American Unitarian Hymn Writers and Hymns
Compiled by Henry Wilder Foote for the Hymn Society of America for
publication in the Society’s proposed Dictionary of American Hymnology
_Contents_:
(1) Historical Sketch of American Unitarian Hymnody. (Pages 1-11)
(2) Catalogue of American Unitarian Hymn Books. (Pages 12-36)
(3) Alphabetical List of Writers. (Pages 37-39)
(4) Biographical Sketches, with Notes on Hymns. (Pages 40-247)
(5) Index of First Lines of Published Hymns. (Pages 248-270)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
January, 1959
I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Misses Ruth and Orlo
McCormack in the preparation of this compilation.
H.W.F.
_AMERICAN UNITARIAN HYMNODY_
In the first edition of Julian’s _Dictionary of Hymnology_ (1891) F. M.
Bird[1] wrote, “The Unitarians—possessing a large share of the best
blood and brain of the most cultivated section of America—exhibit a long
array of respectable hymnists whose effusions have often won the
acceptance of other bodies,” (pp. 58-59). And in this century Louis F.
Benson[2] in his classic book _The English Hymn_ (p. 460) wrote, “It is
not surprizing that a body including the best blood and highest culture
of Massachusetts shared in the Literary Movement [of the 19^th century]
and succeeded in imparting to its hymn books a freshness of interest in
great contrast to those of the orthodox churches” and that “from their
[the compilers’] hands there proceeded —— a series of hymn books whose
literary interest was very notable” (p. 462).
This succession of Unitarian hymn writers over a period of approximately
150 years can best be traced in the nearly 50 hymn books compiled by
individuals or committees for use in Unitarian churches.[3] The editors
of these books were among the best educated men of their time, who knew
where to look for fresh lyrical utterances of a living faith. The
earliest of them lived in the period when the traditional metrical
psalms which, for more than two centuries, had been almost the only
worship-song of the English speaking world, were being slowly superseded
by the songs of a new age. These songs they chiefly found in the various
hymn-books published for use in English Non-conformist chapels when the
Church of England still generally adhered to the Old or New Versions of
the Psalms. It was from these sources that Jeremy Belknap first
introduced to Americans the hymns of Anne Steele, and included in his
_Sacred Poetry_ (1795) hymns by Addison, Cowper, Newton, Doddridge and
other English contemporaries. When, in 1808, the vestry of Trinity
Church, Boston, impatient at the delay of the General Convention of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in getting out a hymnal, issued one for
their own use, they drew heavily upon Belknap’s collection, saying in
their preface “In this selection we are chiefly indebted to Dr. Belknap,
whose book unquestionably contains the best expressions of sacred poetry
extant.”
Many of the later collections in this series of Unitarian hymn books
have been no less notable for their introduction to use in this country
of new English hymns, such as Pope’s “Father of all, in every age;” Sir
Walter Scott’s “When Israel of the Lord beloved;” translations of hymns
in the Roman Breviary; Sarah Flower Adams’ “Nearer, my God, to Thee”
(only three years after its publication in England); and Newman’s “Lead,
kindly Light;” and for the ability of their compilers to discover fresh
materials near at hand, as when Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson
were the first to notice the hymnic possibilities of Whittier’s poems.
The story of American Unitarian hymnody begins with the publication in
1783 of the _Collection of Hymns—designed for the use of the West
Society of Boston._ This church belonged to the liberal wing of New
England Congregationalism, destined to become known as Unitarian a
generation later. The book contained a small selection of traditional
psalms and hymns by British authors and a number of quaintly didactic
moral ditties in doggerel, presumably contributed by Boston versifiers
who cannot now be identified.
The first group of Unitarian hymn-writers whose names are known and
whose productions have survived did not begin to write until the opening
decades of the 19^th century. Of this group the earliest born was John
Quincy Adams, (1767-1848), best remembered as the sixth President of the
United States. That he was also a hymn writer, and the only president of
the country who was one, has generally been forgotten. Two or three
hymns by him were written earlier but most of them came from the period
following his retirement from the presidency in 1829. Soon after that
event he wrote one for the 200^th anniversary of the First Church in
Quincy, of which he was a member, and later in life he composed a
metrical paraphrase of the whole Book of Psalms. When Dr. Lunt, minister
of the Quincy church, was preparing his _Christian Psalter_, 1841, Mrs.
Adams put into his hands the mss. of her husband’s poems, and Lunt
included in his book five hymns and seventeen psalms by his
distinguished parishioner. None of them rose above the level of
respectable verse but his version of Psalm 43 survived in one or more
hymn books 100 years later.
