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A charge to keep I have. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures (Bristol, 1762), in two 8-line DSM verses. It is one of 21 hymns on Leviticus, mostly one-verse hymns but including 'O thou who camest from above'*. This one is based on Leviticus 8: 35: 'Keep the charge of the Lord, that ye die not.' Its original ending followed the last phrase: 'Assur'd, if I my trust betray,/ I shall for ever die.' The severity of these lines (based...
A sovereign protector I have. Augustus Montague Toplady* (1740-1778).
This hymn was published in The Gospel Magazine (December 1774), with the title 'A chamber hymn'. It is found in Toplady's diary for 1 January 1768. 'A sovereign protector I have' is actually the fifth line of the opening stanza; the hymn originally began with a vivid description of the need for sleep, from which comes the 'chamber' (bedchamber) of the title:
What tho' my frail Eyelids refuse
Continual watching to...
WIDDOP, Accepted. b. Ovenden, West Yorkshire, 1750 (baptized 21 October); d. 9 March, 1801. Widdop was an amateur musician and composer strongly associated with Methodism in the Halifax area of West Yorkshire; he was baptised at Ovenden. Lightwood describes him as 'a cloth worker by trade, and an amateur musician of considerable fame in his day' (1938, p. 59). He seems to have spent his life around Halifax, principally in the small villages of Illingworth and Ovenden.
Many of his tunes are...
Adeste, fideles. Latin, 18th-century, attributed to John Francis Wade* (1711/12-1786).
The origin of this Latin Christmas hymn, translated as 'O come, all ye faithful'*, is obscure, but it is linked to the name of John Francis Wade, who worked as a plainchant copyist and teacher of plainchant at the English College, Douai. Wade was well known in English Catholic circles, and connected with leading Catholic musicians at the embassy chapels in London. Few details of his life are known;...
Afflicted souls, to Jesus dear. John Fawcett* (1740-1817).
Published in Fawcett's Hymns adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion (Leeds, 1782). It was headed 'As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Deut. xxxiii 25.'. It had seven stanzas, each ending with graceful variations on the same line:
Afflicted souls, to Jesus dear,Thy Saviour's gracious promise hear, His faithful word declares to thee, That as thy days, thy strength shall be.
Let not thy heart despond and...
Again the Lord of life and light. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1743-1825).
First published in her friend William Enfield*'s Hymns for Public Worship: selected from various authors, and intended as a supplement to Dr Watts's Psalms (Warrington, 1772), where it was entitled 'For Easter-Sunday'. It appeared in Barbauld's Poems (1773), as 'Hymn III', with the same title. It had eleven stanzas.
Many different selections from the eleven stanzas have been made, beginning with William Bengo...
Alas! and did my Saviour bleed. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
From Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), Book II, 'Composed on Divine Subjects', with the title 'Godly Sorrow arising from the Sufferings of Christ'. It had six stanzas.
The original stanza 2 has usually been omitted:
Alas! and did my Saviour bleed, And did my sov'reign die?Would he devote that sacred Head For such a Worm as I?
Thy Body slain, sweet Jesus, thine,
And bath'd in its own Blood,
While all expos'd to Wrath divine
The...
Alas, what hourly dangers rise. Anne Steele* (1717-1778).
From Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760), where the author was named as 'Theodosia'. It was entitled 'Watchfulness and Prayer, Matt. 26: 41'. The reference is to the verse beginning 'Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation'. It had six stanzas:
Alas, what hourly dangers rise! What snares beset my way! To heaven then let me lift my eyes, And hourly watch and pray.
How oft my mournful thoughts complain, ...
All glory to God in the sky. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord (1744), in five 8-line stanzas, and reprinted in full in John Wesley*'s A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780), in the Section 'For Believers Rejoicing'; and in subsequent Wesleyan Methodist hymnbooks.
Since the Wesleyan Methodist Hymn Book (1904), the final stanza has been omitted:
No horrid alarum of war
Shall break our eternal repose;
No...
All hail the power of Jesu's name. Edward Perronet* (172?-1792).
First published in full in The Gospel Magazine (April 1780), in eight stanzas, with the title 'On the Resurrection, the Lord is King'. Before that, the opening stanza had appeared anonymously in the same magazine (November 1779) together with a tune, now known as MILES LANE.
The hymn was later printed in Perronet's Occasional Verses, Moral and Sacred (1785), entitled 'On the Resurrection'. The text was much altered, and...
All praise to our redeeming Lord. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
Entitled 'At Meeting of Friends', this was first published in Hymns for those that seek and those that have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ (1747), in three 8-line stanzas:
All Praise to our Redeeming Lord, Who joins us by his GraceAnd bids us, Each to Each restor'd, Together seek his Face.He bids us build each other up, And gather'd into One;To our high Calling's glorious Hope We Hand in Hand go on.
The Gift which He on...
All things are possible to him. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
From Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), Book II, where it was entitled 'All things are possible to him that believeth' (from Mark 9: 23), one of a sub-section entitled 'Hymns for those that wait for full Redemption'. It had eight complex stanzas:
All Things are possible to Him, That can in Jesu's Name believe:Lord, I no more thy Truth blaspheme, Thy Truth I lovingly receive;I can, I do believe in Thee,All Things are possible to me.
The...
All ye that pass by. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns on the Great Festivals, and Other Occasions (1746), the book in which Wesley's texts, some unpublished, were set to music by his friend John Frederick Lampe*. This is hymn 4 in the book, entitled 'On the Crucifixion', the first of three hymns with that title. It was then published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), with the title 'Invitation to Sinners'. It is based on Lamentations 1: 12: 'Is it nothing to you, all ye...
All ye that seek the Lord who died. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns for our Lord's Resurrection (1746), in which it had 12 stanzas. It was the first hymn in the book, a vivid and moving presentation of the first Easter morning. It was not included in the 1780 Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists, and it remained neglected until Hymns and Songs (1969), which printed a four-stanza selection, continued in HP. Stanza 1 in modern texts is made up of...
CARDEN, Allen Dickinson. b. Virginia or Tennessee, 13 October 1792; d. Franklin, Tennessee, 21 March 1859. Carden compiled Missouri Harmony, first published in 1820. According to a copy of the Carden family Bible in the Tennessee State Library and Archives, the family moved from Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia, to Williamsport, Maury County, Tennessee, situated about 50 miles southwest of Nashville. Although the year of the move is not given in the Bible, some accounts indicate that...
LIGUORI, St Alphonsus (Alphonso Maria de'). b. Marianella, near Naples, 27 September 1696; d. Pagani, near Salerno, 1 August 1787. Born into an ancient and noble family, he studied law at a very young age at the University of Naples (1708-13). He became a lawyer at Naples, but following what he saw as unjust practice he left the law in 1723 to study theology. He was ordained in 1726, and became Bishop of Castellamare di Stabia in 1730. There he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Saviour...
Am I a soldier of the Cross. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
This was printed in Watts's Sermons on Various Subjects, Volume III (1729), added to a sermon entitled 'Holy Fortitude, or Remedies against Fear'. The sermon was on 1 Corinthians 16: 13: 'Stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong'. The hymn was never included in editions of Watts's Hymns and Spiritual Songs. It came into hymnbooks with John Rippon*'s A Selection of Hymns from the best authors, intended to be an Appendix to Dr...
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound). John Newton* (1725-1807).
First published in Olney Hymns (1779) Book I, 'On select Passages of Scripture'. It had six Common Metre verses with the title 'Faith's Review and Expectation' and a reference to 1 Chronicles 17: 16-17. Here David exclaims in humble wonder at what the prophet, Nathan, has just said about God's care for him from his early days to his present position as king, a care that would extend to his successors. Newton applies this to his own...
PILSBURY, Amos. b. Newbury, Massachusetts, 15 October 1772; d. Charleston, South Carolina, 19 October 1812. Pilsbury was a tunebook compiler, composer, and schoolmaster. He is known in hymnology primarily for his compilation The United States' Sacred Harmony (Boston: Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews, 1799), the earliest tunebook known to include the tunes KEDRON and CHARLESTON. Pilsbury also published a collection of hymn texts, The Sacred Songster (Charleston: G. M. Bounetheau,...
CHAPIN, Amzi. b. Springfield, Massachusetts, 2 March 1768; d. Northfield, Ohio, 19 February 1835. The name is pronounced Am'zeye Chay'pin. Hymn tunes attributed to Amzi in one collection often appear elsewhere attributed to one of his brothers, Lucius Chapin* or Aaron Chapin (1753-1838). In some cases, 'attributed to' should be taken to mean 'arranged by' or 'obtained from'. It was common for tunebook compilers to seek adaptations of existing tunes, and as a result, many tunes were assigned...
And am I born to die. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
From Hymns for Children (1763), where it had six DCM stanzas. All were reprinted, with minor changes, by John Wesley* in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780), in spite of (or because of) their uncompromising severity (they are found in the section entitled 'Describing Death', the first of the four Advent themes, Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell). This may be seen in the first three stanzas:
And am I born...
And am I only born to die. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
This hymn is closely related to 'And am I born to die'* in Charles Wesley's Hymns for Children (Bristol, 1763). It is found immediately after it in John Wesley*'s A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780). Much of what is said about that hymn and its suitability for children applies also to the present one.
It had six 6-line stanzas. The child is encouraged to think about life after death, and the possibility...
And are we yet alive. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), volume II, one of a series of 'Hymns for Christian Friends'. It had four 8-line stanzas:
And are we yet alive, And see Each other's Face?Glory, and Thanks to Jesus give For his Almighty Grace: Preserv'd by Power Divine To full Salvation here,Again in Jesu's Praise we join, And in his Sight appear.
What Troubles have we seen, What mighty Conflicts past,Fightings without, and Fears...
And can it be that I should gain. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739) in six 6-line stanzas, with the title 'Free Grace'. It was argued at one time that this was the hymn written by Charles Wesley on his conversion, but that is now thought to have been 'Where shall my wond'ring soul begin'*. This hymn, in the same metre, may have followed shortly after. It is certainly one of the spiritual-autobiographical hymns of this period, and few hymns enable the...
And let our bodies part. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
From Volume II of Charles Wesley's Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), where it was hymn CCXXXIII, entitled 'At Parting'. It was XLIII in the section entitled 'Hymns for Christian Friends'. It was in two parts: Part I had six 8-line stanzas, Part II four stanzas. Part I was printed, with slight alterations, by John Wesley* in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780) in 12 four-line stanzas, in the section 'For the...
And now, my soul, another year. Simon Browne* (1680-1732).
This hymn was found in a number of British books in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a shortened form of a dramatic hymn by Browne, from Volume 1 of his Hymns and Spiritual Songs, in Three Books, designed as a Supplement to Dr Watts (1720). It was entitled 'New Year's Day'. The original text is dramatic and revealing:
And now, my soul, another year Of my short life is past: I cannot long continue here, And this may be...
ADGATE, Andrew. b. Norwich, Connecticut, 22 March 1762; d. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 30 September 1793. Adgate, a pupil of Andrew Law*, prominent singing teacher, conductor, and concert organizer, was the son of Daniel Adgate (1734-1764) and Phebe Waterman Adgate (1738-1766). Adgate, who fell victim to an illness that swept through Philadelphia, was described as 'one of the most curious people in all the city. He earned a living as a card maker, but he was Philadelphia's premier music...
KIPPIS, Andrew. b. Nottingham, 28 March 1725; d. London, 8 October 1795. Kippis was educated (1741-46) at the dissenting academy at Northampton run by Philip Doddridge*. He became a minister, holding charges at Boston, Lincolnshire, and Dorking, Surrey, before becoming the minister of Princes Street Chapel, Westminster in 1753. He remained there until his death, and was regarded as 'the leading Presbyterian minister in the metropolis' (JJ, p. 625). He was a voluminous writer, contributing to...
LAW, Andrew. b. Milford, Connecticut, 21 March 1749; d. Cheshire, Connecticut, 13 July 1821. Law, a grandson of Jonathan Law (1674-1750), Governor of the Colony of Connecticut (1741-1750), was a tunebook compiler, clergyman, and composer. His Select Harmony: containing in a plain and concise manner, the rules of singing, together with a collection of psalm tunes, hymns and anthems (Cheshire, Connecticut, 1779) became a major influence among many subsequent collections used by singing masters...
GRIFFITHS, Ann. B. Llanfihangel, Montgomeryshire, April 1776; d. Llanfihangel, August 1805. Ann Thomas was brought up on the farm of Dolwar Fach, Llanfihangel, the daughter of the devout Thomas family who worshipped at the local parish church and who prayed regularly together. She took a full part in local life, and is said to have been frivolous in her youth, much enamoured of dancing, and ready to mock the Methodists. She was only 18 when her mother died and she took over the running of the...
