God_, 1^st Series, 1885. Sometimes it begins with St. iii, “O God
within, so close to me,” as in _Hys. for Church and Home_, Boston,
1895.
6. _Praise to God and Thanksgiving_, (Harvest)
Written in 1882 for a Harvest Festival at St. Paul, Minnesota,
where he was then a pastor, and included in _The Thought of God_,
1^st Series, 1885. In the Boston _Pilgrim Hymnal_, 1904, and in
_Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, it begins
_Praise to God, and thanks we bring_,
7. _Sleep, my little Jesus_, (Christmas Carol)
Written for the Sunday School, St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1882, and
given in _The Thought of God_, 2^nd Series, 1894, as “Mary’s
Manger Song.”
8. _The Lord is in His holy place_ (Dedication of a Place of
Worship)
Written for the Dedication of the Rev. C. W. Wendte’s Church,
Chicago, April 24, 1873, and published in _The Thought of God_,
1^st Series, 1885. It is one of the most popular and widely used
of the author’s hymns.
9. _The morning hangs its signal_, (Morning)
This is dated by the author “Chicago, July 30, 1886,” and printed
in _Love to God and Love to Man_, being no. 28 of the Chicago
“Unity Mission” series of hymns, n.d. It is also included in _The
Thought of God_, 2^nd Series, 1894. Although a morning hymn it is
adapted for use in Advent. It is usually known as “The Crowning
Day.”
Of the hymns thus listed in Julian’s _Dictionary_ Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6, 8
and 9 have been widely used and are included in _Hymns of the Spirit_,
1937. No. 1 was written to be set to J. B. Dykes’ tune _Nicaea_, to
which it is usually sung. No. 4 is probably the earliest hymn in the
English language to give a religious interpretation of the then novel
and controversial doctrine of evolution. No. 9, as included in _Hymns
of the Spirit_, 1937, is attributed to “William Channing Gannett and
others”, being an arrangement from one of his poems.
Another fine hymn by Dr. Gannett beginning,
10. _God laid his rocks in courses_,
is unaccountably missing from the above list in Julian’s
_Dictionary_. It is dated 1888 and was written for the dedication
of the church in Hinsdale which was erected shortly before his
pastorate there came to an end.
_Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, also includes as a hymn beginning,
11. _It sounds along the ages_,
an arrangement of stanzas from one of Dr. Gannett’s poems entitled
“The Word of God.”
Finally, mention should be made of his part in giving form to the
great hymn beginning
12. _Praise to the living God! All praiséd be his name!_
This is a metrical version of the Yigdal, a summary of the Jewish
faith attributed to Daniel Ben Judah who lived about the 14^th
century A.D. About 1760 Thomas Olivers, a Methodist preacher
visiting a Jewish synagogue in London, heard it chanted in Hebrew
by the cantor Leoni (Meyer Lyon) to a traditional melody. Much
impressed he secured a prose translation which he turned into the
hymn beginning
_The God of Abraham praise_,
to be sung to the same tune, to which he gave the name Leoni. His
version, however, did not follow the original text at all closely,
for he gave it a Christian interpretation. (A detailed account of
this episode will be found in Julian’s _Dictionary_, pp.
1149-1151.) This hymn soon became, and has remained, widely
popular. In the 1880’s Rabbi Max Landsberg of Temple Berith Kodesh
in Rochester, New York, a friend of Rev. Newton Mann, _q.v._ then
minister of the Unitarian Church in Rochester, asked Mr. Mann if
he could not make a metrical version of the Yigdal in English
which would be a more exact translation. Mr. Mann did so, but not
in the metre of the tune to which the Hebrew text was sung. After
Dr. Gannett had succeeded Mr. Mann in Rochester, Rabbi Landsberg
asked him to recast Mr. Mann’s version in the same metre as the
tune. Dr. Gannett did so, and his version in 5 stas. was included
in the Jewish _Union Hymnal_, 1910, from which, with one stanza
omitted and some other alterations which in most cases are not
improvements, it has come into a number of Christian hymn books.
The unchanged version in 4 stas. will be found in _Hymns of the
Spirit_, 1937, where it is recorded as “Revised version of the
Yigdal of Daniel Ben Judah” and the tune is called “Yigdal
(Leoni)” and is described as “Jewish Melody, arr. by Meyer Lyon.”
Dr. Gannett never claimed this version as his, and it is now
impossible to discover how much of its wording is due to Mr.
Mann’s earlier verse, but its poetic perfection is highly
suggestive of Dr. Gannett’s craftsmanship, which assuredly has
contributed much to its present form.