Rev. John Pierpont (1785-1866) was a poet of considerable abilities
whose verses were in demand for special occasions and whose hymns were
the best lyrical expressions of the developing new thought in religion.
W. Garrett Horder, the English hymnologist, wrote that Pierpont’s hymn
of universal praise was “the earliest really great hymn I have found by
an American author.” It is still in use, as are two others by him.
Prof. Andrews Norton (1786-1853) of the Harvard Divinity School,
published a hymn as early as 1809 and a good deal of verse in later
years, much of it in a rather sombre introspective mood, but with one
fine hymn still in use. He was followed by Rev. Nathaniel Langdon
Frothingham (1793-1870) who wrote a good many hymns for special
occasions, one of which survives today, and by Rev. Henry Ware, Jr.
(1794-1843) who wrote a number of hymns highly valued as utterances of
the religious idealism of the period, but long since dropped from use,
except for an excellent one for the dedication of an organ, probably the
only hymn in the English language written expressly for such an
occasion. William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), a lay man of letters, was
another of the elder members of the famous group of New England poets of
the 19^th century, and as early as 1820 he contributed 5 hymns to
Sewall’s _New York Collection_, published in that year, and he later
wrote others.
The latest born of this first group who attained memorable distinction
in this field was Rev. Frederic Henry Hedge (1805-1890), whose earliest
hymn, still in use, was written in 1829, but who is best known for his
great translation of Luther’s “Ein’ feste Burg,” and for a fine Good
Friday hymn. He collaborated with Rev. Frederic Dan Huntington[4]
(1819-1904) then the college preacher at Harvard, in compiling _Hymns
for the Church of Christ_, (1853), to which Huntington contributed five
hymns, none now in use. Their book was the last and best of the various
_Collections_ published up to the middle of the century by editors who
belonged to what was becoming the conservative wing of the denomination,
to whom Emerson’s _Divinity School Address_ of 1838 seemed dangerously
radical.
But meantime a new era in Unitarian hymnody was opening with the
publication in 1846 of the _Book of Hymns_ edited by Samuel Longfellow
(1819-1891) and Samuel Johnson (1822-1882), while they were still
studying in the Harvard Divinity School. Both had come under the
influence of the Transcendentalist movement which was liberalizing
Unitarian thought and they eagerly sought out hymns which were fresh
expressions of their youthful outlook on religion. The book was notable
for the new sources of hymns which they discovered, among them the poems
of John Greenleaf Whittier, which they were the first to introduce into
a hymn book.
Their _Book of Hymns_ was followed in 1864 by their larger and even more
influential _Hymns of the Spirit_, which includes most of their own
hymns and many by other Unitarian writers of the period, too numerous to
name here, but whose hymns are listed in the catalogue of writers
appended to this introductory sketch. Samuel Johnson wrote only half a
dozen hymns, but they are among the finest in the language. Samuel
Longfellow wrote many more, the best of which are quite equal to
Johnson’s, and together they made a more important contribution to
American Unitarian hymnody than that of any other writers in the middle
of the 19^th century.
This was the period of “the flowering of New England literature” and two
of its poets, besides those already named, made their contribution to
hymnody. The more important of the two was Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes,
(1809-1894) with half a dozen fine and widely used hymns, and Prof.
James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) who, strictly speaking, was hardly a
hymn writer at all, but from whose poems two or three have been
quarried. Two other writers of this period were Rev. Edmund Hamilton
Sears (1810-1876) and his niece, Miss Eliza Scudder (1819-1896). Sears
wrote two Christmas hymns widely used throughout the English speaking
world. Miss Scudder wrote half a dozen hymns in a mystical vein of the
highest quality, but in temperament and outlook both writers belong more
to the earlier period of Unitarian thought than to that prevalent in
their later lifetime.
In this mid-century period should also be included the famous war-time
hymn by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), “Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord,” written in 1861 to provide worthier words
than “John Brown’s body” for the popular tune “Glory, Hallelujah”, which
had been composed a few years earlier for a Sunday School in Charleston,
South Carolina.
A third period in Unitarian hymnody began with the appearance of hymns
by three good friends, Rev. John White Chadwick (1840-1906), Rev.