NITSCHMANN, Anna, b. 24 November 1715; d. 21 May 1760; Johann, b. 25 September 1712; d. 30 June 1783. Born at Kunewald, near Fulneck, Moravia; the family moved to Herrnhut when they were children in 1725. Anna was appointed Unity-Elder, with responsibility for the unmarried women of the Herrnhut community. With her friend Anna Dober*, she founded the 'Jungfrauenbund' for them. Johann studied theology at the University of Halle and became private secretary to Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf*. Anna...
DOBER, Anna (née Schindler). b. Kunewald, near Fulneck, Moravia, 9 April 1713; d. Marienborn, near Büdingen, Hesse, 12 December 1739. She joined the Moravian community at Herrnhut in 1725, where she assisted Anna Nitschmann* (also born at Kunewald) in founding a young women's movement, the 'Jungfrauenbund'. In 1737 she married Johann Leonhard Dober*, later to be a Moravian bishop. She helped him in his missionary work at Amsterdam; she died aged 26 at Marienborn.
According to JJ, stanzas 4 and...
BARBAULD, Anna Letitia (née Aikin). b. Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, 20 June 1743; d. Stoke Newington, London, 9 March 1825. At Kibworth her father was a Presbyterian minister teaching at the dissenting academy (her maternal grandfather, John Jennings, had taught Philip Doddridge* there). In 1753 her father moved to the celebrated Warrington Academy, where she thrived in the cultural and intellectual freedom and began to write, publishing (with her brother John) Poems (1773) and...
STEELE, Anne. b. Broughton, Hampshire, 1716; d. Broughton, 11 November 1778. She was the daughter of a timber merchant and Baptist pastor. She was delicate in health as a child, and as a young woman she suffered a tragic loss in 1737 when her fiancé, James Elcombe, was drowned shortly before they were due to be married. Her quiet and apparently uneventful life thereafter gave rise to the idea that she was a suffering soul who turned her resignation into hymns. This has been shown to be a myth...
Another six days' work is done. Joseph Stennett* (1663-1713).
This hymn appeared in fourteen 4-line stanzas in The Works of the Late Reverend and Learned Mr. Joseph Stennett (1732). With alterations, it appeared in a greatly shortened form in several collections, notably the collection by John Ash* and Caleb Evans*, A Collection of Hymns adapted to Public Worship (Bristol, 1769; see Ash and Evans's A Collection of Hymns*), in six stanzas, entitled 'Hymn on the Sabbath'. It crossed the Atlantic...
Arm of the Lord, awake, awake (Shrubsole). William Shrubsole (II)* (1759-1829).
According to JJ, William Shrubsole (II) was a Director and one of the Secretaries of the London Missionary Society, founded in 1795. In the same year this hymn appeared in Missionary Hymns (JJ, p. 1056). It was included in John Dobell*'s New Selection of Seven Hundred Evangelical Hymns (1810), with the title 'Zion's Increase prayed for…...Isaiah li. 9.':
Arm of the Lord, awake! awake! Put on Thy strength, the...
As Jacob with travel was weary one day. Anonymous, perhaps 18th- or 19th-century American or British.
This carol, based on Genesis 28: 10-19, was published in Bramley* and Stainer*'s Christmas Carols New and Old (1871) with the title 'Jacob's Ladder'. It was printed in the Oxford Book of Carols (OBC, 1928), and the University Carol Book (1961). It was also included in Miles Mark Fisher's Negro Slave Songs in the United States (1953), which suggests an alternative origin.
It came into British...
As when the weary traveller gains. John Newton* (1725-1807).
From Olney Hymns (1779), Book III, 'On the Rise, Progress, Changes, and Comforts of the Spiritual Life'. It is found in Section IV ('Comfort') of Book III as hymn 58, entitled 'Home in view'. The text in 1779 had six stanzas, as follows:
As when the weary travell'r gains The height of some o'erlooking hill; His heart revives, if cross the plains He eyes his home, tho' distant still.
While he surveys the much-lov'd spot, He...
SPANGENBERG, August Gottlieb. b. Klettenberg, near Nordhausen, 15 July 1704; d. Berthelsdorf, near Herrnhut, 18 September 1792. He was a student at the University of Jena, first of law and then of theology. He worked at the University of Halle, but was deprived of his posts in the Theology Faculty and as Superintendent of the Orphanage schools because of his association with separatist churches. He joined the Moravians in 1733, where his talents were soon put to good use: he was the leader of...
FRANCKE, August Hermann (I). b. Lübeck, 22 March 1663; d. Halle, 8 June 1727. He was educated at the Universities of Erfurt, Kiel, and Leipzig, graduating from Leipzig in 1685. Two years later, at Lüneberg, he had a religious experience which caused him to call Lüneberg his spiritual birthplace, and which turned him towards Pietism. He became a disciple of the founder of Pietism, P.J. Spener*, who had instituted meetings for prayer, Bible study and devotion. Francke was more combative than...
TOPLADY, Augustus Montague. b. Farnham, Surrey, 4 November 1740; d. Kensington, London, 11 August 1778. He was the son of an army officer, Richard Toplady, who was killed at the siege of Carthagena in 1741. He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Dublin. He was converted by a travelling Methodist preacher, James Morris, and was associated with the Methodists until he began to differ from John Wesley* because of his (Toplady's) strong adherence to Calvinist views. He took Holy...
Author of faith, eternal Word. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in 1740 in a pamphlet entitled 'The Life of Faith, exemplified in the Eleventh Chapter of St Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews', taking the reader through several verses of the epistle. It was then printed in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740). The six stanzas, sub-titled 'Verse i', and given the same title as the pamphlet, were the first of twenty-two:
Author of Faith, Eternal Word, Whose Spirit breathes the active Flame,...
Author of life divine. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns on the Lord's Supper (1745), in two 6-line stanzas, in section II, 'As it is a Sign and a Means of Grace'. It was included in the Second Edition of A&M (1875). It has been included in subsequent editions of A&M, and in many Anglican hymnbooks (EH/NEH, SofP, SofPE) as well as those of Congregationalists, the United Reformed Church and others. After a long period of neglect by Methodists, it was included in MHB...
Awake our souls, away our fears. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
This appeared in Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1709), Book I, 'Collected from the Holy Scriptures', with the title, 'The Christian Race, Isa. 40. 28, 29, 30, 31.' It is a free paraphrase of the Old Testament passage, and, unusually for Watts, does not make any direct reference to Christ as the source of strength, apart from its title. The text in 1709 was as follows:
Awake our Souls, (away our Fears, Let every trembling Thought be...
Awake, and sing the song. William Hammond* (1719-1783).
From Hammond's Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs (1745), where it had 14 stanzas. It was entitled 'Before singing of Hymns, by Way of Introduction'. The 14 stanzas were shortened and altered by successive 18th-century editors, including George Whitefield*, Martin Madan* and Augustus Montague Toplady* and further revised by William John Hall* and Edward Osler* for the 'Mitre' hymn book, Psalms and Hymns adapted to the Services of the...
Awake, my soul! lift up thine eyes. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1743-1825).
First published in her friend William Enfield*'s Hymns for Public Worship: selected from various authors, and intended as a supplement to Dr Watts's Psalms (Warrington, 1772), entitled 'The Conflict'. It had six stanzas:
Awake, my soul, lift up thine eyes;See where thy foes against thee rise,In long array, a numerous host;Awake my soul, or thou art lost.
Here giant danger threat'ning standsMustering his pale terrific...
Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve. Philip Doddridge* (1702-1751).
This was hymn CCXCVI in Doddridge's Hymns Founded on Various Texts in the Holy Scriptures (1755). This was headed 'Pressing on in the Christian Race. Phil. iii. 12-14.' It was a variant on the common 'Awake, my soul' theme', distinguished from other examples by its exhortation to zeal and vigour:
Awake, my Soul, stretch ev'ry Nerve And press with Vigour on: A heav'nly Race demands thy Zeal, And an immortal Crown.
While...
Away with our fears/ Our troubles and tears. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
From Hymns of Petition and Thanksgiving for the Promise of the Father. By the Reverend Mr. John and Charles Wesley (Bristol, 1746), where it was Hymn XXXII, the last in the book. It had five 8-line stanzas:
Away with our Fears, Our Troubles and Tears! The Spirit is come, The Witness of Jesus Return'd to hs Home: The Pledge of our Lord To his Heaven restor'd, Is sent from the Sky, And tells us our...
Away with our sorrow and fear. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
Funeral Hymns (1744), a small book of 24 pages, contained 16 hymns. It was dated by JJ, p. 1259, as 1744, but by the modern editors of A Collection of Hymns (1780) as 1746 (Hildebrandt and Beckerlegge, 1983; no copy dated 1744 has been found). The text in 1746 was as follows:
Away with our Sorrow and Fear! We soon shall recover our Home; The City of Saints shall appear, The Day of Eternity come; From Earth we shall quickly...
WOODD, Basil. b. Richmond, Surrey, 5 August 1760; d. Paddington Green, London, 12 April 1831. Woodd was educated by a clergyman and then at Trinity College, Oxford (BA 1782, MA 1785). He took Holy Orders (deacon 1783, priest 1784), becoming 'lecturer' (preacher) at St Peter's, Cornhill, London (1784-1808). In 1785 he became preacher at Bentinck Chapel, Marylebone, London, a proprietary chapel that he purchased in 1793. He was also chaplain to the Marquis Townshend, and rector of Drayton...
Begone unbelief, my Saviour is near. John Newton* (1725-1807).
First published in Olney Hymns (1779), Book III, 'On the Rise, Progress, Changes, and Comforts of the Spiritual Life'. It was headed 'I will trust and not be afraid' and had seven stanzas in a combination of iambic and anapaestic metre reminiscent of Charles Wesley*. It has been particularly valued by Methodists: all seven stanzas appeared in The Primitive Methodist Hymnal (1887, 1889). It featured in several denominational...
Begone my worldly cares, away. Susanna Harrison* (1752-1784).
This hymn that looks forward to Sunday was Hymn V in Songs of the Night (1780). It was entitled 'Saturday Night'. It is an original meditation on the holy joys of a religious Sunday. It had six stanzas:
Begone my worldly cares, away! Nor dare to tempt my sight;Let me begin th'ensuing day Before I end this night.
Yes, let the work of prayer and praise Employ my heart and tongue; Begin my soul! - Thy sabbath days Can never be...
Behold a Stranger at the door. Joseph Grigg* (ca. 1720-1768).
From Grigg's Four Hymns on Divine Subjects; Wherein the Patience and Love of our divine Saviour is displayed (1765), where it was a hymn of eleven 4-line stanzas:
Behold a Stranger at the door! He gently knocks, has knocked before, Has waited long, is waiting still; You treat no other friend so ill.
But will He prove a friend indeed? He will; the very Friend you need; The Friend of sinners--yes 'tis He, With garments dyed on...
Behold the throne of grace. John Newton* (1725-1807).
In Book I of Olney Hymns (1779), 'On select Passages of Scripture', this was hymn XXXIII, supposedly on II Samuel 3: 5, one of three hymns of which the first was 'Come, my soul, thy suit prepare'. The verse on which the three hymns were based was given as 'Ask what I shall give thee', which is from I Kings 3: 5. The section on I Kings follows that of II Samuel, but the printer in 1779 misplaced the division between the Old Testament...
Behold! the mountain of the Lord. Michael Bruce* (?) (1746-1767).
This is paraphrase 18, of Isaiah 2: 2-6, in the Scottish Psalter (1929). An earlier version was included in the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases (1745) beginning 'In latter days the mount of God,/ His sacred House, shall rise' (annotated under this heading in JJ, pp. 564-5). The present version was published by John Logan* in Poems. By the Rev. Mr. Logan, One of the Ministers of Leith (1781), and printed in the same year in...
PICTET, Bénédict. b. Geneva, 19 May 1655; d.10 January?/9 June? 1724. Pictet was the son of André Pictet and Barbe Turrettini. He was a Calvinist theologian who revised the Psalter, and who was a pioneer in writing hymns in French-speaking Reformed circles. He was educated by his maternal uncle and godfather, the professor of theology François Turrettini (1623-87), an influential figure in the Reformed Church of Geneva and a defender of the strictest Calvinism. At the age of 14, he entered the...
BEDDOME, Benjamin. b. Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, 23 January 1717; d. Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, 3 September 1795. He was the son of a Baptist minister. He intended to become a doctor, and was apprenticed to a Bristol surgeon; but he moved to London and became a member of the Prescott Street Baptist Church in 1739. At that church he was called to the ministry, and in 1740 he moved to Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire. He remained there as Baptist pastor for the remainder of...
FRANCIS, Benjamin. b. Wales, 1734; d. Horsley, Gloucestershire, 14 December 1799. Francis was a Welsh speaker, who wrote hymns in Welsh and English, and edited a Welsh hymnbook (Aleluia: neu Hymnau perthynol I addoliad cyhoeddus, Caerfyrddin, 1774). JJ, p. 386, lists five hymns in Welsh that were in use in 1892. He trained at the Baptist College, Bristol, and served as a minister at Sodbury (Old Sodbury and Chipping Sodbury), Gloucestershire, and then, from 1757 to 1799, at Horsley, near...
