as satisfactory as could be expected at the time it was written, is
incomplete in two respects. The latest hymn listed is dated 1899, yet
at least three earlier hymns by Hosmer are unaccountably missing,
(viz, nos. 32, 33, 41, noted below), presumably because he neglected
to send Julian any information about them. More important than these
are several later occasional hymns which he wrote in the last three
decades of his life, too late for any inclusion in Julian’s
_Dictionary_, and which form a notable addition to the earlier list.
Some of them were included in the revised edition of _Unity Hymns and
Chorals_, 1911, and all of them in _The Thought of God_, 3^rd. Series,
1918, as follows:
28. _Across a century’s border line_,
Written for the centennial commemoration of W. E. Channing’s
famous “Baltimore Sermon” at the General Unitarian Conference,
September 26, 1917.
29. _All hidden lie the future ways_,
Written as a hymn at the christening of children. Not dated.
30. _Forward through the ages, in unbroken line_,
A hymn of the church universal, written in 1908 for an
Installation Service, set to Sullivan’s tune St. Gertrude. In some
collections it has replaced Baring Gould’s _Onward, Christian
Soldiers_.
31. _Hear, hear, O ye nations, and hearing obey_, (Reign of
Peace)
Written in 1909 and included in _New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914,
and, with one word altered in the last stanza, in _Hymns of the
Spirit_, 1937.
32. _I came not hither of my will_, (Divine Providence)
Written in 1883.
33. _Lo, the day of days is here_, (Easter)
Written in 1890.
34. _Lo, the Easter-tide is here_, (Easter)
Written in 1914.
35. _Now while the day in trailing splendor_ (Evening)
Written in 1902, published in Louisa Loring’s _Hymns of the Ages_,
1904.
36._ O blest the souls that see and hear_,
Written for the National Conference of Unitarian Churches,
Chicago, September 27, 1909, in 5 stanzas, beginning “From many
ways and far apart.” In _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and
_Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, this first stanza has been dropped,
and the remaining four stanzas printed, beginning as above.
37. _O day of light and gladness_ (Easter)
Written in 1903, published in Louisa Loring’s _Hymns of the Ages_,
1904, and, slightly revised, in _Unity Hymns and Chorals_, 1911.
38. _The outward building stands complete_,
Written for the Dedication of Unity Church, St. Louis, Missouri,
October 7, 1917.
39. _Through willing heart and helping hand_,
Written in 1909 for the Dedication of the Parish House of the
First Unitarian Church, Berkeley, California.
40. _Thy kingdom come, O Lord._
Written in 1905.
41. _Today be joy in every heart_, (Christmas)
Written in 1877.
42. _Uplift the song of praise_,
The first two stanzas of this hymn were written in 1904 and were
included in Miss Louisa Loring’s _Hymns of the Ages_, published in
that year. At a later date Dr. Hosmer wrote two additional stanzas
and the hymn was thus printed in _The Thought of God_, 3^rd
Series, 1918. In _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and _Hymns of
the Spirit_, 1937, it is set to the tune Yigdal.
43. _When shadows gather on our way_,
Written in 1904 and published in Miss Louisa Loring’s _Hymns of
the Ages_, 1904.
44. _When the constant sun returning_,
Reginald Heber in 1827 wrote a single stanza hymn beginning, “God
that madest earth and heaven.” In 1912 Hosmer wrote for _The New
Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, a second stanza, the first line of
which is quoted above, to complete the thought. This composite two
stanza hymn has since been included in _The Pilgrim Hymnal_, 1935,
and _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.
The period of Dr. Hosmer’s hymn writing covered more than 40 years
(1875-1917) and during the latter half of that time he was widely
recognized by hymn lovers as the most distinguished hymn writer of his
time. Many of his hymns found their way into the collections of
various denominations in both this country and Great Britain. Canon
Dearmer included 8 in the British collection _Songs of Praise_, and in
the accompanying handbook, _Songs of Praise Discussed_, calls the hymn
_O Thou, in all thy might so far_, (no. 17) “this flawless poem, one
of the completest expressions of religious faith,” and the hymn _Thy
kingdom come, on bended knee_, (no. 24) “one of the noblest hymns in
the language.”
All of Hosmer’s hymns in recent use will be found in both the
Unitarian collections—_The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and _Hymns
of the Spirit_, 1937, except where initials indicate one or the other
book, as follows:—Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 (N.H.T.B.), 8, 10 (N.H.T.B.),
12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 (H.S.), 29
(H.S.), 30, 31, 32, 34 (H.S,), 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43. Nos.
