on Freedom,” written in 1844. It was included in this form in _The
Soldier’s Companion_, 1861, in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Hymns of
the Spirit_, 1864, and in part in _Songs of the Sanctuary_, N. Y.
1865, beginning
_They are slaves who will not choose_,
2. _Once to every man and nation_,
In December, 1844, Lowell wrote a poem in 18 stas. of 5 l.
entitled “The Present Crisis,” a protest against the war with
Mexico. The English hymnnologist, Rev. V. Garrett Horder, took
from this poem a number of lines sufficient to make a hymn of 4
stas. which he included, with a few verbal alterations, in his
_Hymns Supplemental_, 1896, and then in his _Treasury of Hymns_.
The _English Hymnal_ included the hymn in 1906, and from this it
passed into many collections. In the form commonly used in this
country, stanza 1 is that of sta. 5 in the original poem; sta. 2
is that of original sta. 11; sta. 3 is no. 13, original; and sta.
4, part of sta. 6 and part of sta. 8 original. In this form it has
had considerable use in this country.
3. _Our house, our God, we give to Thee_,
Hymn for the dedication of the First Church (Unitarian),
Watertown, Massachusetts, on August 3, 1842, in a service in which
Rev. Samuel Ripley made the dedicatory prayer and the sermon was
preached by Rev. Convers Francis, who had recently left Watertown
to accept a professorship at the Harvard Divinity School. Lowell’s
Cambridge residence at “Elmwood” was only a short distance from
the Watertown line, and Miss Maria White, whom he married in 1844,
belonged to the Watertown parish, which suggests the possibility
that it was she who persuaded him to write the hymn. It was not
included in any of his published works but has been found on the
only known copy of the printed program of the service, now owned
by the Huntington Library, San Marino, Pasadena, California. It
probably was used only on the occasion for which it was written.
4. _The ages one great minster seem_,
Taken from a poem “Godminster Chimes” which was “Written in aid of
a chime of bells for Christ Church, Cambridge,” and published in
“Under the Willows,” 1868. From this poem of 7 stas. 8 l., enough
lines have been selected and arranged, with a few verbal
alterations, to make a hymn on the theme of the Church Universal,
in 4 stas. of 4 l.
5. _What means this glory round our feet?_
A Christmas carol written in 1866 “For the children of the Church
of the Disciples”, Boston, (Unitarian), of which Rev. James
Freeman Clarke, _q.v._, was minister. Of the original 7 stas.,
five have come into considerable use.
Of the above listed hymns all except no. 3 are in current use in
various hymn books. Nos. 2 and 5 are in _The Pilgrim Hymnal_, 1935;
nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 in the _New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and in
_Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864.
J. 698
H.W.F.
Lunt, Rev. William Parsons, D.D., Newburyport, Mass., April 21,
1805—March 31, 1857, Akabah, Arabia. He graduated from Harvard College
in 1823, and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1828. On June 19,
1828 he was ordained as the first settled minister of the Second
Unitarian Congregational Society in New York, where he served for five
years. On June 3, 1835, he was installed as associate minister of the
First Church in Quincy, Mass., where he became the sole minister in
1843 and served until his death while on a journey to Palestine. After
his death his hymns and occasional poems were printed in a small
volume entitled _Gleanings_, but none of them have been included in
later books. His contribution to American hymnody was made by the
publication of his collection entitled _The Christian Psalter_, 1841,
for his congregation at Quincy, but its fine quality brought it into
much wider use. It is chiefly remembered today because it included 5
hymns and the metrical version of 17 psalms by his distinguished
parishioner, John Quincy Adams, _q.v._
J. 703
H.W.F.