H.W.F
Gilman, Mrs. Caroline (Howard), Boston, Massachusetts, October 8,
1794—September 18, 1888, Washington D. C. She married Rev. Samuel
Gilman, _q.v._, on October 14, 1819, and after his death in 1858 lived
for a time in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later in Tiverton, Long
Island, New York.
She began to write stories and poems at an early age, many of which
were published in “The Rosebud,” later called “The Southern Rose,” a
juvenile weekly paper published in Charleston, South Carolina, which
she edited for several years, beginning in 1832. Her book entitled
“Verses of a Lifetime” was published in 1854, as were a number of
other books which gave her a considerable reputation as an author.
Five of her poems are included in Putnam’s _Singers and Songs_, etc.
Two of her hymns had considerable use,
1. _Is there a lone and dreary hour_, (Providence)
This was contributed to Sewall’s _Collection_, 1820, in 4 stanzas
of 4 lines, to which in 1867 she added a fifth stanza for
inclusion in the Charleston _Services and Hymns_. This hymn had
wide use in both British and American collections in the 19^th
century.
2. _We bless Thee for this sacred day_ (Sunday)
Also contributed to Sewall’s _Collection_, 1820, in 4 stanzas of 4
lines, to which she added a fifth stanza, when included in the
Charleston _Services and Hymns_, 1867.
Neither of these hymns is in current use.
J. 423
Revised by H.W.F.
Gilman, Rev. Samuel, D.D., Gloucester, Massachusetts, February 16,
1791—February 9, 1858, Kingston, Massachusetts. He graduated from
Harvard College in 1811, served the College as tutor in mathematics
for two years, and studied in the Harvard Divinity School. On December
1, 1819, he was ordained minister of the Unitarian Church in
Charleston, South Carolina, which he served with great distinction
until his death, which occurred while on a visit to Massachusetts. His
wife, Caroline Howard Gilman, _q.v._, was a writer noted in her day.
He wrote a good many poems and essays, published in magazines; a book,
“Memoirs of a New England Village Choir,” 1829, which ran to three
editions; and in 1856 a volume of his miscellaneous essays, entitled
“Contributions to Literature, Descriptive, Critical, Humorous,
Biographical, Philosophical and Poetical.” His two best known songs
were _The Union Ode_, composed for the Union party of South Carolina
and sung there on July 4, 1831, during the Nullification excitement,
and later in the North during the Civil War; and the college hymn
_Fair Harvard_, which he wrote in 1836. He had come to Cambridge for
the twenty-fifth anniversary of his graduation and the 200^th
anniversary of the founding of the College. On the eve of the
celebration, having already an established reputation as a poet, he
was asked to write a song for the occasion and it was sung at the
meeting on September 8, 1836, to a tune popular at the time, composed
for the song “Believe me, if all those endearing young charms.”
Harvard gave him the honorary degree of D.D. in 1837.
He wrote a number of hymns of minor importance.
1. _O God, accept this sacred hour_ (Communion)
was contributed to Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris’s _Hymns for the
Lord’s Supper_, 1820, and was republished in Sewall’s New York
Collection of the same year, in Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns for
the Church of Christ_, 1853, and other collections.
2. _This child we dedicate to Thee_ (Christening)
In Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns for the Church of Christ_ the
author’s name is not given and the piece is attributed to the
_West Boston Collection_, 1823. Putnam, in _Singers and Songs_,
etc., p. 73, gives four of its original stanzas, and says that it
is a translation from the German, but the original has not been
traced.
3. _We sing Thy mercy, God of love_, (Communion)
Contributed to _Hymns of the Lord’s Supper_ and included in
Sewall’s New York _Collection_.
4. _Who would sever freedom’s shrine?_
A song supporting the Union cause, of which Gilman was a strong
advocate, written at the time of the Nullification agitation.
Several stanzas from it, beginning as above, were included in _The
Soldier’s Companion_, 1861.
5. _Yes, to the [that] last command_ (Communion)
Like no. 1 and 3 included in _Hymns for the Lord’s Supper_ and in
Sewall’s _Collection_.
All these hymns have long since passed out of use.
Gilman (with C. M. Taggart) edited the _Charleston Collection_ in
1854, under the title _Services and Hymns for the use of the Unitarian
Church of Charleston, S.C._, a second and enlarged edition of which
appeared in 1867. It included three of his hymns, nos. 1, 3 and 5,
listed above, and the two by his wife, Caroline Gilman, _q.v._, listed
under her name.
J. 423, 1592
revised—H.W.F.