10, 17, 24, 30 and 40 are included in the Protestant Episcopal
_Hymnal_, 1940.
J. 1650
H.W.F.
Howe, Mrs. Julia (Ward), New York, New York, May 27, 1819—October 17,
1910, Boston, Massachusetts. Married Samuel Gridley Howe on April 26,
1843. She was a woman with a distinguished personality and intellect;
an Abolitionist and active in social reforms; author of several books
in prose and verse. The latter include _Passion Flower_, 1854; _Words
of the Hour_, 1856; _Later Lyrics_, 1866; and _From a Sunset Ridge_,
1896. She became famous as the author of the poem entitled “Battle
Hymn of the Republic,” beginning,
_Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord_, which, in
spite of its title, was written as a patriotic song and not as a hymn
for use in public worship, but which has been included in many
American hymn books. It was written on November 19, 1861, while she
and her husband, accompanied by their pastor, Rev. James Freeman
Clarke, _q.v._, minister of the (Unitarian) Church of the Disciples,
Boston, were visiting Washington soon after the outbreak of the Civil
War. She had seen the troops gathered there and had heard them,
singing “John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave” to a
popular tune called “Glory, Hallelujah” composed a few years earlier
by William Steffe of Charleston, South Carolina, for Sunday School
use. Dr. Clarke asked Mrs. Howe if she could not write more uplifting
words for the tune and as she awoke early the next morning she found
the verses forming in her mind as fast as she could write them down,
so completely that later she re-wrote only a line or two in the last
stanza and changed only four words in other stanzas. She sent the poem
to _The Atlantic Monthly_, which paid her $4 and published it in its
issue for February, 1862. It attracted little attention until it
caught the eye of Chaplain C. C. McCabe (later a Methodist bishop) who
had a fine singing voice and who taught it first to the 122d Ohio
Volunteer Infantry regiment to which he was attached, then to other
troops, and to prisoners in Libby Prison after he was made prisoner of
war. Thereafter it quickly came into use throughout the North as an
expression of the patriotic emotion of the period.
J. 1652
H.W.F.
Huntington, Rt. Rev. Frederic Dan, D.D., Hadley, Massachusetts, May
23, 1819—July 11, 1904, Hadley, Massachusetts. He graduated from
Amherst College in 1839 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1842.
He was minister of the South Congregational Church (Unitarian),
Boston, 1842-1855, and from 1855 to 1859 he was Professor of Christian
Morals and University Preacher at Harvard College. In 1859 he was
ordained priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church and served as
rector of Emmanuel Church in Boston from 1860 to 1869, when he was
consecrated Bishop of Central New York. In 1853 he collaborated with
Rev. Frederic Henry Hedge, _q.v._, in editing their Unitarian
collection, _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, to which he contributed
three hymns,
1. _O Love Divine, lay on me burdens if Thou wilt_
(Supplication)
2. _O Thou, in whose Eternal Name_ (Ordination)
3. _O Thou that once on Horeb stood_ (God in Nature)
The hymn beginning
_Father, whose heavenly kingdom lies_,
in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864, is a cento
taken from no. 2. _Hymns for the Church of Christ_ also includes a
good many anonymous hymns, some of which may be by him, though there
is no proof that such is the case. Dr. Huntington also collaborated
with Dr. Hedge in editing a collection of sacred poetry entitled
_Elim: Hymns of Holy Refreshment_, Boston, 1865, which includes a
funeral hymn beginning
_So heaven is gathering one by one_,
This hymn has been mistakenly attributed to Huntington, but is an
altered form of a hymn by E. H. Bickersteth beginning
_Thus heaven is gathering one by one_.
Although Dr. Huntington is known to have written occasional verses in
religious themes later in life for his own edification he is not
credited with any published hymns after his resignation from his
professorship at Harvard, and none of the three listed above are in
present use.
J. 544, 1714
Revised by H.W.F.
Hurlburt, (Hurlbut, Hurlbert) William Henry. Charleston, South
Carolina, July 3, 1827—September 4, 1895, Cadenabbia, Lake Como,
Italy. (His family name is spelled Hurlburt in records at Charleston
but at Harvard he was registered as Hurlbut, and in later years he
changed the spelling to Hurlbert). He graduated from Harvard College
in 1847 and from the Divinity School in 1849. He preached in Unitarian
pulpits for a few months but was never ordained as a settled minister;
then he studied in the Harvard Law School for a year; then turned to
journalism in New York City. After 1883 he spent most of his time in
Europe, his last few years in Italy. As a student at Harvard he was a
contemporary of Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson and contributed
three hymns to their _Book of Hymns_, edition of 1848, which they also
included in their _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864, viz:
1. _My God, in life’s most doubtful hour_,
2. _We pray for truth and peace_,
3. _We will not weep, for God is standing by us_
In both books his surname is spelled Hurlbut.