Mann, Rev. Newton, Cazenovia, New York, January 16, 1856—July 25,
1926, Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Cazenovia Academy, and
during the Civil War served as head of the Western Sanitary
Commission. He then entered the Unitarian ministry and was ordained as
pastor of the church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which he organized and
served for three years. He later served churches in Troy, New York,
1868-70; Rochester, New York, 1870-1888; and Omaha, Nebraska,
1888-1908, after which he retired to Chicago. His only connection with
hymnody was his versification of an English translation of the Jewish
creedal statement known as the Yigdal. His verse, which has not
survived, was later recast by Rev. W. C. Gannett, _q.v._, to form the
great hymn
_Praise to the living God! All praiséd be his name!_
concerning which detailed information will be found under Dr.
Gannett’s name. In its present form the hymn is probably mostly the
work of Gannett, but Mann should be credited with having drafted its
earlier form. See also Foote, _Three Centuries of American Hymnody_,
339-340.
H.W.F.
Marean, Mrs. Emma (Endicott), Boston, Massachusetts, January 20,
1854—October 17, 1936, Cambridge, Massachusetts. She married Joseph
Mason Marean January 20, 1876. Two hymns by her were included in _The
Isles of Shoals Hymn Book_ (Unitarian), 1908,
1. _Grateful for another day_, (An Island Morning)
2. _Set from the restless world apart_ (An Island Hymn)
Neither has been included in later hymn books but both are in her
small volume of poems, _Now and Then_, Cambridge, 1928.
H.W.F.
Mason, Mrs. Caroline Atherton (Briggs), Marblehead, Massachusetts,
July 27, 1823—June 13, 1890, Fitchburg, Massachusetts. In 1853 she
married Charles Mason, a lawyer living in Fitchburg. She published in
1852 a volume of poems entitled _Utterance: or Private Voices to the
Public Heart_, and after her death another collection was published,
her _Lost Ring and Other Poems_, 1891.
Three of her hymns have had considerable use.
1. _I cannot walk in darkness long_, (Evening)
This begins with stanza V of her poem on _Eventide_, “At cool of
day with God I walk,” in her _Lost Ring_, p. 165.
2. _O God I thank Thee for each sight_, (The Joy of Living)
A cento of 4 stanzas, from her poem “A Matin Hymn” beginning “I
lift the sash and gaze abroad,” in her _Lost Ring_, p. 164.
3. _The changing years, eternal God_, (Adoration)
Written for the Bicentennial of the First Congregational Church,
Marblehead, August 13, 1884. In her _Lost Ring_ it begins “The
changing centuries, O God,”.
Of these hymns no. 2 has had considerable use. It is included in
_Hymns of the Church Universal_, 1891; the _New Hymn and Tune Book_,
1914; the _Pilgrim Hymnal_, 1935; _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.
J. 1669
H.W.F.
Miles, Sarah Elizabeth (Appleton) Boston, Massachusetts, March 28,
1807—January 3, 1877, Brattleboro, Vermont. She married Solomon P.
Miles. In 1827 she printed in the _Christian Examiner_ a hymn
beginning,
_Thou, who didst stoop below_,
which passed into a number of hymn books of the period, and in 1828,
in the same periodical she printed a poem in 4 stanzas, C.M.D., which
S. Longfellow and S. Johnson, in their second hymn-book, _Hymns of the
Spirit_, 1864, divided into two hymns, of 2 stanzas each, the first
beginning
_The earth, all light and loveliness_,
the second
_When, on devotion’s seraph wing._
They also included another of her hymns, consisting of the second,
fourth and fifth stanzas of her poem entitled “In Affliction,”
beginning
_Thou, infinite in love._
These, and some other religious poems, are included in Putnam’s
_Singers and Songs_, etc. None of her hymns are now in use.
H.W.F.
Mott, Rev. Frederick B., England, 1856-1941, England. When a young man
he emigrated to this country and on September 30, 1887 was ordained
minister of the Barton Square Church (Unitarian) in Salem,
Massachusetts. In 1892 he became minister of the Third Religious
Society in Dorchester, Massachusetts, which he served till 1903. In
1904 he returned to England and was installed as minister of the
Unitarian Chapel at Southport, and later moved to London as editor of
the periodical _Christian Life_. Two hymns in the Universalist _Church
Harmonies_, 1895, are attributed to him, viz:—
1. _Take our pledge, eternal Father_,
2. _The spirit of the Lord has stirred_,
but appear to have had no further use.