Frederic Lucian Hosmer (1840-1929) and Rev. William Channing Gannett
(1840-1923), who carried forward in the last third of the century the
broadly theistic interpretation of a universal religion to which
Longfellow and Johnson had given utterance. Chadwick’s first hymn was
written in 1864 for the graduation of his class from the Harvard
Divinity School, a great hymn of brotherhood, widely used in England as
well as here. A half-dozen others of fine quality have survived. Hosmer
and Gannett worked together in bringing out their book _The Thought of
God in Hymns and Poems_, 1885, 1894, and _Unity Hymns and Chorals_,
1880, 1911. Neither wrote any hymns while in the Divinity School, but
both began to do so soon after. In 1873 Gannett wrote a fine one which
is probably the earliest in the language to give a religious
interpretation to the then controversial doctrine of evolution, and
later a half dozen others to which deep feeling is expressed in
beautiful lyrical verse. Hosmer, however, was a much more prolific
writer, producing more than 40 hymns which have had some use. He was a
meticulous craftsman who studied the technique of hymn-writing, and
several of his hymns are among the finest in the language. Canon
Dearmer, a leading authority on hymnody in the Church of England,
included seven of them in his _Songs of Praise_ and calls one of them
“this flawless poem, one of the completest expressions of religious
faith,” and says another is “one of the noblest hymns in the language.”
For approximately 40 years, c. 1880-1920, Hosmer was the outstanding
hymn writer in the English speaking world, and he left no successor who
was his equal in the perfection of his finest hymns.
A smaller but important contribution to the Unitarian hymnody of this
period was made by Rev. Theodore Chickering Williams (1855-1915) who,
while still a student in the Harvard Divinity School wrote one of the
best ordination hymns in the language, and, in later years, eight
others, still in use, which are religious poetry of a high order.
The latest period in Unitarian hymnody, covering the last half-century,
is notable for the productions of two writers, Rev. Marion Franklin Ham
(1867-1957) and Rev. John Haynes Holmes, (1879-still living). Although
he had published a volume of poems in 1896 Dr. Ham did not begin to
write hymns until 1911, but thereafter he produced a succession of
beautiful religious lyrics, eight or ten of which have come into use.
Some of them are utterances of a profound mystical insight akin to that
of Eliza Scudder, but others are expressions of a world-wide theism, and
one has been translated into Japanese.
Rev. John Haynes Holmes has been a more prolific writer, author of about
45 hymns, many written for special occasions, but 10 or 15 others have
come into general and widespread use. His hymns are in a quite different
key from those of Dr. Ham’s quiet mysticism, generally being stirring
calls to social justice and the service of mankind, though a few are
hymns of gratitude for the simple joys of life. While he has
infrequently attained the felicity of phrasing which results in a
memorable line his hymns are cast in vigorous and often stirring verse,
expressing a noble altruism and a wholesome attitude towards life.
M. F. Ham and J. H. Holmes are the latest notable figures in this era of
150 years since the beginning of American Unitarian hymnody, throughout
which scores of lesser writers have also contributed their offerings to
the main stream. These writers are far too numerous to name in this
outline sketch but their thumbnail biographies and notations as to their
hymns will be found in the following catalogue. A survey of this whole
era discloses the evolution in liberal religious thought from the period
when the emphasis was on the sinfulness of man and the redemptive
function of the Christian Church, to the vision of a world wide religion
taking in many forms, and manifested in that service of mankind which
found expression in the “social gospel” in the first half of this
century.
The production of so great a number of fine hymns (and of a long series
of hymn books of a superior type) over so long a period, by persons
belonging to one of the smallest Protestant denominations, commonly
considered coldly intellectual rather than emotional in its approach to
religion, is a phenomenon unique in the history of hymnody. When the
first edition of the _Pilgrim Hymnal_ was published in 1910 it listed
both the nationality and the church membership of the authors included,
which led to the disclosure that nearly half the American authors were
Unitarians who had contributed considerably more than half the hymns of
American authorship. In answer to critics Dr. Washington Gladden replied
that this was due to the simple fact that the Unitarians had written a
larger number of the best hymns than had the American writers in other
denominations.
Canon Dearmer in England observed the same fact and was puzzled to
explain it. The explanation, however, is a simple one. With the
exception of a relatively small number of writers born in other parts of
the country and with different backgrounds, these Unitarian authors were
men brought up in the atmosphere of the so-called “New England
Renaissance,” that literary revival of which Boston, Cambridge and
Concord were the chief centres in the 19^th century, and they belonged
by blood, by education and by social ties to the New England literary
group. The majority were also graduates of Harvard College or Harvard
Divinity School, or both, in a period when the spirit of the time was
most favorable to the stimulation of poetic gifts, and in a place where
the intellectual level was high and there was freedom from any dogmatic
control.[5] Thus they had the culture and the warmth of atmosphere
needed, and the Divinity School had the admirable custom of encouraging
students to write a hymn for the annual graduation exercises or for the
School’s Christmas service, and so stimulated their poetic gifts.