J. 545
Revised by H.W.F.
Johnson, Rev. Samuel, Salem, Massachusetts, October 10, 1822—February
19, 1882, North Andover, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard
College in 1842 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1846. He
served from 1853-1870 as minister of the Independent Church, Lynn,
Massachusetts which he organized and which ceased to exist when he
resigned. He refused to identify himself with any denomination, though
in belief he was a Unitarian and in the public mind was associated
with the churches which adhered to the liberal wing of the
Congregational order. He was author of a book on _Oriental Religions_,
one of the earliest American studies in the History of Religions. In
1846 he and his classmate in the Divinity School, Samuel Longfellow,
_q.v._, while still students, prepared their _Book of Hymns_, because
they and some of their friends thought the Unitarian hymn books then
in use were too traditional. This book appeared in enlarged edition in
1848, and made a notable contribution to American hymnody in its
freshness of outlook and its inclusion of hymns by hitherto
unrecognized writers, notably John Greenleaf Whittier. Johnson
contributed 7 hymns to the edition of 1846, viz:
1. _Father [Savior] in Thy mysterious presence kneeling_
(Worship)
2. _Go, preach the gospel in my name_ (Ordination)
3. _Lord, once our faith in man no fear could move_, (In Time
of War)
4. _Onward, Christians, though the region_ (Conflict)
Altered in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864, to
_Onward, onward though the region_
5. _Thy servants’ sandals, Lord, are wet_ (Ordination)
In the edition of 1848 he included
6. _God of the earnest heart_, (Trust)
which he had “Written for the Graduating Exercises of the Class of
1846, in Cambridge Divinity School.” In 1864 he and Longfellow
published their second and no less important collection, _Hymns of the
Spirit_, (not to be confused with the book of the same title published
in 1937 by the American Unitarian Association). To this volume he
contributed 7 more hymns, viz:
7. _City of God, how broad, how far_, (The Church Universal)
8. _I bless Thee, Lord, for sorrows sent_ (Purification through
suffering)
This was “Written at the request of Dorothea L. Dix for a collection
made by her for the use of an asylum.” (Miss Dix was engaged in a
notable reform of institutions for the insane.)
9. _Life of Ages, richly poured_ (Inspiration)
10. _Strong-souled Reformer, whose far-seeing faith_ (Jesus)
11. _The Will Divine that woke a waiting time_ (St. Paul)
12. _Thou whose glad summer yields_, (Worship)
13. _To light that shines in stars and souls_, (Dedication of a
Place of Worship)
A number of these hymns have had widespread and long-continued use.
Numbers 1, 4, 6, 7, and 9 are included in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937,
and stand out as some of the finest examples of American hymnody in
their lyrical quality and depth of religious feeling. A few of
Johnson’s hymns have found acceptance also in England, the most
notable example being No. 7, sung at the consecration of the new
Anglican cathedral at Liverpool in 1924, an occasion which the words
fitted to perfection. But, since even the existence of the obscure
minister in Lynn, Massachusetts, was quite unknown to all but very few
of those present, the Samuel Johnson to whom it was attributed was
commonly supposed to be the famous 18^th century English
lexicographer, and the hymn is mistakenly assigned to him in the
latest edition of Bartlett’s _Familiar Quotations_! Following its use
at Liverpool it was sung in Westminster Abbey at a service for the
League of Nations in 1935; at the jubilee service for the 25^th
anniversary of the coronation of George V; and was one of seven hymns
included in the special service prepared by the Archbishops of
Canterbury and York for use in parish churches throughout England at
the time of the coronation of George VI. Probably no other hymn of
American authorship is so widely known or used in British dominions.
J. 604-5, 1583, 1681, 1711
H.W.F.
Kimball, Jacob, Topsfield, Massachusetts, February 15, 1761—July 24,
1826, Topsfield. He graduated from Harvard in 1780, studied law,
taught school, and tried to make a living at various other
occupations, with small success except in the field of music where he
was regarded as the outstanding singer, teacher, and composer of his
period. He edited _Rural Harmony_, (Boston, 1793) which he followed
with _Essex Harmony_, (1800) and _Essex Harmony_, Part II, (1802),
which included the only tunes of his own composition which can now be
identified as his, except those in the popular _Village Harmony_
(1795) the later editions of which, down to 1821, were probably edited
by him. There is evidence that he also wrote poetry, including a
number of hymns, some of them perhaps the anonymous ones, otherwise
unknown, included in the above-mentioned song books. The one hymn
which can be attributed to him with assurance is his excellent
metrical version of Psalm 65 which Jeremy Belknap included in his
_Sacred Psalmody_ (1795), entitled “A New Version” and beginning
_Thy praise, O God, in Zion waits._
The only other hymns by an American author in Belknap’s Collection is
Mather Byles’
_When wild confusion wrecks the air_,
republished in 1760.