H.W.F.
Newell, Rev. William, D.D., Littleton, Massachusetts, February 25,
1804—October 28, 1881, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from
Harvard College in 1824 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1829.
He was ordained minister of the First Parish in Cambridge on May 19,
1830, where he served until his retirement on March 31, 1868. He was
author of many commemorative sermons and memoirs, and received the
honorary degree of D.D. from Harvard in 1853. A number of his poems
are included in Putnam, _Singers and Songs_, etc. His hymn beginning,
_All hail, God’s angel, Truth_ (Thanksgiving)
is included in G. Horder’s _Worship Song, with Tunes_, London, 1905,
but is not found in American collections.
J. 1676
H.W.F.
Norton, Prof. Andrews, Hingham, Massachusetts, December 31,
1786—September 18, 1853, Newport, Rhode Island. He graduated from
Harvard in 1804. In 1811 he was appointed tutor in the College, in
1813 librarian and Lecturer on the Bible, and in 1819 Professor of
Sacred Literature in the Harvard Divinity School, a post which he
resigned in 1830 to devote himself to literary and theological
pursuits. In 1837 he published the first volume of his famous book
_The Genuineness of the Gospels_, followed in 1844 by the second and
third volumes. This was the earliest scholarly work on the New
Testament by an American author, and expressed the conservative
Unitarian thought of his period. He wrote several other books, and
numerous articles. His few poems were printed in a small volume soon
after his death, including six hymns, some of which have had
considerable use.
1. _Another year, another year_, (Close of the Year)
Appeared in the _Christian Examiner_, Nov.-Dec. 1827, in 11 stas.
of 4 l. In the Unitarian _Hymn and Tune Book_, 1868, a cento from
it begins with sta. 6,
_O what concerns it him whose way_
2. _Faint not, poor traveller, though thy way_, (Fortitude)
Printed in the _Christian Disciple_, July-Aug. 1822, and included
in the West Boston _Collection_, 1823.
3. _He has gone to his God, he has gone to his home_ (Burial)
Printed in the _Christian Examiner_, Jan.-Feb. 1824.
4. _My God, I thank Thee; may no thought_ (Submission)
Appeared in the _Monthly Anthology and Boston Review_, Sept. 1809,
and was included in Lunt’s _Christian Psalter_, 1841, and in many
later collections. This was Norton’s earliest and best known hymn.
5. _O stay thy tears; for they are blest_, (Burial of the
Young)
Printed in the _General Depository and Review_, April, 1812, in 5
stas. of 4 l. In 1855, stas. III-V were included in Beecher’s
_Plymouth Coll._ no. 1094 as
_How blest are they whose transient years_
6. _Where ancient forests round us spread_,
Written in 1833 for the dedication of a church.
Of the above nos. 1, 4, 5 were included in Martineau’s _Hymns_,
London, 1873. Nos. 4 and 6 are in the Unitarian _New Hymn and Tune
Book_, 1914, and no. 6 is in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937. See Putnam’s
_Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith_ for the full text of all
Norton’s hymns.
J. 810
Revised by H.W.F.
Parker, Rev. Theodore, was born on a farm in Lexington, Massachusetts
on August 24, 1810, and died in Florence, Italy, on May 10, 1860. He
entered Harvard College in 1830, but did most of his work at home, and
studied in the Harvard Divinity School, 1834-1836. In 1840 he was
granted the degree of A.M. from Harvard. Entering the ministry he
served the Unitarian Church in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1837-1846,
and the 28^th Congregational Society, Boston, 1846-1860. He was a
famous preacher; author of numerous printed discourses on social and
religious problems; and one of the earliest American translators of
current German theological literature. He wrote a few poems, none
intended for use as hymns, but Longfellow and Johnson took one of his
sonnets and, by eliminating two lines, transformed it into a hymn of 3
stanzas of 4 lines each beginning,
_O thou great Friend of all the sons of men_,
which they included in their _Book of Hymns_, 1846. It has had
widespread and long continued use in American hymn-books and to some
extent in England. Twelve of Parker’s poetical pieces are included in
A. P. Putnam’s _Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith_. Biographies
of Parker have been written by John Weiss, Octavius B. Frothingham,
and other authors.