Thanks to these favorable circumstances what has been called “the
Harvard school of hymnody” has had no equal in the English speaking
world, the only comparable institution being Trinity College, Cambridge,
England, which, for a much briefer period (1820-1845) was the nursing
mother of a notable succession of Anglican hymn writers. It was this
fact which led W. Garrett Horder, an English Congregationalist who was
also a highly competent hymnologist, to write, “Harvard, like our
English Cambridge, has been ‘a nest of singing birds’. I was struck by
this when editing _The Treasury of American Sacred Songs_. Harvard
provided the bulk —— of the verse I included.” And other orthodox
authorities, notably F. M. Bird and Louis F. Benson, already quoted,
have borne witness to the high achievements of both the editors of the
long succession of Unitarian hymn books and the authors of the hymns
which they included.
_Catalogue of American Unitarian Hymn Books._
compiled by Henry Wilder Foote and reprinted (with revisions) from the
Proceedings of the Unitarian Historical Society, May, 1938, by
permission.
In the 17^th century, and down to the middle of the 18^th, all churches
of the Congregational order in New England used the _Bay Psalm Book_,
first printed in Cambridge in 1640, except for the use of Ainsworth’s
_Psalter_ in the churches of the Plymouth Plantation and in the First
Church in Salem for a part of the 17^th century. In the latter part of
the 18^th century, the _Bay Psalm Book_ was gradually superseded by
either the New Version of the Psalms (Tate and Brady) or, more
generally, by one of the editions of _Watts and Select_, i.e. Isaac
Watts’ _Psalms and Hymns_, with a supplement of hymns selected from
other authors.
The first steps away from the Psalm books in general use were taken by
two churches which were in the vanguard of the rising liberalism of the
last half of the 18^th century. In 1782 the West Church in Boston
published _A Collection of Hymns, more particularly designed for the Use
of the West Society in Boston_ (1),[6] and in 1788 the East Church in
Salem published _A Collection of Hymns for Publick Worship_, (2). These
two books were of only local significance, but they clearly pointed the
way which later publications were to follow. In 1795 Rev. Jeremy Belknap
brought out his _Sacred Poetry_ (3), which was an attempt to produce a
book which should be acceptable to both the liberal and the orthodox
wings of Congregationalism. In this purpose it failed, though it was
widely used by Unitarians. The succeeding books were more definitely
Unitarian in character and illustrate the changing emphasis in religious
thought and practice through five generations of religious liberals.
They form a notable series, for most of them attained a literary
standard and spiritual outlook higher than that of other contemporary
hymn books.
The earlier books in this series were very imperfectly edited, judged by
modern standards. Some of them contain no preface and no indication as
to the identity of the compiler. In other cases, the compiler is
indicated by initials. In some cases the names of the authors of hymns
are not given at all, in others only the surname, when known, and there
are frequent mistaken attributions. Directions as to the music are
usually lacking, the metre of each hymn alone being indicated. In some
cases the names of suitable tunes are given, but only one book (18)
earlier than 1868 included any music, in that case an appendix of
twenty-one tunes in two parts at the back of the book. The first
American Unitarian hymn book to be printed with a tune on each page was
the American Unitarian Association’s _Hymn and Tune Book_ of 1868 (34).
Thereafter few books appeared without tunes, but half-a-dozen other
collections with music were published in the next forty years, each of
which had considerable use.
It will be noted that in the course of the 19^th century no less than
thirty-six different hymn-books appeared, a far larger number than any
other American denomination can show for the same period, and
illustrative of the extreme individualism of the Unitarian churches.
Throughout the middle third of the century Greenwood’s _Collection_
(13), the _Springfield Collection_ (14), and the _Cheshire Collection_
(20), had the widest use, followed in the last third of the century by
the _Hymn and Tune Books_ (34) and (36) of the American Unitarian
Association, but all the other collections had some local vogue, in some
cases only for a brief period or only in those churches the ministers of
which had compiled the collections in question. As late, however, as the
beginning of the 20^th century, at least eight different hymn-books were
in use in the Unitarian churches of the United States and Canada. This
diversity of usage declined rapidly after the publication of _The New
Hymn and Tune Book_ (45) in 1914, and had practically disappeared by the
time when that book’s successor, _Hymns of the Spirit_ (48) was
published in 1937.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Copies of at least one edition of each of the following books are
in the Historical Library of the American Unitarian Association,
25 Beacon Street, Boston, except in the cases noted.
1. _A Collection of Hymns, more particularly designed for the Use of
the West Society in Boston_—Boston, 1782; 2nd ed., 1803; 3rd ed.,
1806; 4th ed., 1813.