See _Jacob Kimball: A Pioneer American Musician_, Essex Institute
Historical Collections, XCII, no. 4.
H.W.F.
Larned, Augusta, Rutland, New York, April 16, 1835—1924. Author of six
volumes of stories for children and of one on Greek mythology and
another on Norse mythology. Contributor to various periodicals and for
20 years correspondent and editorial writer with _The Christian
Register_, Boston. She published in 1895 a book of poems entitled _In
the Woods and Fields_ from which was taken her hymn on peace of mind,
_In quiet hours the tranquil soul_,
for inclusion in the _Isles of Shoals Hymn-Book_, 1908; _The New Hymn
and Tune Book_, 1914 and _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.
H.W.F.
Lathrop, Rev. John Howland, D.D., Jackson, Michigan, June 6,
1880—still living. He graduated from Meadville Theological School in
1903, then entered Harvard where he took an A.B. in 1905. He also
studied at the University of Chicago, and the University of Jena. He
served as minister of the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley,
California, 1905-1911, and the First Unitarian Congregational Church
of Brooklyn, New York, 1911 to 1957, when he became pastor emeritus.
In 1935 he wrote a hymn for Palm Sunday beginning,
_Hosanna in the highest! Our eager hearts acclaim_,
which was included in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, set to St.
Theodulph.
H.W.F.
Livermore, Rev. Abiel Abbot, D.D., Wilton, New Hampshire, October 26,
1811—November 28, 1892, Wilton, New Hampshire. He graduated from
Harvard College in 1833, and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1836.
He was ordained minister of the Unitarian Church at Keene, New
Hampshire, in November, 1836, and remained there until 1850, when he
accepted a call to Cincinnati, Ohio. After a period in New York he was
elected president of the Meadville Theological School in 1862, and
served in that capacity until 1890, when he retired to his ancestral
home at Wilton. He received the degree of D.D. from Harvard in 1888.
He was author of a number of books, and of several hymns, printed in
Putnam’s _Singers and Songs_. He was the chief editor of the Cheshire
Pastoral Association’s _Christian Hymns_, 1844, one of the finest and
most widely circulated American Unitarian collections, to which he
contributed his Communion hymn beginning,
_A holy air is breathing round_,
This hymn was included in Martineau’s _Hymns_, 1873, in most American
Unitarian collections, and appears in slightly altered form in _The
New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.
J. 680
H.W.F.
Livermore, Sarah White, Wilton, New Hampshire, July 20, 1789—July 3,
1874, Wilton. She was an aunt of A. A. Livermore, _q.v._, and was a
school teacher for most of her life. She contributed two hymns to the
_Cheshire Collection_, 1844, viz:
1. _Glory to God, and peace on earth_, (Christmas)
2. _Our pilgrim brethren, dwelling far_, (Mission)
These passed into a few other collections.
She wrote a number of others for various church occasions, but they
have never been collected for publication.
J. 680
H.W.F.
Long, Hon. John Davis (1838-1915) was born in Buckfield, Maine,
October 27, 1838, and died in Hingham, Massachusetts on August 28,
1915. Harvard, A.B. 1857, L.L.D. 1880. He was Governor of
Massachusetts, 1880-1883, and Secretary of the Navy, 1897-1902. A
member of the First Parish (Unitarian) in Hingham, he wrote one hymn
beginning,
_The evening winds begin to blow_
which was included in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, but which
has not passed into other books.
H.W.F.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, D.C.L., Portland, Maine, February 27,
1807—March 24, 1882, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from
Bowdoin College in 1825. After four years of study in Europe he was
appointed to the Chair of Modern Languages at Bowdoin, but removed to
Harvard in 1835, upon his election as professor of Modern Languages
and Belles-Lettres in the latter College. He retained that
Professorship until 1854, when he retired to give himself time for
authorship in prose and verse. He became one of the most widely read
and beloved poets in the English-speaking world, and after his death a
marble bust commemorating him was placed in Westminster Abbey. In the
strict sense of the term he was not a hymn-writer, his brother, Samuel
Longfellow, _q.v._, twelve years his junior, far surpassing him in
this field, but hymn-book editors have culled selections from his
poems which they could use, as follows:
1. _Ah, what a sound! The infinite fierce chorus_,
From his poem “The Arsenal at Springfield,” published in _The
Belfry of Bruges_, 1845. Four stanzas, beginning as above, are
included in _The Pilgrim Hymnal_, 1935. In S. Longfellow’s and
Johnson’s _Book of Hymns_, 1848, the selected stanzas from this
poem begin
_Down the dark future through long generations_,
and the hymn appeared in this form in other collections.