J. 882
H.W.F.
Peabody, Rev. Ephraim, Wilton, New Hampshire, March 22, 1807—November
28, 1856, Boston, Massachusetts.
He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1827, and from the Harvard
Divinity School in 1830. After serving as a tutor in the Huidekoper
family in Meadville, Pennsylvania, he was ordained in 1832 as minister
of a recently gathered Unitarian congregation in Cincinnati, Ohio. In
1837 he joined Rev. John H. Morison in serving the First
Congregational Society of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and in 1845 he
accepted a call to King’s Chapel, Boston, where he remained until his
death, though ill-health prevented him from preaching in the last year
and a half of his life. An impressive preacher, he also wrote some
poetry, and a hymn for an ordination, beginning
_Lift aloud the voice of praise_
is attributed to him in Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns for the Church
of Christ_, 1853.
H.W.F.
Peabody, Rev. Oliver William Bourne, Exeter, New Hampshire, July 9,
1799—July 5, 1847, Burlington, Vermont. He was twin brother of W. B.
O. Peabody, _q.v._ He graduated from Harvard College in 1817,
practised law for a few years at Exeter, served as professor of
English Literature in Jefferson College, Louisiana from 1842 to 1845,
and in the latter year was licensed to preach by the Boston
Association and served as minister of the Unitarian Church at
Burlington, Vermont, until his death two years later.
A hymn beginning
_God of the rolling orbs above_
is attributed to him in Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns for the Church
of Christ_, 1853, but does not appear to have had further use.
J. 887
H.W.F.
Peabody, Rev. William Bourne Oliver, D.D., Exeter, New Hampshire, July
9, 1799—May 28, 1847, Springfield, Massachusetts. Graduated from
Harvard College in 1817, taught for a year in Phillips Exeter Academy,
and studied for the ministry at the Harvard Divinity School. He was
ordained as the first minister of the Unitarian Church in Springfield,
Massachusetts, in October, 1820, and remained there until his death.
In 1823 he published a _Poetical Catechism for the Young_, in which he
included some original hymns. He edited _The Springfield Collection of
Hymns for Sacred Worship_, Springfield, 1835, which was adopted for
use in many parishes besides his own, and several of his hymns were
included in it. A _Memoir_ of him, written by his twin brother, O. W.
B. Peabody, was published in the 2^d edition of his _Sermons_, 1849,
and a collection of his _Literary Remains_ was published in 1850. He
is described as “a man of rare accomplishments, and consummate
virtue,” widely respected and admired.
The following hymns by him had considerable use in the 19^th century,
but only the last survived in a hymn book of the 20^th.
1. _Behold the western evening light_; (Death of the Righteous)
Published in his _Catechism_, 1823, and in _Springfield
Collections_, 1835, and elsewhere. It passed into use in England;
in altered form in the _Leeds Hymn Book_, 1853, and in George
Rawson’s Baptist _Ps._ and _Hys._ 1858, where it begins,
_How softly on the western hills._
2. _O when the hours of life are past_ (The Hereafter)
Published in his _Catechism_ in answer to the question “What do
you learn of the future state of happiness?” It was included in
Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853, and
had some use in its original form, and also altered to _When all
the hours of life are past_.
3. _The moon is up; how calm and slow_, (Evening)
A poem rather than a hymn, in 6 stas. of 4 l., appended to his
_Catechism_, 1823.
4. _When brighter suns and milder skies_, (Spring)
Appended to his _Catechism_, 1823, in 6 stas. of 4 l.