INGHAM, Benjamin. b. Ossett, Yorkshire, 11 June 1712; d. Aberford Hall, near Tadcaster, Yorkshire, 2 December 1772. He was educated at Batley Grammar School and Queen's College, Oxford (1730-34), where he became acquainted with Charles Wesley* and was associated with the Oxford Methodists (his diary of these years was edited by Heitzenrater, 1985). He was persuaded by the Wesley brothers to accompany them to Georgia; his letter describing the voyage is printed in Heitzenrater (2003). In Georgia...
MILGROVE, Benjamin. b. Bath, 1731; d. Bath, 1810. Little is known of Milgrove's life, except that he was precentor and organist of the Countess of Huntingdon's Chapel at Bath, and the keeper of a fancy goods shop. Wesley Milgate reports that he was a 'proprietor' or investor in John Wesley*'s New King Street Chapel in Bath to the tune of £100, a considerable sum at that time (Songs of the People of God, 1992, p. 293). He ceased to be a proprietor in 1787, perhaps because of the increasing...
RHODES, Benjamin. b. Mexborough, Yorkshire, 1743, date unknown; d. Margate, Kent, 13 October 1815. He was the son of a schoolmaster, who gave him a good education. At the age of 11 he was much influenced by hearing George Whitefield* preach, and in 1766 he became one of 'Mr Wesley's preachers', serving until his death at Margate. In the obituary in the Minutes of the Methodist Conference he was described as 'a man of great simplicity and integrity of mind; he was warmly and invariably attached...
SCHMOLCK, Benjamin. b. Brauchitzdorf, near Liegnitz, Silesia, 21 December 1672; d. Schweidnitz, 12 February 1737. The son of a Lutheran pastor, he was educated at the Gymnasium at Lauban and at the University of Leipzig (1693-97). He was ordained in 1701. In 1702 he was appointed diaconus of the Lutheran Friedenskirche at Schweidnitz. He remained there for the rest of his life, as diaconus, then archdiaconus (1708), and then pastor primarius (1714). Following the wars of religion, Schweidnitz...
BOYE, Birgitte Katerine (née Johansen). b. Gentofte, Denmark, 7 March 1742; d. 17 October 1824. Born into a family in the king's service, she was married to Herman Hertz, one of the king's foresters. He was appointed forester of Vordingborg, in the south of Zealand, in 1763. Birgitte bore him four children, and also found time to study German, French and English: she translated hymns into Danish from these languages. She was discovered as a hymn writer when a new hymn book to replace that of...
Blest be the dear uniting love. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in eight stanzas in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1742), where it was entitled 'At Parting':
Blest be the dear, Uniting Love That will not let us part:Our Bodies may far off remove, We still are join'd in heart.
Join'd in One Spirit to our Head, Where He appoints we go,And still in Jesu's Footsteps tread, And do His Work below.
O let us ever walk in Him, And Nothing know beside,Nothing desire, Nothing esteem But...
Blest is the man whose softening heart. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1743-1825).
This text is taken from the hymn beginning 'Behold, where breathing love divine'*, first published in her friend William Enfield*'s Hymns for Public Worship: selected from various authors, and intended as a supplement to Dr Watts's Psalms (Warrington, 1772), where it was entitled 'Christian Charity'. It had eight stanzas. The present hymn starts at stanza 3. It was published in Barbauld's Poems (1773) as 'Hymn IV'...
Brunn alles Heils, dich ehren wir. Gerhard Tersteegen* (1697-1769).
From Tersteegen's Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein, Drittes Büchlein (Book III) (1745), where it was designated as a hymn for many different occasions, 'Morgens, Abends, bey Tisch, nach der Predigt, und zu aller Zeit gläubig zu bäten' ('in the mornings, evenings, at the meal table, after the sermon, and in order to pray faithfully at all times'). It was entitled 'Der Segen über Gottes Volck' ('the blessing of God's people'), and...
EVANS, Caleb. b. Bristol, 12 November 1737; d. 9 August 1791. Evans lived in Bristol for almost all of his life. His father, Hugh Evans, was pastor at Broadmead Baptist Church and President of the Bristol Baptist Academy run by the church. After training at the Mile End Academy in London, Caleb was baptised at Little Wild Street Baptist Church, and called to ministry in 1757, becoming associate minister with Josiah Thompson at Unicorn Yard Baptist church in London. In 1759 he was called to join...
COFFIN, Charles. b. Buzancy, 4 October 1676; d. 20 June 1749. Buzancy is a small town in the present-day département of Ardennes, in the diocese of Rheims. Coffin left there in 1693 for Paris to complete his education. He was an outstanding student: as the favoured successor of Charles Rollin, he became a tutor of the Collège de Beauvais and then (1712) its head. In 1718 he was elected rector of the University of Paris and did much to reorganize its finances. He was entrusted with delivering...
COLLIGNON, Charles. b. London, 30 January 1725; d. Cambridge, 1 October 1785. He was the son of a minister of the Dutch Church in Austin Friars, London, who died when Charles was still young. He was educated at school at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and Trinity College, Cambridge (MB 1748, MD 1754). He practised as a physician in Cambridge, with a particular interest in anatomy and pathology, publishing Compendium anatomico-medicum (1756) and Tyrocinium anatomicum (1763). He taught anatomy in the...
LOCKHART, Charles. b. London (?), ca. 1738; d. Lambeth, London, 9 February 1815. Little is known of Lockhart's early life, and his place of birth is unknown, though it may have been London, where he lived for most of his life. He was a blind organist, who held several appointments in London, some of them simultaneously. The longest-held was at St Katherine Cree, Leadenhall Street, where he was organist from 1766 until his death. He was also organist of St Mary's Parish Church, Lambeth, from...
WESLEY, Charles. b. Epworth, Lincolnshire, 18 December 1707; d. London, 29 March 1788. He was youngest son and 16th/17th child (though calculations vary) of Samuel Wesley (I)* and the redoubtable Susanna, and younger brother to John*. From Westminster School (1716-26), first as King's Scholar and finally Captain of the school, he gained a scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford (BA 1730, MA 1733). He became leader (in John's absence as their father's curate) of a small group known as the 'Holy...
WESLEY, Charles (II). b. Bristol, 11 December 1757; d. London, 23 May 1834. He was the son of Charles Wesley*, and older brother of Samuel Wesley (III)*. He was a child prodigy, admired by many of the foremost musicians in London, such as Samuel Arnold*, and advised and taught by many of them. His playing was much admired by King George III, and as a young man he played frequently at Court, being named 'Royal organist' to George III and to the Prince Regent after 1810. However, he was...
Chetham's Psalmody
The title of this important collection was The Book of Psalmody. It was first published at Sheffield in 1718 by John Chetham or Cheetham (1665 – baptized 4 February -1746), subsequently master of the Clerk's School, Skipton, Yorkshire, and curate of Skipton, 1741-46. Further editions followed in 1722, 1724 and 1731, with many successors. It has been described as 'the most important country collection [of psalm settings] of all' (Temperley, 1979, p. 181). Each edition during...
'Christ the Lord is risen today'. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), entitled 'Hymn for Easter-Day', in eleven 4-line stanzas. It was not included in John Wesley*'s A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780), the scheme of which precluded seasonal hymns, but six stanzas found their way into the 1831 Supplement to the Collection among the additional hymns. Its use has become and remained widespread since then, though in...
DAVID, Christian. b. Senftleben (Zenklava), Moravia, 17 February 1691; d. 3 February 1751. He was brought up as a Catholic, learning the trade of a carpenter (ca. 1713). He came to know the Bible well, and discussed its contents with the Jews. Intending to become a Protestant, he sought out the Lutherans in Hungary, in Leipzig and finally in Prussia. Working as a kitchen-boy, he took part in the operations to regain Stralsund. In Berlin he converted to the Protestant faith. In 1717 at Görlitz,...
GELLERT, Christian Fürchtegott. b. Hainichen, Saxony, 4 July 1715; d. Leipzig, 13 December 1796. The son of a Lutheran pastor, he was educated at the famous Electoral College at Meißen. From 1734 to 1743, interrupted by periods of earning his living as a tutor, he attended Leipzig University. After finishing his BA and MA (1744), he launched into an academic career and was appointed professor of philosophy in 1751. Beginning under the auspices of J.Chr. Gottsched and taking part in publications...
GREGOR, Christian. b. Dirsdorf, Silesia, 1 January 1723; d. Berthelsdorf, Herrnhut, 6 November 1801. Born the son of a humble peasant farmer, he associated with the Brethren at Herrnhut from 1742, serving as organist. In 1748 he moved to Herrnhaag as director of music, and in 1749 to Zeist, returning to Herrnhut in 1753. From 1764 he was a member of the directing board of the Unitas Fratrum and was given the task of editing a hymnal which would collect and preserve what was valuable of the vast...
LATROBE, Christian Ignatius. b. Fulneck, near Leeds, 12 Feb 1758; d. Fairfield, near Manchester, 6 May 1836. Christian was the son of Benjamin Latrobe, one of the leaders of the Moravian Church in England. He was educated at the Moravian Church's schools in Niesky and Barby, Germany (1771-84), where he studied theology and also taught for five years. He was ordained a minister in the Moravian Church and became secretary of the Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel, the missionary branch...
Christians, if your hearts be warm. John Leland* (1754–1841).
Leland probably composed this hymn in 1788, and it appeared in print two years later in Richard Broaddus and Andrew Broaddus, Collection of Sacred Ballads (unpaged, Caroline Co, Virginia, 1790). The first page scan in Hymnary.org is from Divine Hymns, or Spiritual Songs: for the use of religious assemblies and private Christians (Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1794), where it was headed 'Admonition to Christian Duties':
Christians,...
SMART, Christopher. b. Shipbourne, near Maidstone, Kent, 11 April 1722; d. London, 20 May 1771. He was educated at Maidstone Grammar School to the age of 11, when his father died and he was sent to live with his uncle at Staindrop, County Durham. He continued his education at Durham School, and from 1739 at Pembroke College, Cambridge (BA, 1744). He won the prestigious Craven Scholarship in 1742, and was made a Fellow of Pembroke in 1745. His turbulent life there, and his predilection for...
Come Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,/ To whom we for our children cry. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
This was headed 'At the Opening of a School at Kingswood', referring to the school founded by John Wesley*. It was opened in 1739 for the children of the local colliers near Bath, and reopened as an enlarged school for the children of Wesley's preachers and others in 1748 (Hildebrandt and Beckerlegge, 1983, p. 643). It is not known which of these events is signified in the title: probably the 1748...
Come, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/ Honour the means... Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
This is No. 182 from Volume II of Charles Wesley's Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), the book published under his own name with John Wesley*'s approval. This hymn was headed 'At the Baptism of Adults'. It had six stanzas:
Come, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost Honour the Means Injoin'd by Thee, Make good our Apostolic Boast And own thy Glorious Ministry.
We now thy Promis'd Presence claim, Sent to disciple All...
Come let us to the Lord our God. John Morison* (1750-1798), perhaps with John Logan* (1747/8-1788).
This paraphrase of Hosea 6: 1-4 was printed in the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases (1781). It has continued in use in the Church of Scotland from that time on, and is found in successive psalters and hymnbooks, up to and including CH3 and CH4. It was used in a number of 19th-century books, but in the 20th century its spread was remarkable, and it is found in many places outwith...
Come, all harmonious Tongues. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
From Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), Book II, 'Composed on Divine Subjects, Conformable to the Word of God'. It was Hymn 84, entitled 'The Same' (as the previous hymn, 'The Passion and Exaltation of Christ'). The text in 1707 was in eight Short Metre stanzas:
Come, all harmonious Tongues, Your noblest Music bring;'Tis Christ the Everlasting God, And Christ the Man we sing.
Tell how he took our Flesh To take away our Guilt, Sing...
Come all whoe'er have set. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788)
From Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), the two volumes issued by Charles Wesley in his own name, though with his brother's approval. This was headed 'Another'; it was one of three poems entitled 'On a Journey'. The first prays for guidance, but the other two are confident expressions of a progress towards the promised land, 'the New Jerusalem above,/ The seat of everlasting love' (stanza 2 lines 5-6).
The hymn had five 6-line stanzas, marking...
Come, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,/ One God in persons three. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
Charles Wesley wrote at least three hymns with this first line. One continued
Come Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/ Honour the means...*.
Another began
Come Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,/ To whom we for our children cry...*.
Another was the hymn above. It was printed in the 'Numbers' section of Volume I of Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures (Bristol, 1762). It began with No. 200, headed...
