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.