Goldsmith, Rev. Peter Hair, D.D. (1865-1926) was born in Greenville,
South Carolina. He was educated at the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, and served several Baptist churches
before transferring his membership to the Unitarian denomination,
after which he served as minister to the First Church in Salem,
Massachusetts, 1903-1910, and to the church in Yonkers, New York,
1910-1917.
In 1912 he wrote a hymn beginning,
_Holy, holy Lord,_
_We with one accord,_
which was included in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, but has not
passed into other collections.
H.W.F.
Greenough, James Bradstreet, Portland, Maine, 1833-1901, Cambridge,
Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard College in 1856, was
appointed tutor in 1865, assistant professor in 1873, and professor of
Latin in 1883. In 1884 he wrote the Latin hymn in four stanzas
beginning
_Deus omnium creator_,
for the tune _Harvard Hymn_ which his friend, John Knowles Paine,
professor of music at Harvard, had composed in 1883 for use at the
Harvard Commencement dinner.
It is included in _The University Hymn Book_, 1896, and in _The
Harvard University Hymn Book_, 1926.
H.W.F.
Greenwood, Helen Woodward, Leominster, Massachusetts, April 18,
1880—April 2, 1959, Leominster. She was for many years engaged in
secretarial work for the General Alliance of Unitarian Women at 25
Beacon Street, Boston. A hymn by her, beginning
_As once again we gather here_
is included in the _Isles of Shoals Hymn Book_, 1908.
H.W.F.
Hale, Rev. Edward Everett, D.D., Boston, Massachusetts, April 3,
1822—June 10, 1909, Roxbury, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard
College in 1839, the youngest member of his class. He did not go to
the Divinity School, but taught in the Boston Latin School and studied
for the ministry under the direction of Rev. S. K. Lothrop and Rev. J.
G. Palfrey. He was licensed to preach by the Boston Association and in
1846 was ordained as minister of the Church of the Unity (now the
First Unitarian Church), Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1856 he moved to
Boston, where he served the South Congregational Church (Unitarian) as
minister and minister emeritus until his death. He was a voluminous
writer. One of his stories entitled “A Man Without A Country,” and
another, “In His Name,” brought him wide reputation. He was a
distinguished preacher and a greatly beloved pastor, an ardent
advocate of peace who as early as 1871 proposed a “United States of
Europe,” and in 1889 outlined a plan for an “International Tribunal.”
In 1858 he wrote a hymn “For the dedication of a Church” beginning,
_O Father, take this new-built shrine_,
which was included in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Hymns of the Spirit_,
1864, from which Martineau took it for his _Hymns of Praise and
Prayer_, London, 1873.
J. 481
H.W.F.
Hale, Mary Whitwell, Boston, Massachusetts, January 29, 1810—November
17, 1862, Keene, New Hampshire. Most of her life she was a school
teacher in Boston, later in Taunton, Massachusetts, and, for her last
20 years, in Keene. She wrote a good deal of verse. Two of her poems,
one on “Home,” and the second on “Music” were written for a juvenile
concert in the Unitarian Church at Taunton, April, 1834. A number of
her later hymns and poems appeared in _The Christian Register_, signed
by Y.L.E. (the final letters of her name), and in 1840 a volume
entitled _Poems_ was published in Boston. Several of her poems are
included in Putnam’s _Singers and Songs_, etc.
Four of her hymns were included in the _Cheshire Collection_, 1844,
viz:
1. _Praise for the glorious light_,
Written for a Temperance meeting.
2. _This day let grateful praise ascend_ (Sunday)
3. _Whatever dims the sense of truth_
In Putnam, Singers and Songs, this is entitled “A Mother’s
Counsel,” with a quotation from John Wesley’s mother.
4. _When in silence o’er the deep_ (Christmas)
Of these nos. 2 and 3 were taken from her _Poems_, and nos. 1 and 4
were written for the _Cheshire Collection_. No. 4 is in _Church
Harmonies_. 1895, but none of her hymns are in current use.
J. 481
H.W.F.
Hall, Harriet Ware, Boston, Massachusetts, September 15, 1841—March
18, 1889, Boston. She was a lifelong resident of Boston, a member of
King’s Chapel. Two small books by her were privately printed, one a
collection of poems entitled _A Book for Friends_, 1888, the other
entitled _Essays_, printed posthumously in 1890. The first book
contains a hymn beginning
_Lord, beneath thine equal hand_,
in three stanzas, 7.7.7.7.D., dated February 10, 1869, and written for
the installation of Rev. E. H. Hall at Worcester, Massachusetts, in
1869. It is included in the _Isles of Shoals Hymn Book_, 1908, the
first line altered to read,
_Lord, beneath whose equal hand._
H.W.F.