Come, Holy Ghost, all quickening fire/ Come, and in me. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
One of Charles Wesley's most beautiful hymns, this was first printed in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), where it was entitled 'Hymn to the Holy Ghost'. It had six stanzas, all of which were used, with minor alterations, by John Wesley* in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780), where it was in the section entitled 'For Believers Groaning for full Redemption'. Later Wesleyan...
Come, Holy Ghost, all quickening fire/Come, and my hallowed heart inspire. Charles Wesley* (1707-88).
This companion hymn to 'Come, Holy Ghost, all-quickening fire/Come and in me'* [delight to rest'] was published one year later than that hymn. It was in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), where it was entitled 'Hymn to God the Sanctifier'. It was a longer hymn of eight stanzas, with (like the earlier hymn) the first stanza repeated as the last, with one principal alteration, in which line 2 of the...
Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
First published in Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), from Book II, 'Composed on Divine Subjects, Conformable to the Word of God'. It was entitled 'Breathing after the Holy Spirit; or, Fervency of Devotion desir'd'. It had five 4-line stanzas:
Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove, With all thy quickning Powers, Kindle a Flame of sacred Love In these cold Hearts of ours.
Look, how we grovel here below, And hug these trifling Toys; Our...
Come, said Jesus' sacred voice. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1742-1825).
From Barbauld's Poems (1792). It was headed 'Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' (from part of Matthew 11: 28). It had five stanzas:
Come, said Jesus' sacred voice, Come and make my paths your choice: I will guide you to your home; Weary pilgrim, hither come!
Thou who houseless, sole, forlorn, Long hast borne the proud world's scorn, Long hast roamed the barren waste, Weary pilgrim,...
Come, Saviour Jesu, from above. Antoinette Bourignon* (1616-1680), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
Antoinette Bourignon's hymn began 'Venez, Jésus, mon salutaire'. It was translated, probably by John Wesley (the attribution to John Byrom* is unlikely), and published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), in ten 4-line verses. For the 1780 Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists Wesley omitted verses 5 and 10:
To Thee my earnest soul aspires,
To Thee I offer all my...
Come, sound his praise abroad. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
This is Watts's Short Metre paraphrase of Psalm 95 in The Psalms of David imitated in the language of the New Testament, and apply'd to the Christian State and Worship (1719). It was entitled 'Psalm XCV. Short Metre. A Psalm before Sermon.' Watts also wrote a CM and an LM version. The customary text in hymnals is one of three or four stanzas, corresponding to verses 1-7 of the Psalm. In 1719 the stanzas were as follows:
Come sound his...
Come, thou fount of every blessing. Robert Robinson* (1735-1790).
The first known publication of this hymn was in A Collection of Hymns for the use of the Church of Christ: meeting in Angel-Alley, Whitechappel, Margaret-Street, near Oxford-Market, and other churches in fellowship with them (1759). It was made widely known when it was included in Martin Madan*'s A Collection of Psalms and Hymns (1760) and in John Rippon*'s Selection of Hymns (1787), and it appeared in other 18th-century...
Come, though we can truly sing. John Murray* (ca. 1740-1815).
This is one of five hymns by Murray, all first published in the 1782 edition of Christian Hymns, Poems and Sacred Songs, Sacred to the Praise of God, Our Saviour, compiled by the English Universalist James Relly* and his brother John Relly. The book was first published in London in 1754, and the 1782 edition was published in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for Noah Parker (1734-1787), a convert of Murray's and preacher in Portsmouth...
Come, weary souls with sin distressed. Anne Steele* (1717-1778).
From Poems on Subjects chiefly devotional (1760). It was entitled 'Weary Souls invited to Rest. Mat. xi. 28.' It is a versification of the beautifully expressed and very comforting saying, 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' It had five stanzas:
Come weary souls with sin distrest, The Saviour offers heavenly rest; The kind, the gracious call obey, And cast your gloomy sins...
Commit thou all thy griefs. Paul Gerhardt* (1607-1676), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
This is a free translation of Gerhardt's 'Befiehl du deine Wege'*. Gerhardt's hymn is a Lutheran acrostic, and Wesley makes no attempt to follow that (the omission of stanzas, and the change of language, would have made it impossible). The translation was first published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), with the title 'Trust in Providence. From the German.' Wesley himself omitted it from A...
CONYERS's Collection of Psalms and Hymns. One of the first hymn books of the Evangelical Revival (cf. Madan*, Toplady*) was Richard Conyers*'s A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, from Various Authors: for the use of Serious and Devout Christians of all Denominations (London, 1767). It contained 274 hymns plus five doxologies. There was no preface, and no compiler's name. The authors most represented were Isaac Watts* and Charles Wesley*, but it also included a hymn by Thomas Olivers* ('The God of...
MATHER, Cotton. b. Boston, Massachusetts, 12 February 1663; d. Boston, Massachusetts, 13 February 1728. Mather, one of the leading Puritan ministers of the American colonies, was instrumental in introducing the hymns of Isaac Watts* to North America. He was born into one of the prominent Puritan families of Colonial America. His father, Increase Mather (1639-1723), was minister of the prestigious Old North Church in Boston, and president of Harvard College (now Harvard University) from 1692...
BAYLEY, Daniel. b. Rowley, Massachusetts, 27 June 1729; d. Newburyport, Massachusetts, 29 February 1792. Bayley was a compiler and publisher of tunebooks. While active, possibly as clerk and possibly as a chorister, in St. Paul's Anglican (Episcopal after the Revolution) Church in Newburyport, as well as a printer, potter, and shopkeeper, he became one of the most productive early publishers of American church music. His tunebooks are of particular interest for reasons of 'piracy' – prior to...
READ, Daniel. b. Attleboro, Massachusetts, 16 November 1757; d. New Haven, Connecticut, 4 December 1836. Daniel Read spent his early years working on the family farm. He had only a few months of formal education in common school. His musical training came in singing schools (class lessons in musical rudiments and choral singing) and it is likely that one of his teachers was William Billings*. After service in the Massachusetts militia during the Revolutionary War, Read settled in New Haven,...
VETTER, Daniel. b. Breslau, date unknown, mid-17th century; d. ca 1730. He was organist of St Nicholas' Church, Leipzig, and published Musicalische Kirch- und Haus Ergötzlichkeit (Part 1, 1709, Part 2, 1713). In this book he is thought to be the composer of four tunes, although he claimed one only. In Part 2 is the tune known in British books as DAS WALT' GOTT VATER, because it was set a hymn beginning 'Das walt' Gott Vater und Gott Sohn'. It has been pressed into service in different ways: it...
Day of judgment, day of wonders. John Newton (1725-1807).
Written in 1774 (JJ, p. 282), this dramatic hymn was no. LXXVII in Olney Hymns (1779), Book II, 'On Occasional Subjects'. Book II was divided by Newton into four sections, 'Seasons', 'Ordinances', 'Providences', 'Creation'. This was from the 'Providences' section. It was entitled 'The Day of Judgment'. The text in 1779 was as follows:
Day of judgment, day of wonders! Hark! The trumpets awful sound,Louder than a thousand thunders, ...
Dear Refuge of my weary soul. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
From Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760). It was entitled 'God the only Refuge of the Troubled Mind.' It had eight stanzas:
Dear Refuge of my weary soul, On thee, when sorrows rise: On thee, when waves of trouble roll, My fainting hope relies.
While hope revives, though prest with fears, And I can say, my God, Beneath thy feet I spread my cares, And pour my woes abroad.
To thee, I tell each rising grief, For thou...
Der Mond ist aufgegangen. Matthias Claudius* (1740-1821). First published in a poetic annual, Musen Almanach oder Poetische Blumenlese für das Jahr 1779 (Hamburg, 1778, edited by Johann Heinrich Voß), and then in Part IV (1783) of Claudius's writings, Asmus omnia sua secum portans, oder samtliche Werke des Wandsbecker Bothen. It was called “Abendlied' (Evening Hymn'), and was a companion-piece or imitation of 'Nun ruhen alle Wälder'* by Paul Gerhardt*. It has an engaging child-like simplicity,...
Dies ist der Tag, den Gott gemacht. Christian Fürchtegott Gellert* (1715-1769). First published in Gellert's Geistliche Oden und Lieder (Leipzig,1757), in 11 stanzas, with the title 'Weihnachtslied' ('Christmas hymn'). It is found in EG in the Christmas section, in nine verses (EG 42), omitting verses 5 and 8 of the original:
5. Dein König, Zion, kömmt zu dir.
“Ich komm, in Buche steht von mir;
Gott, deinen Willen tu ich gern.”
Gelobt sei, der da kömmt im Herrn!
8. Gedanke voller...
BUCHANAN, Dugald (Dughall Bochanan). b. Ardoch, Balquhidder, Perthshire, 1716; d. Ardoch, 2 July 1768. His diarydescribed his early manhood as a period of recklessness and ungodliness, profanity and vice (it is possible that he took the outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor (d. 1734), who lived at Balquhidder, as an example). He had some education in Stirling and Edinburgh, and worked for a time as an itinerant carpenter. During the 1740s he is believed to have spent some time at Glasgow at the Divinity...
MILLER, Edward. b. Norwich, 30 October 1735; d. Doncaster, 12 September 1807. He was apprenticed to his father's trade as a paviour, but left to study music under Charles Burney. By self-education he became a man of considerable learning. He was made organist of Doncaster parish church in 1756 and held the post until his death. He took much interest in local affairs, publishing a history of Doncaster in 1804, but also built up a national network of patronage which enabled him to gather an...
PERRONET, Edward. b. probably at Sundridge, Kent, 1721; d. Canterbury, 2 January 1792. He was the son of an Anglican vicar from a Swiss Huguenot family, Vincent Perronet (1693-1785), curate of Sundridge and later (1728) vicar of Shoreham, Kent. Vincent Perronet was initially concerned about Methodist activity within the Church of England, but was convinced by a long letter from John Wesley* of 1748, later published as A Plain Account of the People called Methodists (1749). He became a strong...
MANN, Elias. b. Stoughton, Massachusetts, 8 May 1750; d. Northampton, Massachusetts, 12 May 1825. Mann was a carpenter, musician, singing teacher, and tunebook compiler, born in the northwest part of Stoughton, in a section of the city now called Canton. He was the seventh of twelve children born to Theodore Mann (nda) and Abigail Day Mann (nda). Although little is known about his childhood and musical training, it is speculated that he grew up in Dedham and Walpole, southwest of nearby...
SCOTT, Elizabeth (Elizabeth Scott Williams Smith). b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire, 17 October 1708; d. Wethersfield, Connecticut Colony, 13 June 1776. She was the writer of several hymns that were widely published in England and New England during the 18th and 19th centuries, all of which are included in a manuscript volume identified by a label on its binding (but not inside) by the words 'Hymns and Poems by Elizabeth Scott', preserved in the Beinecke Library of Yale University. It contains 90...
DARE, Elkanah Kelsay. b. Salem, Salem County, New Jersey, 15 January 1782; d. Colerain Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 26 August 1826. Dare is best known for his contributions to John Wyeth*'s shape-note Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music*, Part Second. Dare married Mary Shallcross Phillips (1785-1841) in 1804. A list of their ten children with dates and places of birth, along with other records, indicates that Dare had moved to Wilmington, Delaware before the end of 1809, and to...
Of all the German sectarian groups in colonial Pennsylvania, perhaps one of the most widely known was the Ephrata Cloister. It was founded in 1732 by George Conrad Beissel (b. Eberbach, Germany, 1691, died Ephrata, 1768). The full blossoming of the Cloister occurred in the 1740s and 1750s, when its population consisted of about 80 celibates and some 200 householders. It was waning as Beissel died in 1768, and it ceased to exist in 1814.
Beissel's skills and talents were manifold, but he is best...
Episcopal Church Hymnody, USA
The Introduction is by Raymond F. Glover. The historical survey is by Robin Knowles Wallace.
Introduction
Among the vast number of persons who came as settlers beginning in 1607 to what is now known as the United States of America were many who brought with them a pattern of worship consistent with the liturgies of the Book of Common Prayer, the singing of metrical Psalms from the 'Old Version'* of Thomas Sternhold* and John Hopkins*, perhaps a few hymns of human...
NEUMEISTER, Erdmann. b. Üchteritz, Weissenfels (south of Halle), 12 May 1671; d. Hamburg, 18 August 1756. He was educated at the University of Leipzig (1689-95), where he taught as a lecturer (1695-97). He was assistant pastor and then pastor of Bibra (1697-1704), followed by a post as tutor and court preacher to Duke Johann Georg of Weissenfels (1704-06), and then as court preacher and Lutheran superintendent at Sorau to Count Erdmann II von Promnitz (1706-15). In 1715 he became pastor of St...
LANGE, Ernst. b. Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland), 3 January 1650; d. Danzig, 20 August 1727. Born in Danzig, he studied law at the university of Königsberg. From 1680 onwards he was successively town clerk, magistrate, and leader of the Council in Danzig. During a journey in the Netherlands in 1698, he became acquainted with the Mennonites. He was close to the Pietists and August Hermann Francke*, and from about 1700 he became involved in disputes with the orthodox Lutherans of the town, especially...