5. _Who is thy neighbor? He whom thou_ (The good neighbor)
Included in the _New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914.
The full texts of Peabody’s hymns are printed in Putnam, _Singers &
Songs of the Liberal Faith_, Boston, 1874.
J. 887
Revised by H.W.F.
Perkins, Rev. James Handasyde, Boston, Massachusetts, July 31,
1810—December 14, 1849, near Cincinnati, Ohio. He was educated at
Phillips Exeter Academy and at Round Hill School, Northampton,
Massachusetts. After a brief business experience in Boston he moved to
Cincinnati, where he was admitted to the bar in 1837, but two years
later he took up the Ministry-at-Large organized by the First
Congregational Society (Unitarian) of Cincinnati, and later became
pastor of the church. He was active in social reforms and as a
lecturer, and was author of a number of essays descriptive of life in
what was then the far west.
The hymn in 3 stanzas, C.M., beginning
_It is a faith sublime and sure_,
attributed to “J. H. Perkins” in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Book of
Hymns_, 1846-48, is presumably by him, although it is not included
with his poems printed in the _Memoir and Writings of James Handasyde
Perkins_, edited by W. H. Channing, Cincinnati, 1851. It does not
appear to have had any further use.
H.W.F.
Pierpont, Rev. John, Litchfield, Connecticut, April 6, 1785—August 27,
1866, Medford, Massachusetts. He graduated from Yale College in 1804,
studied law, and in 1812 set up practice in Newburyport,
Massachusetts, but later turned to the ministry and graduated from the
Harvard Divinity School in 1818. That fall he became minister of the
Hollis Street Church (Unitarian) in Boston, which he served till 1840,
when a sharp controversy over his outspoken attacks on intemperance,
slavery and other social evils led to his resignation. In the same
year he published his _Poems and Hymns_, which included his temperance
and anti-slavery poems and songs, and of which a later edition
appeared in 1854. He also wrote a number of excellent school books. In
1845 he became minister of the Unitarian Church at Troy, New York, and
in 1849 of the First Parish in Medford, Massachusetts, which he served
until 1859, when he retired. With the outbreak of the Civil War he
became an Army chaplain and was later employed in the Treasury
Department at Washington. He died suddenly while on a visit to
Medford.
He was the maternal grandfather of J. Pierpont Morgan of New York, who
was named for him, but it would be hard to find a greater contrast
than that offered by the careers of the hymn-writing reformer and his
grandson, the financial magnate.
In his own day Pierpont’s hymns brought him a wide reputation. Thus
Putnam, in his _Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith_, 1873, says,
“Mr. Pierpont was one of the best hymn writers in America. He was a
genuine poet, as well as a powerful preacher and stern reformer.”
Today he occupies a much more modest place in American hymnody. None
of his hymns attained a very high level of excellence. Most of them
are respectable verse, written in response to frequent requests for
hymns for special occasions, but they well illustrate the mood of the
Unitarianism of his period.
His hymns which have come into use are
1. _Another day its course hath run_ (Evening)
Appeared in _Hymns for Children_, Boston 1825; in Greenwood’s
_Chapel Liturgy_, 1827; in Lunt’s _Christian Psalter_, 1841; and
in the author’s _Poems and Hymns_, 1840.
2. _Break forth in song, ye trees_ (Public Thanksgiving)
Written for the celebration of the 200^th anniversary of the
Settlement of Boston, Sept. 17, 1830. Included in _Poems and
Hymns_, 1840.
3. _Break the bread and pour the wine_ (Communion)
In Harris’s _Hymns for the Lord’s Supper_, 1820.
4. _Father, while we break the bread_, (Communion)
5. _God Almighty and All-seeing_ (Greatness of God)
Contributed to Elias Nason’s _Congregational Hymn Book_, Boston,
1857.
6. _God of mercy, do Thou never_ (Ordination)
Written for the ordination of John B. P. Storer at Walpole, Mass.,
Nov. 18, 1826. Included in the author’s _Poems_, 1840, and in
Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853.