Ham, Rev. Marion Franklin, D.D., Harveysburg, Ohio, February 18,
1867—July 23, 1956, Arlington, Massachusetts. He was educated in the
public schools at Harveysburg, but as a youth moved to Chattanooga,
Tennessee to find employment. There he joined the Unitarian Church
and, after serving it as a lay reader for several years, was ordained
in 1898 as its minister, serving it until 1904. He later served
Unitarian churches in Dallas, Texas, 1904-1909; in Reading,
Massachusetts, 1909-1934; and in Waverley, Massachusetts, 1934-1939.
He began to write verse in 1888, and many of his poems appeared in
newspapers and periodicals, some of them being widely reprinted. His
collected poems were published in book form in 1896, entitled _The
Golden Shuttle_, which reached a fourth edition in 1910. He then
turned to hymn writing, and four of his earliest hymns were included
in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, viz:—
1. _I hear Thy voice, within the silence speaking_, (1913)
2. _O Lord of life, Thy kingdom is at hand_, (1912)
3. _O Thou whose gracious presence shone_ (Communion) (1912)
4. _Touch Thou mine eyes, the sombre shadows falling_, (1911)
These are also included in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, as are five
later hymns by him, viz:—
5. _As tranquil streams that meet and merge_ (1933)
6. _From Bethany the Master_, (Palm Sunday) (1935)
7. _Heir of all the waiting ages_, (Advent) (1937)
8. _Ring, O ring, ye Christmas bells_ (1932)
9. _The builders, toiling through the days_ (Church dedication)
(1925)
In April, 1936, he wrote an Easter hymn
10. _Oh, who shall roll the stone away?_
which first appeared in the Boston _Transcript_. It is included in
_The Hymnal_, 1940.
In his later years he published, or had privately printed, several
small booklets containing these and other poems by him: _Songs of the
Spirit_, 1932; _Songs of Faith and Hope_, 1940; _Songs at Sunset_,
1951; _Songs of a Lifetime_, 1953; and _In a Rose Garden_, 1956. Of
these, _Songs of a Lifetime_ contains what he regarded as his best
poems, as well as his latest hymns, among them one widely used on
United Nations Sunday, beginning,
11. _Freedom, thy holy light_,
and a fine national hymn,
12. _O my country, land of promise_,
A number of his hymns have been included in the hymnals of several
denominations, and No. 2 was translated into Japanese.
Dr. Ham’s hymns manifest a deep spiritual insight expressed with
literary craftsmanship of a high order, which make them among the most
notable contributions to American hymnody in the first half of the
20^th century.
H.W.F.
Harris, Florence, (Mrs. Robert G. Hooke) (1891-1933) wrote in 1907,
for the tenth anniversary of Unity Church (Unitarian), Montclair, New
Jersey, of which she was a member a hymn entitled “The Founders,”
beginning,
_Like pilgrims sailing through the night_,
which was included in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and in
_Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.
H.W.F.
Harris, Rev. Thaddeus Mason, D.D. (1768-1842). He graduated from
Harvard in 1787, entered the ministry and served the First Church in
Dorchester, Massachusetts (Unitarian) from 1793 until his resignation
in 1836. Librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society. In 1801 he
printed a leaflet with a few hymns, which formed the basis for a
larger collection of _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_. A second edition was printed
in 1821. This booklet contains original hymns by Rev. John Pierpont,
_q.v._, Rev. Samuel Gilman, _q.v._, and others, none of them in use
today.
H.W.F.
Hedge, Rev. Frederic Henry, Cambridge, Massachusetts, December 12,
1805—August 21, 1890, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Son of Professor Levi
Hedge of Harvard, he was a very precocious child, ready to enter
college at 12 years of age, but his father wisely sent him to Germany,
with a tutor, George Bancroft, later a noted historian, where he
studied in German schools for 5 years. He then returned to Harvard
College, graduating in 1825, followed by a period of study in Harvard
Divinity School, where he became an intimate friend of R. W. Emerson.
He was ordained minister of the First Congregational Parish
(Unitarian) in West Cambridge (now Arlington) Massachusetts in 1829.