Eternal beam of light divine. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
From Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739). It was entitled 'In Affliction'. It had six stanzas:
Eternal Beam of Light Divine,
Fountain of unexhausted Love,
In whom the Father's Glories shine,
Thro' Earth beneath, and Heaven above!
Jesu! The weary Wand'rer's Rest;
Give me thy easy Yoke to bear,
With stedfast Patience arm my Breast,
With spotless Love, and holy Fear.
Thankful I take the Cup from Thee,
Prepar'd and mingled...
Eternal depth of Love Divine. Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf* (1700-1760), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
Zinzendorf's 'Du ewiger Abgrund der seligen Liebe' was written in 1726 for the birthday of his friend Graf Henkel of Oberberg on 21 September. It was published in Zinzendorf's Sammlung geistlicher und lieblicher Lieder (Second Edition, 1728), and then in Das Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Herrnhut (1735), where Wesley would have found it. His translation was first published in Hymns...
Eternal, spotless Lamb of God. John Wesley* (1703-1791).
First published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1742), as stanzas 7-9 of a long hymn (nine 8-line verses) entitled 'The Lord's Prayer Paraphrased'. See 'Father of all, whose powerful voice'* and 'Eternal Son, eternal Love'*. The whole hymn was appended by John Wesley to his sixth sermon on the Sermon on the Mount (see The Works of John Wesley. Vol I, Sermons 1-33, ed. Albert C. Outler, Nashville, Tennessee, 1984). In the 1780 Collection of...
Expand thy wings, celestial Dove. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
This hymn is made up of five stanzas taken from Charles Wesley's Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures (Bristol, 1762). Two are from Genesis 1 and three from II Chronicles 6. They are reproduced here from the 1762 text to show the 'select passage' in each case:
Genesis: 'The Spirit of GOD moved upon the face of the waters. - i. 2.'
Expand thy wings, celestial Dove, And brooding o'er my nature's night, Call...
Far from these narrow scenes of night. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
This was published in Steele's Poems on Subjects, chiefly Devotional (1760), in 11 stanzas. It was preceded by 'The Promised Land. Isaiah XXXIII. 17.' This refers to the visionary verse which must have inspired Steele: 'Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.' The text in the 1780 Edition of Poems..., chiefly Devotional was:
Far from these narrow scenes of night Unbounded...
Father of everlasting grace/ Be mindful. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
Charles Wesley sometimes used and re-used lines that he found graceful or appropriate. This hymn has the same opening as the better known 'Father of everlasting grace'*, found in many Methodist (and some other) books, published in Hymns of Petition and Thanksgiving for the Promise of the Father (Bristol, 1746).
The present hymn, which has been used in a few books in the USA and Canada (see below), is from Volume I of Short...
Father of lights, from whom proceeds. John Wesley* (1703-1791) or Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
This is from Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), the first hymnbook published by John and Charles Wesley after their 'conversion' in 1738. It was entitled 'A Prayer under Convictions', that is 'under the conviction of sin'. The hymn had eight stanzas:
Father of Light, from whom proceeds Whate'er thy Ev'ry Creature needs, Whose Goodness providently nigh Feeds the young Ravens when they cry; To Thee I...
Father, behold us here. John Murray* (ca. 1740-1815).
This is the third of five hymns, all first published in the 1782 edition of Christian Hymns, Poems and Sacred Songs, Sacred to the Praise of God, Our Saviour, compiled by English Universalist James Relly and his brother John Relly. The book was first published in London in 1754, and the 1782 edition was published in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for Noah Parker (1734-1787), a convert of Murray's and preacher in Portsmouth (Brewster, pp....
Father, in whom we live. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns for those that seek, and those that have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ (1747), where it was entitled 'To the Trinity'. It was not included by John Wesley* in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780), but it was added in an early supplement of 1796. The original text began:
Father, in whom we live, In whom we are, and move, The Glory, Power, and Praise receive Of thy...
Father, whate'er of earthly bliss. Anne Steele* (1717-1778).
This hymn is not found in JJ, but it was chosen for inclusion by the compilers of A&M (1904), and it remained in A&M books until it was omitted by the editors of A&MNS. It consists of the last three stanzas of a hymn in ten stanzas. The hymn in Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760) was entitled 'Desiring Resignation and Thankfulness'. It began:
When I survey life's varied scene, Amid the darkest hours...
ARÉVALO, Faustino (S.J.). b. Campanario, Badajoz, Spain, 29 July 1747; d. Madrid, 7 January 1824. Arévalo entered the novitiate in 1761 at Villagarcía de Campos, in the province of Castile. There, together with his training as a Jesuit, he received a solid humanistic education which would be reflected later in his work. In 1764, one year after taking his religious vows, he continued his education at the seminary at Medina del Campo, until the expulsion from Spain of the Society of Jesus in...
GIARDINI, Felice. b. Turin, Italy, 12 April 1716; d. Moscow, 8 June 1796. He was a chorister in Milan Cathedral and was a pupil of Paldini before studying the violin under G. B. Somis. It was as a violinist that he became well known, both as an orchestral player and a soloist, particularly for his prowess as an embellisher of melody. After a period at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, he travelled throughout Germany and France before arriving in London where, according to Charles Burney, he made...
FILOTHEI the Hieromonk. b. Wallachia, ca. 1640; d. ca. 1720. A Romanian interpreter, translator and author of Byzantine hymns and liturgical texts, Filothei studied Byzantine music with priest Teodosie from the Metropolitan Church of Wallachia. He spent a few years in the monasteries on Mount Athos, improving his knowledge of Byzantine music and the Greek and Medieval Slavonic languages. He returned to Wallachia before 1700 and is known as a hieromonk (a monk who has also been ordained as a...
First New England School. This label refers to the first group of native-born composers and tune compilers active in New England between about 1770 and 1810. William Billings*, who was deemed the unofficial leader of the school, published his ground-breaking tune collection The New-England Psalm-Singer (Boston, 1770). In addition to being the first collection of tunes composed by a single American composer, this book considerably influenced American compositional activity in the decades to...
HOPKINSON, Francis. b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 21 September 1737; d. Philadelphia, 9 May 1791. He was the son of Thomas Hopkinson and Mary Johnson, and entered the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania) with its first class in 1751, receiving a Baccalaureate degree in 1757, and a Master's in 1760. He was a lawyer and politician, holding various Colonial and US posts in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, and being most noted as a member of the Second Continental...
LA FEILLÉE, François de. b. and d. France, 18th century, dates unknown. La Feillée is thought to have been a priest attached to the cathedral at Chartres, but nothing definite is known about his life. He published Méthode pour apprendre les Règles du Plain-chant et de la Psalmodie (1745), which was influential in the movement in France to provide music that was independent of Rome (see Neo-Gallican chant*). His work was later revised by F.D. Aynès, in 1808 (the 1823 'Nouvelle Édition...
BARTHÉLÉMON, François Hippolyte. b. Bordeaux, France, 27 July 1741; d. Southwark, London, 20 July 1808. The son of a wig-maker, he may have served briefly in the army as a young man, but this is not certain. A talented violinist, he went to Paris where he played in the orchestra of the Comédie Italienne, moving to London in 1764. In London his skill was much valued: he gave solo recitals, and became the leader of the orchestra at the King's Theatre. He wrote an opera, Pelopida (1766), and an...
LAMPE, Friedrich Adolph. b. Detmold, 18 February 1683; d. Bremen, 8 December 1729. He was the son of a priest. He studied theology under Campegius Vitringa in Franeker (Friesland), becoming a priest at Weeze am Niederrhein (1703-6), Duisburg (1706-9), and Bremen (1709-20). From 1720 to 1727 he taught as a professor of reformed theology at Utrecht, where he edited several student text-books and published a three-volume commentary on St John's Gospel. In 1727 he returned to Bremen as a priest....
KLOPSTOCK, Friedrich Gottlieb. b. Quedlinburg, 2 July 1724; d. Ottensen, near Hamburg, 14 March 1803. He was educated at Quedlinburg until winning a scholarship to the Prince's School at Schulpforta, near Naumburg, followed by studies in philosophy and theology at the Universities of Jena (1745-46) and Leipzig (1746-48). He became a private tutor until 1750, when he accepted an invitation from the Swiss poet Johann Jakob Bodmer (1698-1783) to visit Zürich. Bodmer had translated Milton*'s...
Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud. Paul Gerhardt* (1607-1676).
First published in Johann Crüger* and Christoph Runge*, D.M. Luthers und andere vornehmen geistreichen und gelehrten Männer geistliche Lieder und Psalmen (Berlin, 1653) (the 'Crüger-Runge Gesangbuch'). It had fifteen 6-line stanzas. As the second line ('in dieser lieben Sommerzeit') makes clear, it is a hymn celebrating the joys of spring/ summer and the gifts of God in flowers (daffodils and tulips), birds (larks, pigeons,...
ZOLLIKOFER, Georg Joachim. b. St Gallen, Switzerland, 5 August 1730; d. Leipzig, 22 January 1788. Zollikofer was educated at St Gallen and at Bremen and Utrecht. After a short period as a private tutor at Frankfurt-am-Main, he returned to Switzerland as pastor of the Reformed church at Murten (in the canton of Freiburg today), followed by pastorates at Monsheim (Pfalz), 1754-58, and briefly at the Huguenot town of Neu-Isenburg, near Frankfurt/Main (a few months in 1758). In 1758 he accepted a...
ASKINS, George. b. Ireland, date and place unknown; d. Frederick, Maryland, 28 February 1816. Little is known about Askins save his birth country, Ireland, and that he had made his way to the United States by 1801 as an adult Methodist, where he was given a charge as a trial itinerate preacher in the Montgomery circuit of the Baltimore Annual Conference. Still on trial, he was assigned to the Ohio circuit of the Pittsburgh Annual Conference in 1802 and then to the Shenango circuit of the same...
BURDER, George. b. London, 5 June 1752; d. 29 May 1832. Burder trained as an engraver, but became a preacher of the Calvinistic Methodist persuasion, and subsequently a pastor in Independent chapels. He served the Independent or Congregational chapels at Lancaster (1777-83), Coventry (1783-1800), and Fetter Lane, London (1800- ). He was a forceful promoter of evangelical activity: he was one of the founders of the Religious Tract Society, the London Missionary Society, and the British and...
HANDEL, George Frideric. b. Halle-an-der-Saale, Saxony, 23 February 1685; d. London, 14 April 1759. Handel received his early musical training under Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, the organist of the Marktkirche in Halle, and since many of Zachow's surviving keyboard compositions are based on German chorale melodies we can assume that this area of hymnody was a fundamental part of Handel's early musical experience. The services at the Marktkirche no doubt involved congregational chorales as well as...
SMART, (Sir) George Thomas. b. London, 10 May 1776; d. London, 23 February 1867. He received his early musical education as a Child (chorister) of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, and began his career as organist of St James' Chapel, Hampstead Road (1791). A few years later he added a similar post at Brunswick Chapel and in 1822 he was appointed one of the two joint organists of the Chapel Royal. By the end of his career his inability to play the pedals was out-dated: when invited to try a...
WHITEFIELD, George. b. Gloucester, 16 December 1714; d. Newburyport, Massachusetts, 30 September 1770. He was the son of an innkeeper, who died when he was two years old. His mother remarried, unhappily, and the inn was mismanaged by his step-father. Whitefield's childhood cannot have been a settled one, although he was educated at Gloucester Cathedral School and the Crypt School. In 1732 he matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford, as a 'Servitor', performing menial tasks in order to pay for...
GEORGIOS of Crete. d. ca. 1815. Unlike many post-Byzantine composers, Georgios of Crete did not work as lampadarios or protopsaltes at the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople. Instead, he worked exclusively as a musician and composer. He studied music with Meletios Sinaïtes, Petros Peloponnesios*, Petros Byzantios* and Iakobos Peloponnesios*. Later, he worked as a teacher in Constantinople, on the island of Chios, and in Chania on Crete (where he is buried). His many pupils...
TERSTEEGEN (Ter Steegen) Gerhard. b. Moers, North Rhine-Westphalia (then part of Prussia), 25 November 1697; d. Mühlheim-an-der-Ruhr, 3 April 1769. He was educated at school in Mörs. His father's death in 1703, and the family's poverty meant that he was unable to go to the university, and he was apprenticed to a merchant at Mühlheim-an-der-Ruhr. He subsequently became a weaver, specializing in silk ribbons. From 1729 to 1724 he went through a period of depression, refusing to attend church or...