The editor is said to have been Rev. Simeon Howard (1733-1804), (See
Bentley’s _Diary_, II, 371), Jonathan Mayhew’s successor as minister
of the West Church. Mayhew’s congregation was notably liberal and this
book represents the first step away from psalm-books of the
traditional type. It contains 166 hymns, including a number of
classics by Watts, Barbauld, Addison, etc. The tone in general is
ethical rather than theological, and many of the hymns are moral
precepts in mediocre verse, some, at least, probably of local
production, but the authors cannot be identified as no author is
named; there is no preface, and the compiler’s name is not given.
Note:—The American Unitarian Association does not own a copy.
There is one in the Congregational Library, 14 Beacon Street,
Boston.
2. _A Collection of Hymns for Publick Worship_—Salem; n.d. (1788)
Edited by Rev. William Bentley (1750-1819) of the East Church, Salem,
Mass., and used there until superseded in 1843 by Flint’s _Collection_
(17). There is no preface and the compiler’s name is not given. There
are no musical directions except the metre of each hymn. The book
consists of two parts, the first containing 40 psalms “according to
Tate and Brady’s Version,” arranged by metre; the second containing
163 hymns of high quality, including many of the classics of the
period. The book is much superior to No. 1, but had little use outside
the church for which it was intended, perhaps because Bentley, though
one of the earliest outspoken Unitarians, was _persona non grata_ in a
Federalist stronghold on account of his political opinions.
Note:—The American Unitarian Association does not own a copy.
There is one at The Essex Institute, Salem, Mass.
3. _Sacred Poetry: consisting of Psalms and Hymns adapted to Christian
devotion in publick and private. Selected from the best authors, with
variations and additions_—By Jeremy Belknap, D.D., Boston, 1795.
Many editions. Some included a supplement of _Hymns for the Lord’s
Supper, selected and original_, (7) prepared by Rev. Thaddeus M.
Harris, minister of the First Church in Dorchester, 1801. In 1812 an
edition appeared with 28 additional hymns, “Selected by the successor
of the Rev. Author,” i.e. by W. E. Channing.
Dr. Belknap (1744-1798) was the first Congregational minister of the
Federal Street Church (his predecessors having been Presbyterians),
and his immediate successor was William Ellery Channing. Belknap
endeavored to compile a collection which should serve both the
orthodox and the liberal wings of the New England Congregationalism of
his day. In his preface he says, “In this selection, those Christians
who do not scruple to sing praises to their Redeemer and Sanctifier,
will find materials for such a sublime enjoyment; whilst others, whose
tenderness of conscience may oblige them to confine their addresses to
the Father only, will find no deficiency of matter suited to their
idea of the chaste and awful spirit of devotion.” Belknap, however,
failed in his attempt to produce a compromise book, as it found favor
only in the liberal churches, which used it for some forty years.
The book contains 150 psalms, selected from versions by Tate and
Brady, Watts, and others, often “with variations”; and 300 hymns,
widely selected from English sources, including Pope’s “Universal
Prayer” (altered), Helen Maria Williams’ “While Thee I seek,
protecting Power,” hymns by Cowper, Newton, Doddridge, Merrick,
Addison, Anne Steele and others. Belknap introduced Anne Steele’s
hymns to Americans. There are no hymns by Charles Wesley, and the only
hymns of American authorship appear to be Mather Byles’ “When wild
confusion rends the air,” and a metrical version of Psalm 65 by Jacob
Kimball.
There are no musical directions save the metre of each hymn and the
key. “The characters denoting the sharp or flat key are prefixed to
each psalm or hymn, at my request, by the Rev. Dr. Morse, of
Charlestown.”
The book was much the best of its period. When, in 1808, the vestry of
Trinity Church, Boston, impatient at the delay of the General
Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in getting out a hymnal,
issued one for their own use, they drew heavily on Belknap’s, saying
in their preface, “In this selection we are chiefly indebted to Dr.
Belknap, whose book unquestionably contains the best specimens of
sacred poetry extant.”