In 1835 he moved to Bangor, Maine, where he served the Independent
Congregational Society until 1850, then serving the Westminster
Congregational Church, Providence, Rhode Island, 1850-1856. In the
latter year he was called to the First Parish in Brookline,
Massachusetts, which he served until 1872. His removal to Brookline
enabled him to serve as a nonresident professor of ecclesiastical
history in the Harvard Divinity School. He retired from the ministry
in 1872 and moved to Cambridge, where he was appointed professor of
German language and literature, retiring in 1882. He was a man of
extraordinary intellectual ability, one of the most learned of his
time, and a pioneer in bringing to this country an acquaintance with
German literature and metaphysics. Harvard gave him the degree of D.D.
in 1852, and that of LL.D. in 1886. He was one of the editors of the
_Christian Examiner_, author of _The Prose Writers of Germany_, 1848,
of _Reason in Religion_, 1865, of a volume of _Metrical Translations
and Poems_ in 1888, and of a large number of essays and sermons. He
was president of the American Unitarian Association 1860-1863. He
collaborated with Dr. F. D. Huntington, _q.v._, in editing _Hymns for
the Church of Christ_, Boston, 1853, to which he contributed three
translations from the German:
1. _A mighty fortress is our God_, (Ein’ feste Burg)
2. _Christ hath arisen!_ (Goethe’s Faust)
3. _The sun is still forever sounding_ (Goethe’s Faust)
The Unitarian _Hymn and Tune Book for Church and Home_, 1868,
includes his translation from the Latin,
4. _Holy Spirit, Fire Divine_, (Veni, Sancte Spiritus)
Translated 1862.
His original hymns included in _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853,
are,
5. _Beneath thine hammer, Lord, I lie_,
Undated but “Written at a time of severe trial and deep
depression.”
6. _Sovereign and Transforming Grace_,
Written for the ordination of H. D. Barlow at Lynn, Massachusetts,
December 9, 1829. This fine hymn is appropriate to a service of
worship and, with the omission of one stanza, has been widely
used.
7. _’Twas in the East, the mystic East_,
A Christmas hymn, written about 1853.
8. _’Twas the day when God’s anointed_,
Written for a service in Bangor, Maine, held on Good Friday, 1843,
in six stanzas, the last three of which, beginning
_It is finished, Man of sorrows!_
had considerable use in Great Britain and this country. The whole
six stanzas were included in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Book of
Hymns_, 1846, as “Anonymous.” The last three stanzas are in
Martineau’s _Hymns_ and in many other collections.
He also wrote a hymn beginning
9. _Lo! another offering,_
_To Thy courts this day we bring,_
for his own ordination at West Cambridge in 1829, which was also
used at the ordination of F. A. Whitney, at Brighton,
Massachusetts, on February 24, 1844, but which passed into no
collections.
All these hymns, and two other religious poems, are included in
Putnam’s Singers and _Songs of the Liberal Faith_. Most of them had
gone out of use by the end of the 19^th century, but nos. 1, 6 and 8
(beginning _It is finished, Man of sorrows_,) are in _The New Hymn and
Tune Book_, 1914, and in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.
By far the best known of Hedge’s hymns is his fine and accurate
translation of Luther’s great chorale _Ein’ feste Burg_ (no. 1). This
is the version accepted by almost all the Protestant denominations in
this country, whereas in Great Britain Thomas Carlyle’s earlier
translation (1831) is generally used, although James Martineau
included Hedge’s version in his _Hymns of Praise and Prayer_, 1873,
mistakenly attributing it to Samuel Longfellow. Putnam, _op. cit._,
214, says that it was first printed in W. H. Furness’s _Gems of German
Verse_, which appeared in Philadelphia, without date but undoubtedly
in the latter part of 1853, a second edition following in 1859. That
Hedge should have sent his translation of the chorale to Furness
without delay was natural, because the two men were close friends with
a common interest in German literature, and Putnam was the younger
contemporary of both, in a position to know that Furness’s little book
had appeared on the market a few days, or weeks, ahead of the
collection of hymns which Hedge and F. D. Huntington were editing and
which they published late in 1853 as _Hymns for the Church of Christ_.
The earliest record of the hymn, however, is to be found in the
autograph letter (now in the Harvard University Library) which Hedge
wrote to Rev. Joseph H. Allen, his successor in the pulpit at Bangor,
Maine, asking him to recommend hymns for inclusion in the book on
which he and Huntington were working. This letter is dated
“Providence, March 27th, 1853.” In the course of it Hedge wrote, “I
have made a new translation of Luther’s splendid psalm ‘Eine feste
Burg ist unser Gott’ Carlyle’s translation not being available.” This
statement is followed by the four stanzas of his translation. That
book contained no printed tunes, only citing the metre at the head of
each hymn as a guide to the organist, but in his letter Hedge goes on
with the surprizing statement, “The original is much sung in Germany
and therefore I suppose that it will not be difficult to find a tune
for it.” Since he must have become familiar with both the words and
the music of the famous chorale when he was a youthful student in
Germany this remark indicates that the tune was still unknown in
America, and that he took little interest in introducing it.
J. 504, 1647
Revised by H.W.F.