Give to the winds thy fears. Paul Gerhardt* (1607-1676), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
This is a free translation of part of Gerhardt's 'Befiehl du deine Wege'*, beginning at stanza 9 of Wesley's text. It is a companion piece to 'Commit thou all thy griefs'*. The two hymns are sometimes printed separately, and sometimes as two parts of the same hymn, as in HP. They were not included in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780), but appeared in the...
God reveals his presence. Gerhard Tersteegen* (1697-1769), translated by Frederick William Foster* and John Miller (1756-1790). This is a translation of part of Tersteegen's 'Gott ist gegenwärtig'* (verses 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8 of an eight-verse hymn). It was printed in the British Moravian Hymn Book (1789), and has remained in Moravian books until the present, though in shortened form (four verses in 1914). It follows Tersteegen's metre, and is close to the original: thus verse 2, beginning 'Gott...
Gott ist gegenwärtig. Gerhard Tersteegen* (1697-1769).
This hymn was published in Tersteegen's Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein (1729), and then in the Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Hernnhut (1735), in eight 10-line stanzas, with the title 'Erinnerung der herrlichen und lieblichen Gegenwart Gottes' ('Remembrance of the glorious and delightful presence of God'). The eight stanzas are still in use in EG in the 'Eingang und Ausgang' section for Sunday worship (EG 165).
It has been translated into English...
Gott rufet noch. Sollt ich nicht endlich hören. Gerhard Tersteegen* (1697-1769).
First published in Tersteegen's Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein, Drittes Büchlein (Book III) (1735), in eight 4-line stanzas, with the first phrase spelt 'Gott rüffet noch'. It was entitled 'Heute, weil ihr seine Stimme höret!' ('Today if ye will hear his voice').
It is found in EG in the 'Umkehr und Nachfolge', ('turning and following') section, at EG 392, with all eight stanzas, the first four beginning 'Gott rufet...
Great God, this sacred day of Thine. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
First published in John Ash* and Caleb Evans*'s Collection of Hymns adapted to Public Worship (Bristol, 1769). It was entitled 'Hymn for the Lord's Day Morning'. It had four stanzas. The following text is from the Third Edition of 1778:
Great God, this sacred Day of Thine, Demands our Soul's collected Powers: May we employ in Work divine, These solemn, these devoted Hours! O may our Souls, adoring, own, The Grace, which calls...
Great God, to thee my evening song. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
In Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760) this was entitled 'An Evening Hymn'. It had nine stanzas:
Great God, to thee my ev'ning song With humble gratitude I raise:O let thy mercy tune my tongue, And fill my heart with lively praise.
Mercy, that rich unbounded shore, Does my unnumber'd wants relieve;Among thy daily, craving poor, On thy all-bounteous hand I live.
My days unclouded, as they pass, And ev'ry...
GREGORIOS PROTOPSALTES b. 1777/78?; d. 23 December 1821. Gregorios is said to have been born on the day of Petros Peloponnesios*'s death, and to have taught himself to sing and speak Armenian. His father sent him to the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai so as to be instructed in Greek grammar and music. Later on Gregorios was taught Byzantine music by Iakobos Peloponnesios*, Georgios of Crete* and Petros Byzantios* as well as Arabian-Persian music by the Ottoman composer Ismail Dede...
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah/Redeemer (Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch). William Williams, Pantycelyn* (1717-1791).
This hymn, by the greatest of all the Welsh hymn writers, is the best known of all the Welsh hymns in English.
The original Welsh hymn, with six stanzas, originally appeared in Williams' collection Caniadau y rhai sydd ar y Môr o Wydr ('The Songs of those upon the Sea of Glass', Carmarthen, 1762) (JJ, p.77, wrongly ascribed it to the pamphlet Alleluia, Bristol 1745, and this...
BRORSON, Hans Adolph. b. 20 June 1694; d. 3 June 1764. Born at Randerup in the Danish part of West Schleswig, where his father Broder Broderson was vicar. He was educated at the Cathedral School of Ribe (1709-1712) and from 1712 at the University of Copenhagen, where he graduated as Master of Theology in 1721. From 1716 to 1721 Brorson was back in West Schleswig, most of the time as private tutor at the family of one of his uncles in Løgumkloster. Here he became acquainted with the Lutheran...
Hark! the herald angels sing (Jesus the light of the world). Arranged by George D. Elderkin (1845–1928).
Gospel musical traditions in the United States have enlivened the 18th-century hymns for over 150 years. Those by Isaac Watts*, Charles Wesley*, and John Newton* were among those heard by those influenced by the Second Great Awakening (c. 1795–1835), during which rural whites and enslaved Africans reinvented and reinterpreted hymns from England for their own situation. The enlivening of...
Hark! the voice of love and mercy. Jonathan Evans* (1748/49-1809).
First published anonymously in George Burder*'s A Collection of Hymns from Various Authors (Coventry, 1784). It was written in five 6-line stanzas. Stanza 4 has a direct reference to the Holy Communion, and is often omitted to give the hymn a more general application:
Happy souls, approach the table, Taste the soul-reviving food! Nothing half so sweet and pleasant As the Saviour's flesh and blood. 'It is finished!' 'It is...
Hark, 'tis the Saviour of Mankind. John Murray* (ca. 1740-1815).
This is the last of five hymns, all first published in the 1782 edition of Christian Hymns, Poems and Sacred Sons, Sacred to the Praise of God, Our Saviour, compiled by English Universalist James Relly* and his brother John Relly. The book was first published in London in 1754, and the 1782 edition was published in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for Noah Parker (1734-1787), a convert of Murray's and preacher in Portsmouth (Brewster,...
HARP (as a title). As early as 1795, hymn collections with Harp or Harfe in the title were published in the USA, without music, and thereafter, a number of tunebooks were published with 'Harp' in the title.
The most widely-known Harp, as a collection of hymns, is The Sacred Harp*, by B. F. White* and Elisha J. King*. This usage of Harp probably started in connection with the Psalms of David, as in Dauids harpe ful of moost delectable armony, newely stringed and set in tune, by Theadore...
AUBER, Henriette (Harriet). b. Spitalfields, London, 4 August 1773; d. Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, 20 Jan 1862. Many Huguenot refugees settled in Spitalfields, and Henriette (who anglicized her name to Harriet) was descended from such a family. Her father, James Auber, was a Church of England rector. She seems to have lived an uneventful life ('quiet and secluded', according to JJ, p. 90), but she wrote poetry, published in The Spirit of the Psalms: or, a compressed version of select portions of...
SCHENK (or SCHENCK), Heinrich Theobald. b. Heidelbach, Hesse, April 1656; d. Giessen, April 1727 (buried 15 April). He was educated at the University of Giessen. He taught at his old school, the Pädagogium at Giessen (1677-89) and was appointed town preacher at the Stadtkirche (town church) in 1689.
Heinrich Schenk is known as the author of 'Wer sind die vor Gottes Throne?', a hymn based on Revelation 7: 13-17. It is Schenk's only known hymn. It had twenty stanzas, and was first published in a...
WILLIAMS, Helen Maria. b. London, 17 June 1759; d. Paris, 15 December 1827. Her father, Charles Williams, died in 1762, and her widowed mother brought up Helen Maria and two other children in Berwick upon Tweed, on the Scottish border. The family returned to London in 1781, where Helen Maria began to make a name for herself as a young poet, encouraged by Andrew Kippis*, her Presbyterian/Unitarian minister. Her Poems were published in 1786, containing the two hymns noted in JJ (see below). She...
HAYN, Henriette Luise von. b. 22 May 1724; d. 27 August 1782. Born at Idstein, Nassau, she became a member of the Moravian community at Herrnhaag. She taught in the girls' school there, and at Grosshennersdorf. From 1751 to 1766 she taught at Herrnhut; from 1766 until her death she cared for the invalid sisters of the community. JJ described her as 'a gifted hymn-writer' (p. 499), and noted that over 40 of her hymns were in the Moravian Brüder Gesang Buch (1778), but annotated one hymn only....
MUHLENBERG, Henry Melchior ('Melchior Heinrich Mühlenberg' was his given name which he reversed, and the anglicized versions of 'Henry' and 'Muhlenberg' with no umlaut on the 'u' are normally used today). b. Einbeck, (southern Lower Saxony), Germany, 6 September 1711; d. Trappe, Pennsylvania, 7 October 1787.
Known as 'the Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America', Muhlenberg was the seventh child in a poor family of nine. His parents were Nicolaus Melchior Muhlenberg (1660/66-1723/29) and...
PURCELL, Henry. b. London, perhaps Westminster, [autumn] 1659; d. Westminster, 21 November 1695. A Child of the Chapel Royal, he was educated at a time when choirs in England were being revived during the Restoration of Charles II (after the proscription of choirs and organs in church during the Commonwealth under Cromwell). He may have been taught by John Blow and Pelham Humfrey. His gifts were evident early, and after his voice broke in 1673 he was kept on at court as an assistant to John...
Herr, du wollest uns bereiten. Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock* (1724-1803), altered by Albert Knapp* (1798-1864).
The first line, as given here, is that of Knapp's version used in EG, where it is found in the section for Holy Communion. Klopstock's text began 'Herr, du wollst sie vollbereiten'. Knapp's text is simpler ('Lord, you wish us to be ready') than Klopstock's ('Lord, do thou make us fully prepared').
Klopstock's original hymn is a long hymn to be sung during Holy Communion ('Beim...
Herr, stärke mich, dein Leiden zu bedenken. Christian Fürchtegott Gellert* (1715-1769).
Published in Gellert's Geistliche Oden und Lieder (Leipzig, 1757) in 22 stanzas of four lines, with the title, 'Passionslied'. As the first line indicates, is a prayer at Passion-tide to be strengthened to think about the sufferings of Christ. It is found in EG in a shortened form of ten stanzas (EG 91), moving Gellert's stanza 20 ('Seh ich dein Kreuz den Klugen dieser Erden') to make stanza 5, and omitting...
BALLOU, Hosea. b. Richmond, New Hampshire, 30 April 1771; d. Boston, Massachusetts, 6 June 1852. The eleventh child of Maturin (1720-1804) a Calvinist Baptist preacher, and Lydia (née) Harris Ballou (1728-73), Hosea converted to Universalism in 1789. He spent several years as an itinerant preacher before taking his first congregation in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1809. He subsequently received a call to serve the Second Universalist Society of Boston in 1815. Hosea Ballou made a notable...
How blest the sacred tie that binds. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1742-1825).
This was entitled 'Pious Friendship'. It was written, when Barbauld and her husband were living in Suffolk, for the marriage of Sarah Rigby and Caleb Parry at Palgrave in October 1778. Parry was a graduate of the Warrington Academy (McCarthy and Kraft, 1994, p. 274). The hymn was published in Barbauld's Poems (1792):
How blest the sacred tie that binds In union sweet according minds! How swift the heavenly course they...
How few receive with cordial faith. William Robertson, d. 1745*.
According to James Mearns* in JJ, p. 536, this paraphrase of Isaiah 53 ('Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?') was identified by the daughter of William Cameron* as having been written by William Robertson for the unpublished Translations and Paraphrases of 1745, and amended by John Logan* for the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases in Verse of 1781. Mearns noted that it was 'still in C.U....
How lost was my condition. John Newton* (1725-1807).
From Olney Hymns (1779), Book I, 'On select Texts of Scripture'. It was Hymn 62, entitled 'The good Physician'. The text on which is was based is (unusually) not given, but it comes after a hymn on Isaiah 45: 22 and before a hymn in Isaiah 54: 5-11. There is no physician in the intervening chapters, but it is a very general hymn on the power of Jesus to heal the sin-sick soul (cf. Jeremiah 8: 22, Mark 2: 17). It had five stanzas in 1779:
How...
How precious is the book divine. John Fawcett* (1740-1817)
First published in his Hymns adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion (Leeds, 1782), on the Holy Scriptures. It had six 4-line stanzas. It was headed 'Ps. cxix.105. Thy word is a Lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths.'
It was printed in three stanzas only (1, 5 and 6) in Rippon's Selection of Hymns* (1787):
How precious is the book divine, By inspiration given! Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine To...
How sweet, how heavenly is the sight. Joseph Swain* (1761-1796)
According to JJ, this hymn is found in Swain's Walworth Hymns (1792, 1796). An earlier publication, however, was in Experimental Essays on Divine Subjects, in verse and prose: and hymns for social worship (1791). It had five 4-line stanzas, and was entitled 'The Grace of Christian Love':
How sweet, how heav'nly is the sight, When those that love the Lord In one another's peace delight, And so fulfil his word.
When each can...
BLAIR, Hugh. b. Edinburgh, 7 April 1718; d. Edinburgh, 27 September 1800. According to James Mearns* (JJ, pp. 144-5), he was educated at the University of Edinburgh from 1730 (when he was twelve years of age), graduating MA in 1739 (Mearns gives his death date as 27 December 1800). He was licensed to preach in October 1741, and became minister of Collessie, Fife, in 1742. He moved as second minister to the Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh, in 1743, and to Lady Yester's Kirk (see William Robertson, d....