7. _God of our fathers, in Whose sight_, (Love of Truth)
This hymn is composed of stas. IX and X of a longer hymn written
for the Charlestown (Mass.) Centennial, June 17, 1830. In this
form it was included in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Hymns of the
Spirit_, 1864, and elsewhere.
8. _Gone are those great and good_, (Commemoration)
Part of no. 2, above, in _Church Harmonies_, 1895.
9. _I cannot make him dead_ (Memorial)
A part of an exquisitely touching and beautiful poem of ten
stanzas, originally printed in the _Monthly Miscellany_, Oct.
1840.
10. _Let the still air rejoice_, (Praise)
This was headed “Temperance Hymn” in _The Soldier’s Companion_,
1861, but is really a patriotic ditty.
11. _Mighty God, whose name is holy_ (Charitable Institutions)
Written for the anniversary of the Howard Benevolent Society, Dec.
1826. Included in the author’s _Poems_, 1840.
12. _My God, I thank Thee that the night_ (Morning)
In the author’s Poems, 1840. In Lunt’s _Christian Psalter_, 1841,
and Martineau’s _Hymns_, 1873, it begins
_O God, I thank Thee_.
13. _O bow Thine ear, Eternal One_ (Opening of Worship)
Dated 1823, but not included in the author’s Poems. It is given in
Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns_, etc. 1853.
14. _O Thou to Whom in ancient times_ (Worship)
“Written for the opening of the Independent Congregational Church
in Barton Square, Salem, Mass. Dec. 7, 1824,” and printed at the
close of the sermon preached by Henry Colman on that day. Included
in the author’s _Poems_, 1840, and in many collections in this
country and in Great Britain.
15. _O Thou Who art above all height_ (Ordination)
“Written for the ordination of Mr. William Ware as Pastor of the
First Congregational Church in New York, Dec. 18, 1821.” Included
in _Poems_, 1840, and in Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns_, etc.
16. _O Thou, Who on the whirlwind rides_ (Dedication of a
Place of Worship)
Written for the opening of the Seamen’s Bethel in Boston, Sept.
11, 1833. Sometimes used beginning
_Thou Who on the whirlwind rides_
17. _O’er Kedron’s stream, and Salem’s height_, (Gethsemane)
Contributed to T. M. Harris’s _Hymns for the Lord’s Supper_, 1820.
Included in Martineau’s _Hymns_, London, 1873.
18. _On this stone, now laid with prayer_ (Foundation Stone)
Written for the laying of the cornerstone of Suffolk Street
Chapel, Boston, for the Ministry to the Poor, May 23, 1839.
19. _With Thy pure dew and rain_, (Against slavery)
Written for the African Colonization Society. Included in
Cheever’s _Common Place Book_, 1831, but not in the author’s
_Poems_, 1840.
20. _While with lips with praise that glow_, (Communion)
Included in Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns_, etc.
All of the above hymns have passed out of use except nos. 1, 8, 12,
and 14 which are included in the _New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and
nos. 8 and 14, included in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.
J. 895, 1647
Revised by H.W.F.
Pray, Lewis Glover, Quincy, Massachusetts, August 15, 1793—October 9,
1882, Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was a business man in Boston, active
in civic and church affairs. For 33 years he was superintendent of the
Sunday School in the Twelfth Congregational Society of Boston. In 1833
he published a _Sunday School Hymn Book_, the first book containing
music published for Sunday Schools in New England. It appeared in
enlarged form in 1844 as the _Sunday School Hymn and Service Book_. In
1847 he published his _History of Sunday Schools_. His own hymns and
poems were published in 1862 as _The Sylphids’ School_, and in a
second volume, _Autumn Leaves_, 1873. Most of them are songs for
Sunday School use rather than hymns for the church service but one of
them, from _The Sylphids’ School_, beginning
_When God upheaved the pillared earth_,
was included in _Hymns of the Ages_. 3^d Series, 1864.
J. 906
H.W.F.