4. _A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for public worship._—Boston,
1799; edited by Rev. James Freeman (1759-1825). 2nd ed., 1813.
This was the first of the hymn-books prepared for use in King’s
Chapel, Boston, where it was used for 30 years until succeeded by
Greenwood’s _Collection_ (13). No preface; no musical directions
except that the metre is indicated. The names of some authors are
given in the index of first lines. The book contains 155 psalms, or
parts of psalms, “selected principally from Tate and Brady,” followed
by 90 hymns and 8 doxologies. The collection is decidedly inferior to
that of Belknap (3) in range and quality.
Note:—The American Unitarian Association does not own a copy, but
King’s Chapel does.
5. _A Collection of Psalms and Hymns_—by William Emerson, A.M., Pastor
of the First Church in Boston; Boston, 1808.
Rev. William Emerson (1769-1811) was the father of Ralph Waldo
Emerson. His book is more handsomely printed than most hymn books of
the period and contains 150 hymns. It was very liberal in tone and was
assailed by the orthodox for having omitted hymns on several of “the
most essential doctrines of Christianity.” Its most notable feature
was its endeavor to improve the singing by “prefixing to each psalm
and hymn the name of a tune, well composed and judicially chosen” as
“a valuable auxiliary to musical bands. No American hymn-book has
hitherto offered this aid to the performers of psalmody.” The key in
which the tune is set and the metre are also indicated at the head of
each hymn. There is also an interesting “Index of Tunes, and Musical
Authors,” with references to the various collections in which the
recommended tunes may be found. As this list of collections of tunes
was prepared by a person particularly interested in promoting good
music it is here reprinted as indicating the best available sources at
the time:
Mass. Com., Massachusetts Compiler; Sal. Coll., Salem Collection; Lock
H. Coll., Lock’s Hospital Collection; Sac. Min., Sacred Minstrel;
B.C.M., Beauties of Church Music; Psal. Evan., Psalmodia Evangelica;
F. C. Coll., First Church Collection; Suff. Selec., Suffolk Selection;
Bos. Selec., Boston Selection; Newb’t Coll., Newburyport Collection;
Mus. Olio, Musical Olio; Col. Repos., Columbian Repository; B. Coll.,
Bridgewater Collection.
While this book thus made the selection of tunes easier than did most
of its contemporaries, it is needless to point out how inconvenient it
was not to have the tunes in the same book with the words. With all
its excellencies the book had small use, being rather too far in
advance of its time.
6. _A Selection of Sacred Poetry consisting of Psalms and Hymns from
Watts, Doddridge, Merrick, Scott, Cowper, Barbauld, Steele and
others_—Philadelphia, 1812; 2nd ed., 1818; 3rd ed., 1828; 4th ed.,
1846.
Edited by Ralph Eddowes (1751-1833) and James Taylor (1769-1844) two
laymen of the church in Philadelphia in which Joseph Priestley had
preached after coming to America, but which remained without a settled
minister until Rev. W. H. Furness was installed in 1825. A good
collection of 606 psalms and hymns, from varied English sources, as
indicated by the following quotation from preface:—“The Society of
Unitarian Christians in Philadelphia, from its first formation, has
used, in its public devotional exercises, the collection of hymns and
psalms made by the Rev. Doctors Kippis and Rees, and Messrs. Jervis
and Morgan.... A late collection by the Rev. Mr. Aspland, of Hackney,
has also afforded assistance, of which advantage has been freely
taken; and by resorting to another, published in 1789 by the Rev.
Messrs. Ash and Evans of Bristol, this work has been enriched with
several pieces of Mrs. Steele’s exquisitely beautiful and highly
devotional poetry.”
7. _Hymns for the Lord’s Supper_, Original and Selected. [edited] by
Thaddeus Mason Harris, D.D., Boston; printed by Sewall Phelps, no. 5
Court Street, 1820; 2nd ed., 1821.
In 1801 Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, minister of the First Church in
Dorchester, Mass., printed a few hymns for use at the Lord’s Supper,
and these formed the basis for this enlarged collection published in
1820. This edition contains original hymns by Rev. John Pierpont of
Boston, Rev. Samuel Gilman of Charleston, S. C., and others, none of
them in use today. The booklet probably had more circulation for
private reading than for public use.
8. _A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, for social and private
worship_—New York, 1820; 2nd ed., 1827; 4th ed., 1845.