Humble souls who seek salvation. John Fawcett* (1740-1817).
According to JJ, this appeared in Hymns on Believers' Baptism (Birmingham, 1773), edited by John Fellows. In Fawcett's Hymns: adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion (Leeds, 1782) it had the heading 'Invitation to follow the Lamb. Matt. iii. 15.' It had three stanzas:
Humble souls, who seek salvation, Thro' the Lamb's redeeming blood, Hear the voice of revelation, Tread the path that Jesus trod. Flee to...
Hymns and Poems by Elizabeth Scott
Among the collections in the Beineke Rare Book & Manuscript Library of Yale University is a manuscript volume by Elizabeth Scott*. Although a label on the spine the shows 'Hymns & Poems by Eliz. Scott', the manuscript itself shows no title. In the 19th century, John Julian*, in JJ, called it 'Yale College MS', and today it is the main constituent of GEN MSS VOL. 635.
This 'Yale College MS' consists of 90 hymns and poems (henceforth, just 'hymns')....
I my Ebenezer raise. John Fawcett* (1740-1817).
First published in ten stanzas in Fawcett's Hymns: adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion (Leeds, 1782). It was entitled 'A Birth-Day Hymn', and headed '1 Sam. vii.12. Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.' It is one of several hymns that used this text (cf. Robert Robinson*, 'Come, thou fount of every blessing'*) in which Samuel celebrated a victory over the Philistines by erecting a stone and calling the name of it...
I set myself against the Lord. John Leland* (1754–1841).
This hymn was probably first printed in two books published in 1793: Eleazar Clay, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, selected from Several Approved Authors, Recommended by the Baptist General Committee of Virginia (Richmond, Virginia: John Dixon), and John Peak, A New Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Third Edition (Vermont: Alden Spooner, 1793). It had ten stanzas in the meter of 8.8.6.8.8.6:
I set myself against the Lord,Despised his...
IAKOBOS Peloponnesios (Protopsaltes). b. ca. 1740; d. 23 April 1800. A pupil of Ioannes Trapezuntios*, Iakobos Peloponnesios sang as domestikos at the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople from 1764 until 1776, when he was appointed teacher at the patriarchal school of music together with Daniel Protopsaltes* and Petros Peloponnesios*. Around 1784 he returned to the Great Church as lampadarios, succeeding Petros Peloponnesios. After the death of Daniel Protopsaltes in December 1789 he was...
Iam desinant suspiria. Charles Coffin* (1676-1749).
This hymn appeared in the Paris Breviary (1736) and in Hymni Sacri Auctore Carolo Coffin (1736). It was written for Matins on Christmas Day. It is a very attractive Christmas hymn, which has attracted much attention from translators (see JJ, pp. 576-7).
The Latin text was printed in John Chandler*'s Hymns of the Primitive Church (1837), in the 'Hymni Ecclesiae' (i.e. Latin) section. It had eight stanzas, beginning:
Jam desinant suspiria;...
Ich bin getauft auf deinen Namen. Johann Jakob Rambach* (1693-1735). First published in Rambach's Erbauliches Hanbüch für Kinder (Giessen, 1734). It had seven 6-line verses, entitled 'Erneuerung des Taufbundes' ('Renewing of the Baptismal Covenant'). It is found in a six-verse text in EG (EG 200), omitting verse 6 of the original text:
Weich', weich', du Fürst der Finsternissen,
Ich bleibe mit dir unvermengt.
Hier ist zwar ein befleckt Gewissen,
Jedoch mit Jesu Blut besprengt.
Weich', eitle...
Ich gruße dich am Kreuzesstamm. Valentin Ernst Löscher* (1673-1749).
This was written in 1722, and published during Löscher's time as a Lutheran pastor in the High Church at Dresden, in an Appendix of 1728 to Das Privilegirte Ordentliche und Vermehrte Dreßnische Gesang-Buch (1722). It was headed 'Übung der Andacht, der Liebe, des Glaubens, der Hoffnung, und des Gehorsams unter dem Creutze Christi' ('The practice of devotion, love, belief, hope, and obedience at the foot of the Cross') . It...
Ich habe nun den Grund gefunden. Johann Andreas Rothe* (1688-1758).
First published in an early Moravian hymnbook edited by Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf*, Christ-Catholisches Singe- und Bet-Büchlein (1727). It had ten 6-line verses. It was included in Das Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Herrnhut (1735), the book which introduced John Wesley* to the German hymn tradition. From it he produced one of his finest translations, 'Now I have found the ground wherein'*.
Rothe's hymn is notable for...
FRANZ, Ignaz. b. Protzan, Silesia, 12 October 1719; d. Breslau (Wroclaw, Poland), 19 August 1790. Franz studied at Glatz Gymnasium and then studied Philosophy and Theology at Breslau University. He was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest at Olmütz in 1742 and in the same year became chaplain at Grossglogau. In 1753, he became archpriest at Schlawa, then Leiter des Priesteralumnats (head of a seminary) in Breslau in 1766.
He edited hymnbooks, including Die christ-katholische Lehre in Liedern...
In all my Lord's appointed ways. John Ryland* (1753-1825).
This hymn is part of a one of nine stanzas, beginning 'When Abraham's servant to procure' [a wife for Isaac], first published in the Gospel Magazine, May 1773, with the heading 'Hinder me not – Gen. xxiv. 56.' (JJ, p. 984). It was included in Rippon's Selection of Hymns* (1787), in a section entitled 'Baptism', with a note, 'This Hymn may begin at the 6th verse.' The customary text is taken from the end of the hymn, stanzas 6-9:
In...
IOANNES Trapezuntios. b. date and place unknown; d. ca. 1769-73. Ioannes Trapezuntios, also called Ioannes Protopsaltes, was a pupil of Panagiotes Chalatzoglu. His name derives from his birth place Trapezunt/Trebizond (Trabzon in Turkey). A 1727 document by patriarch Païsios asserts that the domestikos Ioannes Kyritzes was appointed teacher at the newly founded patriarchal school of music; this Ioannes Kyritzes can be identified as Ioannes Trapezuntios. In 1728 Ioannes called himself...
Is this thy will, and must I be. Susanna Harrison* (1752-1784).
From Songs in the Night (1780). It is an interesting example of a hymn by an uneducated woman writer who is nervous about her work appearing in the public domain, with herself as a 'living witness'. It had a note at the foot of the page: 'Composed after being made acquainted that her verses were designed to be printed.' She claims to be unworthy of this, but this serves as an artifice which allows her to declare to all the saints...
WATTS, Isaac. b. Southampton, 17 July 1674; d. Stoke Newington, London, 25 November 1748.
His Life and Ministry
He was the eldest of nine children in a prosperous dissenting family. His father, who has been variously described as teacher, clothier and gentleman, was a deacon of the Above Bar Congregational Church. His mother's family, the Tauntons, were of Huguenot descent. Tradition has it that during the year of his birth he was breast-fed by his mother on the steps of the Old Town Gaol,...
FRENCH, Jacob. b. Stoughton, Massachusetts, 15 July 1754; d. Simsbury, Connecticut, May 1817. He was a composer, singing master, and compiler of three collections: The New American Melody, The Psalmodist's Companion, and Harmony of Harmony.
French was the second son born to Jacob French (nda) and Miriam Downs French (nda). The town of his birth, about 17 miles south and slightly west of Boston, was known for its musical activities. In particular, in 1774, William Billings* led a Singing school*...
ALLEN, James. b. Gayle, Wensleydale, Yorkshire, 24 June 1734; d. Gayle, 31 October 1804. He was educated privately, and then briefly at St John's College, Cambridge, with a view to taking Holy Orders; but he left Cambridge in 1752 to become a follower of Benjamin Ingham*, the Yorkshire evangelist. He is known to hymnody as the co-editor with Christopher Batty (1715-1797, JJ, p. 118) of the Inghamite Collection of Hymns for the Use of Those that Seek, and Those that have Redemption in the Blood...
LYON, James. b. Newark, New Jersey, 1 July 1735; d. Machias, Maine, 12 October 1794. Lyon was a Presbyterian minister, patriot, tunebook compiler, and composer. He is known primarily for compiling the tunebook Urania.
Lyon was the son of Zopher Lyon (1717-1744) and Mary Wood Lyon (1716-1746). Little is known of his childhood and musical training. He attended the College of New Jersey, then known as Nassau Hall, a large building completed in 1756 (now Princeton University). The 1759...
NEWTON, James. b. Chenies, on the Buckinghamshire/ Hertfordshire border, 1732, date unknown; d. Bristol, 1790, date unknown. As a young man he went to London, where he became a Baptist. He was appointed assistant to a Baptist minister (J. Tommas) at Bristol in 1757; in 1770 he became a tutor at the Baptist College, Bristol, a post that he held until his death.
James Newton is known as the author of one hymn, 'Proclaim,' saith Christ, 'my wondrous grace'*.
JRW
RELLY, James. b. Jeffreyston, near Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire, 1721/22; d. London, 25 April, 1778. He was educated at the local school, and apprenticed to a cow farrier. He was converted, perhaps by George Whitefield* or by one of Whitefield's adherents, John Harris. He became a Calvinistic Methodist preacher at Narberth, South Wales, and later an itinerant preacher, mainly in the South West of England. He became a preacher at Whitefield's Tabernacle, ca. 1746, but his belief in universal...
Jauchzet, ihr Himmel. Gerhard Tersteegen* (1697-1769). From Tersteegen's Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein, Drittes Büchlein (Book III) (1731), where it was entitled 'Die Herzliche Barmherzigkeit Gottes, erschienen in der Geburt des Seylandes Jesu Christi' ('the great mercy of God, shown forth in the birth of the blessed Jesus Christ'). It had eight stanzas, beginning 'Jauchzet, ihr Himmel! Frolocket, ihr Englische Chören!' (angel choirs, not English choirs). It is found in EG in the Weihnachten...
GUYON, Jeanne Marie ('Madame Guyon'). b. Montargis, France, 13 April 1648; d. 9 June 1717. She was born Jeanne Marie Bouvières de la Mothe, of a well-to-do family. After a convent education, she was married (1664) to the wealthy Jacques Guyon (he was then aged 38, she was 16), who died in 1676. The years of her marriage were not happy, according to JJ 'partly from disparity of years, partly from the tyranny of her mother-in-law, partly from her own quick temper' (JJ, p. 475). She had been...
INGALLS, Jeremiah. b. Andover, Massachusetts, 1 March 1764; d. Hancock, Vermont, 6 April 1838. Ingalls is known primarily for The Christian Harmony; or, Songster's Companion (Exeter, New Hampshire, 1805). (https://archive.org/details/christianharmony00inga)
Before marrying Mary Bigelow in 1781, Ingalls had moved to Newbury, Vermont, where he made a living as a cooper and farmer. In 1794, he became a choir leader at the Newbury Congregational Church, and two years later, his tune NEW JERUSALEM...
MERCER, Jesse. b. Halifax County, North Carolina, 16 December 1769; d. Butts County, Georgia, 6 September 1841. Mercer was a prominent Baptist minister, and essentially the founder of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. His main contribution to hymnody was The Cluster of Spiritual Songs ('Mercer's 'Cluster'*), a words-only collection that provided texts for William Walker*'s Southern Harmony* and other important shape-note collections.
Jesse Mercer was the first of eight children born to Silas...
Jesu, der du bist alleine. Gerhard Tersteegen* (1697-1769).
From Tersteegen's Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein, Drittes Büchlein (Book III) (1731), where it had eleven 6-line stanzas and was entitled 'Brüderliche Fürbitts-Seufzer' ('brotherly sighs of intercession'). It is found in EG in the 'Sammlung und Sendung' section (EG 252), with the omission of stanzas 5 and 9:
5. In der argen Welt sie rette, Und den Satan bald zertrete Gänzlich unter ihre Füß: Lödte, durch den Geist von innen,...
Jesu, thy blood and righteousness. Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf* (1700-1760), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
Wesley found Zinzendorf's 'Christi Blut und Gerechtigkeit' in the 1739 Appendix to Das Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Herrnhut (1735). His free translation was published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), with the title 'The Believer's Triumph. From the German':
Jesu, Thy blood and righteousnessMy beauty are, my glorious dress:Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,With joy shall I...
Jesu, thy boundless love to me. Paul Gerhardt* (1607-1676), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
This is a translation of Gerhardt's 'O Jesu Christ, mein schönstes Licht'*, a very beautiful hymn of 16 verses based on a prayer in Johann Arndt*'s Paradiesgärtlein (1612). Wesley translated all 16 stanzas, turning Gerhardt's 9-line stanzas into 6-line ones. He found the hymn in the Moravian Das Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Herrnhut (1735), and translated it on the way home from Georgia, saying...
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. Richard Hutton, or Richard Hutchins, 18th Century, dates unknown.