2. _Alas, how poor and little worth_,
Tr. from the Spanish of Don Jorge Manrique, (d. 1479), in
Longfellow’s _Poetry of Spain_, 1833.
3. _All are architects of fate_,
The first three stanzas of Longfellow’s poem, “The Builders,”
written in 1846. Included in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.
4. _All is of God; If he but wave his hand._
From the poem “The Two Angels,” in his _Birds of Passage_, 1858;
included in S. Longfellow’s and Johnson’s _Hymns of the Spirit_,
1864.
5. _Blind Bartimeus at the gate_,
From _Miscellaneous Poems_, 1841. Included in G. W. Conder’s 1874
_Appendix_ to the (British) _Leeds Hymn Book_.
6. _Christ to the young man said, “Yet one thing more.”_
Written in 1848 for the ordination of the poet’s younger brother,
Samuel Longfellow; published in the author’s _Seaside and
Fireside_, 1851, and in H. W. Beecher’s _Plymouth Collection_,
1855, altered to read,
_The Saviour said, “Yet one thing more”_
In spite of the occasion for which it was written it is not a hymn
but a hortatory poem of five stanzas in a most unusual 10.6.10.6
metre, for which it must have been difficult to find any singable
tune.
7. _I heard the bells on Christmas Day_
This carol was written in 1864, for the Sunday School of the
Unitarian Church of the Disciples, Boston, of which Rev. James
Freeman Clarke was minister. The entire poem, entitled “Christmas
Bells,” has seven stanzas, of which 1, 2, 6 and 7 are in _The New
Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, and in
_The Pilgrim Hymnal_, 1935. The omitted stanzas contain references
to the Civil War, in progress when the carol was written.
8. Into the silent land,
A translation from the German poem “Ins Stille Land! Wer Leitet
uns hinüber,” by J. G. Salis-Seewis, 1808. Published by Longfellow
in _Voices of the Night_, 1840. Included in Hedge and Huntington’s
_Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853, and other American
collections.
9. _Tell me not in mournful numbers_,
Published in _Voices of the Night_, 1839, as “A Psalm of Life;
What the heart of the Young Man said to the Psalmist.” Included in
several hymnals in Great Britain and America. In some collections
it begins with the second stanza
_Life is real! Life is earnest_
10. _There is no flock, however watched and tended_
A cento from the author’s _Seaside and Fireside_, 1849.
11. _We have not wings: we may not soar._
In 1850 the poet wrote “The Ladder of St. Augustine,” a poem in
twelve stanzas, based upon a quotation from Sermon III, De
Ascensione, by St. Augustine of Hippo, “De vitiis nostris scalam
nobis facimus, si vitia ipsa calcamus.” (We shall make a ladder
out of our vices, if we tread those vices under foot.) The three
stanzas of the hymn are, respectively, the seventh, tenth and
second stanzas of the poem.
H.W.F.
Longfellow, Rev. Samuel, Portland, Maine, June 18, 1819—October 3,
1892, Portland, was the youngest of the eight children of Stephen and
Zilpah (Wadsworth) Longfellow. Stephen Longfellow had graduated from
Harvard and had become one of the most prominent citizens of Portland.
His son Samuel entered Harvard with the Class of 1839, just after his
brother, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, more than twelve years his
senior, had returned from Europe to begin his professorship at
Harvard.
Samuel entered the Harvard Divinity School, from which he graduated in
1846, and served as minister of the Unitarian Church in Fall River,
Massachusetts, 1848-51; the Second Unitarian Church, Brooklyn, New
York, 1853-1860; and the Unitarian Church, Germantown, Pennsylvania,
1878-1883. In the intervals between these pastorates he did much
occasional preaching, and, having independent means and no marital
ties, made several prolonged visits to Europe. He had an attractive
personality, was witty and highly intelligent, and was an acceptable
though outspoken preacher, but he is now remembered for his
contribution to American hymnody through the hymns which he wrote and
the books which he edited. His accomplishment in this field was
greater and more lasting than that of any other American in the middle
period of the 19^th century. Its development can best be traced in the
books which he published.