translation. It is listed in Julian’s Dictionary, p. 929, under Psalters, English. His book was used in his own church, but not elsewhere, and is now very rare. His own annotated copy is in the Harvard College Library and the original ms. is in the Massachusetts Historical Society.

H.W.F.

Barrows, Rev. Samuel June, New York, New York, May 26, 1845—April 21, 1909, New York. He graduated from the Harvard Divinity School in 1875 and in 1876 was ordained minister of Mount Pleasant Church, Dorchester, Massachusetts, where he served until 1881. He was editor of the Christian Register from 1881 to 1897, and was a member of Congress, 1897-1899.

A hymn beginning

Enkindling Love, eternal Flame

is attributed to him in the Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908.

H.W.F.

Bartol, Rev. Cyrus Augustus, D.D., Freeport, Maine, August 30, 1813—December 16, 1890, Boston. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1832 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1835. After lay preaching for a year in Cincinnati he was ordained in 1837 as successor to Rev. Charles Lowell (father of James Russell Lowell) in the West Church (Unitarian) in Boston. He retired in 1889. He was author of several books and of a large number of printed sermons and addresses. He, with others, edited Hymns for the Sanctuary, Boston, 1849, commonly called “Bartol’s Collection”, in which was included an anonymous hymn beginning

Be thou ready, fellow-mortal (Readiness for Duty)

This hymn passed into the Supplement to Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns of the Church of Christ, Boston, 1853, and into other collections. Its authorship has never been disclosed, but its theme and mode of expression suggest that it may have been written by Bartol.

J. 120 H.W.F.

Bartrum, Joseph P., a Unitarian layman living in the 19^th century, who published The Psalms newly Paraphrased for the Service of the Sanctuary, Boston, 1833, from which his version of Psalm CVI,

O from these visions, dark and drear,

was taken for inclusion in several Unitarian collections in Great Britain and America and in the Universalist Church Harmonies, New and Old, 1895. His version of Psalm LXXXVII,

Amid the heaven of heavens,

is included in Holland’s Psalmists of Britain, 1843, vol. II, p. 339, with a critical note.

Neither hymn is found in use today.

J. 116 H.W.F.

Beach, Rev. Seth Curtis, D.D., near Marion, Wayne County, New York, August 3, 1837—January 30, 1932, Watertown, Massachusetts. He graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York in 1863, and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1866. From 1867 to 1869 he served the Unitarian Church in Augusta, Maine. Ill health then led him to take up a farm in Minnesota for four years. In 1873 he returned to New England, where his longest pastorates were at Bangor, Maine, 1891-1901, and at Wayland, Massachusetts, 1901-1911, when he retired to Watertown. His hymn,

1. Mysterious Presence! Source of all,

was first printed in the “Order of Exercises at the Fiftieth Annual Visitation of the Divinity School, July 17, 1866,” having been written for that occasion.

In 1884 he wrote

2. Thou One in all, thou All in one (God in Nature)

These two hymns were included in the Unitarian New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937. His third hymn

3. Kingdom of God! The day how blest,

is included in the Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908.

J. 1581 H.W.F.

Belknap, Rev. Jeremy, D.D., Boston, Massachusetts, June 4, 1744—June 20, 1798, Boston. He graduated from Harvard College in 1762; taught school for four years; in 1766 accepted a position as assistant to Rev. Jonathan Cushing of Dover, New Hampshire, and in 1767 was ordained, serving that parish until 1786. In 1787 he became minister of the Federal Street Church, (now the Arlington Street Church) Boston, which he served until his death. Harvard gave him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1792. He was the author of a three volume History of New Hampshire; of a petition (1788) for the abolition of the slave trade; and of other books and essays; and formed the plan for the Massachusetts Historical Society, organized in 1791. He wrote no hymns but made an important contribution to American hymnody in his collection Sacred Poetry: consisting of Psalms and Hymns adapted to Christian devotion in public and private. Selected from the best authors, with variations and additions, by Jeremy Belknap, D.D., Boston, 1795, which ran to many editions. His intention was to provide a book acceptable to both the conservative and the liberal wings of Congregationalism, to bridge the widening gap which resulted in the formation of the Unitarian denomination a generation later. In this he failed, for only the liberal churches accepted it, though it was widely used by them for 40 years, being much the best of the period. It includes 300 hymns from the best English sources, and was the first to introduce to Americans the hymns by Anne Steele. The only American hymns in the collection are Jacob Kimball’s metrical version of Psalm 65 and Mather Byles’ When wild confusion rends the air.