Compiled by Dr. Henry D. Sewall, one of the laymen who founded the
First Congregational Society of New York, now All Souls Church, which
was organized in 1819. Commonly called “the New York Collection.” It
contains 504 psalms and hymns arranged in three sections in
alphabetical order of first lines. There are no musical directions
except that the metre of each hymn is indicated. The Collection is
chiefly notable for the inclusion, without the author’s name, of five
original hymns by William Cullen Bryant, a member of the congregation,
who had written them at the instance of Miss Sedgwick.
The fourth edition, 1845, made some substitutions and added 146 hymns
to the original number.
9. _A Selection of Psalms and Hymns, for social and private
worship_—Andover, 1821; 2nd ed., Cambridge, 1824; 11th ed., Boston,
1832.
Edited by Jonathan Peele Dabney (1793-1868), a graduate of Harvard who
had studied for the ministry but was never ordained. The book was
smaller, cheaper and better arranged than Sewall’s (8), and had
considerable use. It contains 385 hymns, and 21 “Ascriptions and
Occasional Pieces,” these last including Henry Ware’s Easter hymn,
“Lift your glad voices,” and Heber’s “From Greenland’s icy mountains.”
There are no musical instructions beyond indication of metres.
10. _A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Social and Private Worship,
compiled by a committee of the West Parish in Boston_—Boston; printed
by John B. Russell, 1823.
This book was a successor to No. 1. No preface; no copyright; no
indication of the identity of the compilers. It contains 320 psalms
and hymns by Tate and Brady, Watts, Doddridge, Barbauld, Steele and
others. No hymn by Charles Wesley, but it has John Wesley’s “Lo, God
is here,” attributed to “Salisbury Coll.” Also 6 communion hymns; 5
for Christmas, including Tate’s “While shepherds watched their flocks
by night,” attributed to Dr. Patrick; Milton’s “Nor war nor battle’s
sound,” altered by Dr. Gardiner; and Sir Walter Scott’s “When Israel
of the Lord beloved”.
Note:—The American Unitarian Association does not own a copy, but
there is one at the Congregational Library, 16 Beacon Street,
Boston, Mass.
11. _A Selection from Tate and Brady’s Version of the Psalms: with
Hymns by various authors_—For the use of the church in Brattle Square,
Boston. Boston: Richardson & Lord, 1825.
Compiled by a committee of that church. The church used the _Bay Psalm
Book_ until 1753; then Tate and Brady’s _New Version_ of the Psalms,
with an appendix of hymns selected by a committee. In 1808 another
committee published another appendix, entitled _A Second Part of
Hymns_. The book issued in 1825, by a committee the membership of
which is unknown, is a revision and enlargement of the original Tate
and Brady and the appendices. It contains 150 psalms and 363 hymns. No
musical directions save indications of metres.
12. _Sacred Poetry and Music reconciled, or a Collection of Hymns
original and compiled_—by Samuel Willard, D.D., A.A.S. Boston: L. C.
Bowles, 1830.
This book, “adopted while in manuscript, by the Third Congregational
Society in Hingham,” had little use beyond that parish. It contains
518 hymns, and 7 chants, the latter being a feature not met with in
any earlier book in this series. Tunes are indicated for each hymn,
but the editor had some peculiar theories about the “reconciliation”
of words and music. The editor, Rev. Samuel Willard (1776-1859), had
been minister at Deerfield but had retired on account of blindness and
was temporarily resident in Hingham when this book was published.
13. _A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship_—Boston:
Carter and Hendee, 1830.
Edited by Rev. Francis William Pitt Greenwood (1797-1843), minister of
King’s Chapel, Boston. _Greenwood’s Collection_, as it was generally
called, containing 560 psalms and hymns, superseded Belknap’s (3) as
the hymn-book most widely used in Unitarian churches in the first half
of the 19^th century. It ran to fifty editions and was used in King’s
Chapel, for which it was prepared, until superseded there by _Hymns of
the Church Universal_, 1890, (39). Based upon Watts, the book contains
the then very recent hymns by James Montgomery, Harriet Auber, Bowring
and Heber, and practically introduced Charles Wesley to American
Unitarians. In _Young Emerson Speaks_, edited by A. C. McGiffert,
1937, pages 145-150, will be found a sermon on “Hymn Books” preached
by R. W. Emerson in 1831, while still minister of the Second Church in
Boston, in which he recommends the church to adopt _Greenwood’s
Collection_ in place of Belknap’s. Emerson, in his Journal for 1847,
noted that _Greenwood’s Collection_ was “still the best.”