H.W.F.

Blake, Rev. James Vila, Brooklyn, New York, January 21, 1842—April 28, 1925, Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Harvard College in 1862 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1866, and served Unitarian churches in Massachusetts and Illinois, his last and longest pastorate being at Evanston, Ill., 1892-1916. Author of a number of books. He shared with W. C. Gannett, q.v. and F. L. Hosmer, q.v. in the compilation of the first edition of Unity Hymns and Chorals, 1880, which included his hymn,

Father, Thou art calling, calling to us plainly,

included also in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937. The latter book also includes his hymn of the church universal,

O sing with loud and joyful song.

H.W.F.

Briggs, C. A.

A hymn beginning,

God’s law demands one living faith (Law of God)

is attributed to a person with this name in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853. It is probable, but not certain, that the author was Rev. Charles Briggs, Halifax, Massachusetts, January 17, 1791—December 1, 1873, Roxbury, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard College in 1815 and from the Divinity School in 1818, was minister of the First Church in Lexington, Massachusetts, 1818-1834, and secretary of the American Unitarian Association, 1835-1848.

H.W.F.

Briggs, LeBaron Russell, LL.D., Salem, Massachusetts, December 11, 1855—April 24, 1934, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He graduated from Harvard College in 1875, A.M., 1882; served as tutor, then as professor of English, and as dean from 1891-1925. Harvard gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1900, as did Yale in 1917, and Lafayette University gave him the degree of Litt.D. For the celebration of the 300^th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, December 21, 1920, he wrote a poem which is introduced by a prayer in three stanzas, 11.10.11.10, offered by “The Pilgrim”, beginning,

God of our fathers, who hast safely brought us,

It is a fine hymn of thanksgiving for religious freedom and it was included in the program celebrating the 300^th anniversary of the “Cambridge Platform” in October 27, 1948. It deserves wide use.

H.W.F.

Brooks, Rev. Charles Timothy, Salem, Massachusetts, June 20, 1813—June 14, 1883, Newport, Rhode Island. He graduated from Harvard College in 1832 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1835. He was ordained as the first minister of the Unitarian Church in Newport, Rhode Island, on January 1, 1837, and served there until 1873. He was author of a number of books, most of them translations from German poets and novelists. After his death a volume entitled Poems, Original and Translated, was published. The only hymn with which his name is associated was in two stanzas beginning,

God bless our native land!

said to have been written while he was a student in the Divinity School. Part of the first and almost the whole of the second stanza were rewritten by J. S. Dwight, q.v., and Putnam, in Songs of the Liberal Faith, states that it was first published in this form in one of Lowell Mason’s song books in 1844. It was included, with further alterations, in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns of the Church of Christ, 1853, and with yet other changes in Longfellow and Johnson’s Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. In the 20^th century collection also entitled Hymns of the Spirit, 1937, the hymn appears in 3 stas. of which the first is by Brooks, the second by Dwight, and a third, of which the first 3 lines are those introduced by Longfellow and Johnson, the remaining four lines from a later unknown source, and its authorship is attributed to “Composite: based on Charles Timothy Brooks and John Sullivan Dwight.” The complicated history of this hymn is traced in Julian, 184, 1566, 1685.

H.W.F.

Bryant, William Cullen, Cummington, Massachusetts, November 3, 1794—June 12, 1878, New York, New York. He was a student at Williams College for two years, then studied law, and was admitted to the bar at Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1815, where he practised until 1825 when he removed to New York. There he devoted himself to journalism as editor of The New York Review and of the New York Evening Post, reserving part of his time, especially in later years, to literary pursuits at his retreat at Roslyn, Long Island, where he wrote addresses, essays and reviews as well as poems. In point of time he was the first of the famous group of New England poets of the nineteenth century. He began writing verses when a child and composed his noblest poem, Thanatopsis, when only eighteen years of age. His first volume of poems, containing one entitled The Ages delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard, and some others, was published in 1821. In 1832 a volume entitled Poems, complete to that date, was published, for which Washington Irving secured republication in England, where it brought him wide recognition. Many successive editions of Poems, each with some additional items, were published in later years, and after his death a complete edition of the Poetical Works of William Cullen Bryant appeared in 1879. He also had privately printed a little volume of his Hymns, 1869.

The following pieces by him have been included in various collections of hymns, some of them having considerable use in Great Britain as well as in this country.

1. All praise to him of Nazareth (Communion)

Dated 1864. Included in Hatfield’s (British) Church Hymn Book, 1874, in 3 stanzas, and in Songs of the Sanctuary and in Putnam’s Singers and Songs, etc. in 5 stanzas.

2. All that in this wide world we see (Omnipresence)

Dated 1836, but Beard, in his Collection, (British) 1837, gives it as an original contribution, thus fixing the date of first publication. Putnam, Singers and Songs, etc., notes that it was “Written, probably, for some church in England,” information which sounds like the aged poet’s vague recollection many years after he had responded to Beard’s request. Included in Lunt’s Christian Psalter, 1841.

3. All things that are on earth,(Love of God)

Included in Beard’s Collection, 1837.

4. Almighty! hear thy children raise, (Praise)

One of five hymns written by Bryant at the request of Miss Sedgwick for inclusion (without the author’s name) in Sewall’s Collection, 1820, compiled for use in the First Congregational Society of New York (Unitarian), now All Souls Church. In Beard’s Collection, 1837, the first line is altered to read

Almighty, listen while we praise,

and in the Unitarian Hymn and Tune Book, Boston, 1868, it is altered to

Almighty, hear us while we praise,

5. As shadows cast by cloud and sun,

Written for the Semi-Centennial of the Church of the Messiah, Boston, March 19, 1875. Included in the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, New York, 1878.

6. Close softly, fondly, while ye weep (Death)

Included in H. W. Beecher’s Plymouth Collection, 1855.

7. Dear ties of mutual succor bind (Charity)

Putnam, Singers and Songs, 1874, p. 130, says, “Mr. Bryant has kindly sent us, as an additional contribution to this volume, the following exquisite lines, which were written about forty years since, for some charitable occasion, and which he lately found among some old papers. They are not among his published poems.” Included in the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, 1878.

8. Deem not that they are blest alone (Mourning)

Written for Sewall’s Collection, 1820, vide supra. Included in Beard’s Collection, 1837, and, the first line altered to read,

O deem not they are blest alone,

in Martineau’s Hymns of Prayer and Praise, 1873, and in Songs for the Sanctuary, New York, 1865-1872.

9. Father, to thy kind love we owe, (God’s Loving Kindness)

One of the five hymns, written by Bryant for inclusion in Sewall’s Collection, New York, 1820. Included in the Hymn and Tune Book, Boston, 1868, and in Martineau’s Hymns, 1873. In Putnam’s Singers and Songs, etc. the first line reads,

Our Father, to thy love we owe.

10. How shall I know thee in the sphere which keeps? (Future life)

A memorial poem in 9 stanzas rather than a hymn, but included in part in the supplement of devotional readings in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853. Complete text in Putnam’s Singers and Songs, etc., pp. 125-126.

11. Look from Thy sphere of endless day (Home missions)

Dated 1840. Included in Songs for the Sanctuary, New York, 1865; in Horder’s (British) Congregational Hymns, 1884, and in the Pilgrim Hymnal, 1935.

12. Lord, who ordainest for mankind (Thanks for Mother Love)

Written at the request of Rev. Samuel Osgood of New York for inclusion in his Christian Worship, 1862, and included in Martineau’s Hymns, etc., 1873.