14. _The Springfield Collection of Hymns for sacred worship_, by
William B. O. Peabody—Springfield: Samuel Bowles, 1835.
Rev. William Oliver Bourne Peabody (1799-1847) was minister at
Springfield, Mass. His collection contains 509 hymns, admirably chosen
from the accepted classics of the period, Watts and Doddridge
predominant, but with an increasing number of the recent compositions
by Unitarian hymn-writers of the first third of the 19^th century. No
musical instructions beyond indication of metres. On its merits the
_Springfield Collection_ rightly shared with _Greenwood’s Collection_
(13) and _The Cheshire Collection_ (20) the largest measure of
popularity and use among Unitarians in the middle of the 19^th
century.
15. _The Christian Psalter: A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for
social and private worship_—Boston, 1841.
Edited by Rev. William Parsons Lunt (1805-1857), for use in the First
Church in Quincy, Mass. It contains 702 hymns and psalms and
represents a reversion to the older type of hymnody, “but, if
old-fashioned, it was excellent and serviceable.” Lunt included 22
pieces by his parishioner, ex-President John Quincy Adams, whose wife
had put into his hands a complete metrical psalter which Adams had
composed. At least one of Adams’ psalms is still to be found in some
hymn-books.
16. _A Manual of Prayer for public and private worship, with a
collection of hymns_—Boston, 1842.
Edited by Rev. William Greenleaf Eliot (1811-1887). Although printed
in Boston, this book was prepared for The First Congregational Society
of St. Louis, Missouri, of which the editor had become minister in
1834. The Society was the earliest Unitarian church in the Mississippi
Valley, excepting that at New Orleans. The book is primarily a
collection of service materials followed by 272 well-selected hymns
from standard sources. It was the earliest volume of the sort to be
prepared for Unitarian use in the Middle West.
17. _A Collection of Hymns, for the Christian Church and Home_—Boston,
1843.
Edited by Rev. James Flint (1779-1855). The editor was minister of the
East Church in Salem, Mass., and based his book upon the 18^th century
collection of his predecessor, William Bentley (2). He borrowed the
title and much of the contents of James Martineau’s book published in
England in 1840. The book contains 415 hymns.
Note:—The American Unitarian Association does not own a copy of
this book. One is in the Congregational Library, 14 Beacon Street,
Boston.
18. _The Social Hymn Book; consisting of psalms and hymns for social
worship and private devotions_—Boston, 1843.
Edited by Rev. Chandler Robbins (1810-1882), minister of the Second
Church in Boston. The book, which contains 350 psalms and hymns, is
based upon Watts and Doddridge, but it introduced new hymns from
various sources, among them about twenty of Bishop Mant’s translations
of “ancient hymns” from the Roman Breviary. Dr. Robbins was one of the
earliest American hymn-book editors to avail himself of the English
versions of Latin hymns which were among the fruits of the Oxford
Movement. His book has an appendix of 21 tunes in two parts, the book
being thus the first in this series to include any printed music.
19. _The Disciples’ Hymn Book; a collection of hymns and chants for
public and private devotions, prepared for the use of the Church of
the Disciples_—Boston, 1844.
Edited by Rev. James Freeman Clarke (1810-1888) for use in the Church
of the Disciples, Boston, which had been organized in 1841 and of
which he was the first minister. The first edition is commonly bound
up with _Service Book: for the use of the Church of the Disciples_. A
revised and enlarged edition appeared in 1852. The collection contains
318 hymns and an appendix of chants. It was notable for its freshness
and progressive outlook, and drew upon the most recent English
sources. It introduced into American use the hymn “Nearer, my God, to
thee,” by Sarah Flower Adams, published in England only three years
earlier, and other hymns by the same author. It also included some of
Clarke’s own hymns, more of which appeared in the second edition.
20. _Christian Hymns for public and private worship. A Collection
compiled by a committee of the Cheshire Pastoral Association_—Boston,
1845.
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.
21. _A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for the Sanctuary_—Boston, 1845.
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.
22. _Hymns for Public Worship_—Boston, 1845.
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.
No musical instructions beyond indication of the metres.
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.
25. _Hymns of the Sanctuary_—Boston, 1849.
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.
28. _Hymn Book for Christian Worship_—Boston, 1854.
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.
30. _Christian Worship_—New York, 1862.
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).
33. _Hymns of the Spirit_—Boston, Ticknor & Fields, 1864.
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.
34. _Hymn and Tune Book for the Church and Home_—Boston, 1868.