13. Mighty One, before whose face (Ordination)

Dated c. 1820. It was included in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns, etc. 1853, H. W. Beecher’s Plymouth Collection, 1855, and elsewhere.

14. Not in the solitude, (God in the city)

Dated 1836. Included in Martineau’s Hymns, 1873.

15. O God, whose dread and dazzling brow (God’s compassion)

Included in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns, etc. 1853, and in the Hymn and Tune Book, Boston, 1868.

16. O North, with all thy vales of green! (Reign of Christ)

Included in the author’s privately printed Hymns, 1869, undated. It passed into several British collections, e.g., the Scotch Church Hymnary, 1898; Worship Song, 1905; The English Hymnal, 1906; and is included in the American Episcopal Hymnal, 1940.

17. O Thou, whose love can ne’er forget (Ordination)

One of Bryant’s early hymns, perhaps written for the ordination of Rev. William Ware, December, 1821, as minister of the First Congregational Society of New York, (now All Souls Church). Included in Beard’s English Collection, 1837.

18. O Thou Whose own vast temple stands (Opening of a house of worship)

Written in 1835 for the dedication of a Chapel in Prince Street, New York. The building was soon afterwards destroyed by fire. This hymn is the most widely used of all those written by Bryant. It was included in Beard’s English Collection in 1837, and in Martineau’s Hymns, 1873. In Putnam’s Singers and Songs, etc., the opening line reads,

Thou, whose unmeasured temple stands,

and in this form it was included in Lunt’s Christian Psalter, 1861, and in the American Presbyterian Psalms and Hymns, Richmond, 1867; in Horder’s Congregational Hymns, London, 1884; and elsewhere.

19. Standing forth in life’s rough way (On behalf of children)

Included in Dr. Allon’s (British) Children’s Worship, 1878; in Horder’s Congregational Hymns, 1884; and elsewhere.

20. Thou unrelenting past (The Past)

Dated 1836. A poem of 14 stanzas, a few of which were included in Martineau’s Hymns, 1873.

21. When doomed to death the Apostle lay (On behalf of Drunkards)

Included in the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, 1878.

22. When he who from the scourge of wrong (Hope of Resurrection)

Written for Sewall’s Collection, 1820. Included in Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868.

23. When this song of praise shall cease (Anticipation of Death)

Written for a collection of hymns printed at the end of a Sunday School Liturgy, prepared by James Lombard, of Utica, New York, in 1859. Included in Bryant’s privately printed Hymns, 1869, and in Stevenson’s (British) School Hymnal, 1889.

24. When the blind suppliant in the way (Opening the eyes of the blind)

Dated 1874. Included in the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, New York, 1878.

25. Whither, midst falling dew, (Divine Guidance)

This is one of Bryant’s best known poems, entitled “To a Waterfowl,” and dated 1836, and is in no sense a hymn, although included in Martineau’s Hymns, 1873.

26. Wild was the day, the wintry sea, (The Pilgrim Fathers)

Included in Longfellow and Johnson’s Hymns of the Spirit, 1864.

Putnam, Singers and Songs, etc., p. 123 reports a hymn beginning

Ancient of Days! except Thou deign,

“written for the dedication of Rev. R. C. Waterston’s church in Boston,” and another hymn beginning

Lord, from whose glorious presence came,

written “at the request of a friend, Mr. Hiram Barney, for the opening of an Orthodox Congregational Church,” but does not print the text of either, and neither appears to have been included in any Collection.

As indicated in the foregoing list, the text of several of Bryant’s hymns is found with the opening line altered from the original, either by the author himself, or, presumably, with his consent, so that it is impossible to say which is the correct or authorized form, and frequently no more than approximate date of composition can be given.

The early flowering of Bryant’s gifts as a poet, promoted by a fortunate combination of circumstances, quickly brought him widespread recognition in both Great Britain and America, which deepened into respect for his fine character as he advanced in age. The writings of no other American poet of his period were so eagerly searched by compilers of hymn books, who sometimes included verses which were meditative, poems rather than hymns, e.g., nos. 8, 10, 20 and 25 in the above list. Bryant’s mind was cool and meditative, and his hymns are correct and smoothly flowing, but seldom touched with lyric fire, and none of them quite reach the highest level. They express an attitude towards religion characteristic of the intellectual life of his time but now largely passed away. No. 16 is still included in several leading hymn collections of the 20^th century; nos. 11 and 18 are in the Unitarian New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914; and nos. 12 and 18 are in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

J. 189-190, 1682 H.W.F.

Bulfinch, Rev. Stephen Greenleaf, D.D., Boston, Massachusetts, June 18, 1809—October 12, 1870, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was son of Charles Bulfinch, a leading architect, and received his early education in Washington, D.C., returning to Cambridge to enter the Harvard Divinity School, from which he graduated in 1830. He was ordained in January, 1831, as assistant to Rev. Samuel Gilman, q.v., of Charleston, South Carolina, and later served Unitarian churches in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; Nashua, New Hampshire; Dorchester, Massachusetts and East Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a voluminous writer in both prose and verse. Most of his hymns first appeared in his books Contemplations of the Saviour, Boston, 1832; Poems, Charleston, 1834; and Lays of the Gospel, 1845. The first of these was reprinted in England, where 19 of his hymns were included in Beard’s Collection, 1837, and where they had widespread use.

His best known hymns are as follows:

1. Benignant Saviour: ’twas not thine, (Compassion of Christ)

From his “Contemplations of the Saviour,” altered in Horder’s Congregational Hymns, 1884, to read

Most gracious Saviour: ’twas not thine.

2. Burden of shame and woe, (The Crucifixion)

3. Hail to the Sabbath day, (Sunday)

4. Hath not thy heart within thee burned, (Evening)

5. Holy Son of God most high, (Christ)

6. How glorious is the hour, (The New Life)

7. In the Saviour’s hour of death, (Good Friday)

8. It is finished! Glorious word, (Good Friday)

9. Lord, in this sacred hour, (Worship)

10. O suffering friend of all mankind, (Passiontide)

11. There is a strife we all must wage, (Life’s Duty)

12. Toiling through the livelong night, (Miracle of fishes)

13. What power unseen by mortal eye, (Miracle)

These hymns are well written contemplations of gospel episodes, as viewed by the conservative piety of the author’s period. Several were included in Longfellow and Johnson’s Book of Hymns, 1846-1848; nos. 6 and 10 are in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853; and most of them in one and another 19^th century collection. Only No. 4 has survived in present-day use, being found in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

J. 191, 1555 revised H.W.F.

Burleigh, William Henry, Woodstock, Connecticut, February 12, 1812—March 18, 1871, Brooklyn, New York. He was an editor and publisher working successively in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1837-1843; in Hartford, Connecticut, 1843-1849; in Syracuse, New York, 1849-1854. From 1855-1870 he was Harbor Master of New York. He was a member of the Second Unitarian Church in Brooklyn and an ardent advocate of anti-slavery and temperance reforms. Early in life he began writing hymns and other poems which were printed in various periodicals, but for many of which the date and occasion are impossible to determine. They were collected for publication in a volume entitled Poems, Philadelphia, 1841, and this book, enlarged with his later poems, was republished in 1871 after his death, with a biographical notice by his wife. Some of the best were included in the British collection Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868, the editor of which, Dr. Cleveland, said, “Most of these beautiful hymns of Mr. Burleigh’s were given to me in ms. by the author.” From this publication they were taken for extensive use in British hymn books.

1. Abide not in the realm of dreams, (The Harvest Call)

Included in Putnam, Singers and Songs, etc., is a poem of 10 stanzas from which a cento consisting of the first two lines of stanza 1 combined with the second two lines of stanza 2, followed by stanzas 3, 6, 7 and 10 are taken to form a hymn in the New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

2. Fades from the west the farewell light (Night)

This poem, entitled “A Psalm of Night,” is given in his Poems, New York, 1871. Although not in the first edition of Poems, 1841, stanzas selected from it came into use as early as 1844. The original is in 5 stanzas of 8 lines. From it the following centos have come into use.

(a) Day unto day uttereth speech,

This consists of stanzas III-V, and is given in the Christian Hymns of the Cheshire Pastoral Association, 1844, as an “Evening Hymn.”

(b) O Holy Father, mid the calm

This cento consists of stanzas IV-V, and is given in Longfellow and Johnson’s Book of Hymns, 1846, and in their Hymns of the Spirit, 1864.

(c) Not only doth the voiceful day,

Composed of stanzas II-III, in Longfellow and Johnson’s Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. Another arrangement beginning with the same stanza is in Lyra Sacra Americana.

(d) The brightening dawn and voiceful day,

In the British Hymnary, London, 1872, an altered form of (c), with the addition of a doxology.

In these various forms the use of this hymn was very extensive.

3. Father, beneath thy sheltering wing, (Trust and Peace)

Printed in Longfellow and Johnson’s Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines. Included in the British Baptist Hymnal, 1879; in Horder’s Congregational Hymns, 1884; and others; and in many American collections.

4. Father, thy servant waits to do thy will (Ordination)

“Written for the ordination of Mr. J. W. Chadwick, as pastor of the Second Unitarian Church, in Brooklyn, New York, 1864.” Included in Putnam, Singers and Songs, etc.

5. For the dear love that kept us through the night (Morning)

Taken from the author’s Poems, 1871, for inclusion in Horder’s Congregational Hymns, 1884.

6. From the profoundest depths of tribulation (Lent)

A meditative poem rather than a hymn, included in the Supplement to Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns of the Church of Christ, 1853.

7. Lead us, O Father, in the paths of peace (Divine Guidance)

In Lyra Sacra Americana headed “A Prayer for Guidance.” This is one of the author’s best known and most widely used hymns. Included in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

8. Not in vain I poured my supplication (Lent)

A continuation of the same thought as no. 6, preceding, which it follows in the Supplement to Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns, etc.

9. O deem not that earth’s crowning bliss, (Morning)

In his Poems, 1871; in Lyra Sacra Americana from which it passed into the British Baptist Hymnal, 1879, and Horder’s Congregational Hymns, 1884, and others. In the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, New York, 1878, the hymn beginning

From lips divine the healing balm

is a cento from this poem.

10. Still will we trust though earth seems dark and dreary, (Faith)

From Lyra Sacra Americana this passed into many non-conformist collections in Great Britain where it was the most widely used of all of Burleigh’s hymns. It had a much more limited use in this country. Included in Putnam’s Singers & Songs, etc.

11. There is a beautiful land by the spoiler untrod, (Heaven)

Dr. Cleveland, editor of Lyra Sacra Americana says “This piece was first published in the Independent, Jan. 18, 1866.”

12. They who have kept their virgin whiteness, (Purity)

In Lyra Sacra Americana.

13. Thou who look’st with pitying eye (Lent)

In Lyra Sacra Americana.

14. Through the changes of the day (Evening)

From his Poems, 1841. In Lyra Sacra Americana; in S.P.C.K.’s Psalms and Hymns, 1852; in Thring’s Collection, and other British books.

15. We ask not that our path be always bright, (Trust in God)

From Lyra Sacra Americana this passed into Horder’s Congregational Hymns, 1884.

16. When gladness gilds our prosperous day (Good in all)

From Lyra Sacra Americana this passed into Horder’s Congregational Hymns, 1884.

The above hymns have had much less use in this country than in Great Britain. Nos. 7 and 10 are in the Universalist Church Harmonies, 1895; nos. 1 and 7 in Hymns of the Spirit. 1937, no. 7 in The Hymnal, 1940; and no. 3 in the Isles of Shoals Hymn Book. The others, though very acceptable expressions of the religious thought and feeling in the era in which the author lived, have now dropped out of use.

J. 195-6 Revised H.W.F