The first line of this carol is 'The tree of life my soul hath seen'. It is found in Volume 1 of Divine, Moral, and Historical Miscellanies, in Prose and Verse. Containing many Valuable Originals, Communicated by Various Correspondents, and other Pieces extracted from different Authors, and antient Manuscripts. The Whole being such a Collection of Miscellaneous Thoughts, as will tend not only to...
Jesus Christus herrscht als König. Philipp Friedrich Hiller* (1699-1769).
First published in Hiller's Die Reyhe der Vorbilder Jesu Christi (Stuttgart, 1757). Unlike the hymns in Hiller's Geistliches Liederkästlein, this was a long hymn of 26 stanzas, shortened to 11 (1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 18, 20, 25, 26) in EG, where it is found in the 'Himmelfahrt' ('Ascension') section (EG 123). Its original title was 'Lied von dem grossen Erlöser den 28. Aug. 1755. über Ephes. 1, 21, 22.' It is a hymn of...
Jesus lebt, mit ihm auch ich. Christian Fürchtegott Gellert* (1715-1769).
This is the better known of two Easter hymns, 'Osterlieder', in Gellert's Geistliche Oden und Lieder (Leipzig, 1757) (the other is 'Erinnre dich, mein Geist, erfreut'). This one is in six stanzas, each of which ends with 'Diese ist meine Zuversicht' ('This is my confidence'), with a final verse triumphantly addressing God: 'Herr, Herr, meine Zuversicht'. It rapidly became popular and has remained so: all six stanzas are...
Jesus nimmt die Sünder an. Erdmann Neumeister* (1671-1756).
First published in Neumeister's Evangelischer Nachklang (Hamburg, 1718) on the acceptance of sinners (Luke 15: 2) in eight 6-line stanzas. This has been widely used in Germany, and is still in EG in all eight verses (EG 353). There have been several translations into English: the best known is that by Emma Frances Bevan*, 'Sinners Jesus will receive'*. The original text repeats the first line at the end of each stanza, and at the...
Jesus soll die Losung sein. Benjamin Schmolck* (1672-1737).
First published in Schmolck's Mara und Manna, oder: Neue Sammlung von Creutz- Trost- Klag- und Freuden-Liedern (Breslau and Liegnitz, 1726). It had nine 6-line stanzas, and was entitled 'Jesus Name zum neuen Jahre' ('Jesu's Name for the New Year, 1725'). It is in EG in the 'Jahreswende' ('turn of the year') section, in five verses (EG 62). The omitted verses were 5 ('Unsers Kaysers Majestät'), 6 ('Jesus Name, Jesus Kraft'), 7 ('Jesus...
Jesus, and didst Thou condescend. Mary Wakeford* (1724-1772).
This was published in John Ash* and Caleb Evans*'s Collection of Hymns Adapted to Public Worship (Bristol, 1769) (see 'Ash and Evans's A Collection of Hymns'*). It was entitled 'Imploring Mercy'. It had five 4-line stanzas:
Jesus, and didst Thou condescend When veil'd in human Clay, To heal the Sick, the Lame, the Blind, And drive Disease away?
And didst Thou pity wretched Worms, And make the Leper whole? O let Thy Power and...
Jesus, my Saviour and my Lord. Susanna Harrison* (1752-1784).
This is from the Fourth Edition (1788) of Harrison's Songs of the Night, where it was Hymn IX, entitled 'Opening My New Bible'. It was preceded by a quotation: 'Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wonderous things out of Thy law. --- PS. cxix. 18.':
Jesus, my Saviour and my Lord, To Thee I lift mine eyes;Teach and instruct me by Thy word, And make me truly wise.
Make me to know and understand Thy whole revealed will; Fain...
Jesus, my Saviour, full of grace. Benjamin Ingham* (1712-1772).
This hymn appeared in the Inghamite hymnal, A Collection of Hymns for the Use of Those that seek, and Those that have Redemption in the Blood of Christ (Kendal, 1757), known as the 'Kendal Hymn Book'. It had six stanzas:
Jesus, the Saviour of my soul, Be Thou my heart's delight;Remain the same to me always, My joy by day and night.
Hungry and thirsty after Thee, May I be found each hour; Humble in heart, and happy kept By...
BRUN, Johan Nordahl. b. 21 March 1745; 26 July 1816. Born at Byneset (now in Norway), he was educated at the University of Trondheim. He became a private tutor, and accompanied his pupil to Soro in Denmark (where, according to the Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal, 1942, p. 488, he took the theological examination after only three months' study and was placed in the lowest possible grade; he re-took the examination at Copenhagen in 1767, after more study, and did better). After periods as a...
WALLIN, Johan Olof. b. Stora Tuna, Dalarna, Sweden, 15 October 1779; d. Uppsala, 30 June 1839. The son of a soldier, Wallin studied at Falun, Västeros, and Uppsala (PhD, 1803). He was ordained in 1806, and became theological assistant, then lecturer at Karlberg War College (1807), and pastor at Solna (1808). In 1812 he was appointed pastor of Adolf Frederik Church, Stockholm. He was subsequently dean of Västeros (1818-21), pastor of Storkyrkan Church, Stockholm (1821-24), Bishop (1824) and...
FREYLINGHAUSEN, Johann Anastasius. b. Gandersheim, near Braunschweig, 2 December 1670; d. Halle, 12 February 1739. He was educated at the University of Jena, which he found unsatisfactory (1689-91), so that he moved to Erfurt, where he was influenced by Joachim Justus Breithaupt and August Hermann Francke*: he became assistant to Francke in 1694, and moved with him to Glaucha, a part of Halle. Freylinghausen married Francke's daughter Johanna in 1715, and became his colleague at St Ulrich's at...
ROTHE, Johann Andreas. b. Lissa, near Görlitz, 12 May 1688; d. Thommendorf, near Bunzlau, 6 July 1758. He was the son of a Protestant priest. He studied theology in Leipzig, and in 1711 he was admitted to the preachers' college of the Church of the Holy Trinity at Görlitz. From 1719 to 1722 he was private tutor to Count von Schweinitz at Leuba near Görlitz, before Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf* called him to be priest at Bethelsdorf (in which parish 'Herrnhut' was situated). As a rousing...
LAVATER, Johann Kaspar. b. Zürich, Switzerland, 15 November 1741; d. Zürich, 2 January 1801. The son of a doctor, he was educated in his native city in the Academic Gymnasium and the Theological Faculty of the University (as a young man he was a close friend of Heinrich Füssli, who came to England and became famous as the painter Henry Fuseli). Lavater was ordained in 1762, taking up a position as diaconus of the Orphanage Church in 1769 and becoming pastor in 1775. In 1778 he became diaconus...
DOBER, Johann Leonhard. b. 7 March 1706; d. 1 April 1766. Like his father, he was a potter by trade, a descendant of Bohemian brethren who had emigrated to Mönksroth, Northern Bavaria. According to accounts of his life, in 1723 he was 'immediat vom Heyland ergriffen' ('suddenly moved by the Saviour'), and in 1725 he followed his elder brother Martin to Herrnhut, where he worked as a potter. In 1732 he went with David Nitschmann as the first missionary to St Thomas in the West Indies, from which...
STEINER, Johann Ludwig. b. Zürich, 1 July 1688; d. Zürich, 27 March 1761. He was the son of the town trumpeter of Zürich, whom he succeeded in 1705, carrying on the family tradition of providing the town trumpeter for almost 200 years, from 1617 to 1803. Johann was an accomplished musician, who had organ lessons from L. Kellersberger at Baden (Aargau), and who played other instruments. He was also a skilled clock-maker. He was the composer of the first Swiss single-author collection of hymn...
BACH, Johann Sebastian. b. Eisenach, 21 March 1685; d. Leipzig, 28 July 1750. He was the most important member of a Thuringian family of musicians, whose technical accomplishment as a performer was revered by his contemporaries, and whose genius as a composer was not only recognized during his own time but has significantly influenced the development of Western music.
He was born in Eisenach and attended the local Latin school, the same one that Martin Luther* had attended two hundred years...
HERBST, Johannes. b. Kempten, Swabia, 23 July 1735; d. Salem, North Carolina, USA, 15 January 1812. Herbst was educated at the Moravian Church school in Herrnhut, Saxony. He served the church in various non-ministerial capacities in the Moravian communities of Gnadenfrey, Gnadenberg, and Kleinwelke (in Germany) and Fulneck (in England). After his ordination as a minister in the Moravian Church in 1774, he was superintendent of the communities of Neudietendorf and Gnadenfrey. In 1786 Herbst and...
SCHMIDLIN, Johannes. b. Zürich, 22 May 1722; d. Wetzikon, 5 November 1771. The son of a ship's captain, he was a student at the music college of the church of Our Lady at Zürich. From 1736 he attended the Collegium Carolinum under Cantor Johann Caspar Bachofen, who influenced him greatly. At the same time he studied theology, and was ordained in 1743. He was vicar of Dietlikon (1744-54) and priest of Wetzikon and Seegräben from 1754 until his death. He was known as a composer of edifying...
STAPFER, Johannes. b. Bern, Switzerland, 1719 (baptised 27 December); d. Bern, 21 October 1801. He was educated at Bern, and became a minister of the Swiss Reformed Church, serving at Aarburg (in the Canton of Bern, now in Aargau), before returning to Bern as Professor of Practical Theology at the Theological College in 1756. He taught at the Latin School at Bern (1761-73) and at the Theology College (1774- ), where he was Rektor (1787-90, and 1796). His sermons were printed as Johannes...
STEVENSON, (Sir) John Andrew. b. Dublin, 1761; d. Kells, County Meath, 14 September 1833. Born in Crane Lane off Dame Street, Dublin, he was an indentured choirboy at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, in 1775, receiving tutorage under Richard Woodward junior and Samuel Murphy. He was appointed stipendiary at St Patrick's Cathedral on 20 July 1775 by Dean Cradock and at Christ Church Cathedral in 1781; then vicar choral at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1783 and at Christ Church Cathedral in 1800. He...
ANTES, John (Johann). b. Frederick, Pennsylvania, 24 March 1740; d. Bristol, England, 17 December 1811. Born near the Moravian Church community of Bethlehem, Antes was educated at the Moravian Boys' School in Bethlehem, where his talent in music was encouraged. During the early 1760s, he established an instrument-making atelier in Bethlehem where he crafted violins, violas, and violoncellos (he is known to have made at least seven instruments, of which two are still extant). Feeling the call of...
ASH, John. b. 1724; d. Pershore, Worcestershire, 10 April 1779. Ash was received for training at Bristol Academy in July 1740, commended by the Loughwood Baptist Church, Devon. His only church was at Pershore, where he was ordained in 1751. He published several grammars and dictionaries, and also Sentiments on Education Collected from the best writers (2 vols, London, 1777); his section 'On female accomplishments' was much liked by Anne Steele*. He was a friend of Caleb Evans*. The close...
CENNICK, John. b. Reading, Berkshire, 12 December 1718; d. London, 4 July 1755. On one side of the family his grandparents had been Quakers, persecuted for their beliefs, but his parents were members of the Church of England. He was educated at Reading, and brought up strictly, 'kept constant to daily Prayers'. As a young man he subsequently went through a period of depression. He was trained as a shoemaker.
He had an experience of salvation in 7 September 1737, and sought out the Methodists in...
KUNZE, John Christopher. b. Artern, Saxony, Germany, 5 August 1744; d. New York City, 24 July 1807. A prominent, innovative educator and Lutheran clergyman of Pietist persuasion, Kunze was orphaned in 1758. He attended the orphanage school in Halle, and received a classical education at the gymnasia in Rossleben and Merseburg. He went on to study history, philosophy, and theology at the University of Leipzig, following which he worked as a teacher for three years at Closter-Bergen, near...
LOGAN, John. b. Soutra, Midlothian, 1747 or 1748; d. London, 28 December 1788. He was educated at schools at Soutra and Musselburgh, and at the University of Edinburgh (1762-65). His family had been members of the Associate Burgher Secession Church founded by Ebenezer Erskine, but Logan joined the Church of Scotland and was ordained as a minister at Leith in 1773. In 1775, perhaps through the influence of William Cameron*, he was appointed to the Committee of the General Assembly charged with...
MORISON, John. b. Cairnie, Aberdeenshire, 1750 (baptized 12 June); d. Canisbay, Caithness, 12 June 1798. He was a student at King's College, Aberdeen, after which he became a private tutor, first at Dunnet, Caithness, then at Halkirk (1768-ca. 1771). For a short time in 1773 he was a teacher at Thurso, before moving to Edinburgh. He contributed poetical pieces to Ruddiman's Edinburgh Weekly Magazine under the pseudonym 'Musaeus', and met Dr Macfarlane, minister of Canongate Kirk, who was a...
MURRAY, John. b. Alton, Hampshire, England, ca. 1740; d. Boston, Massachusetts, 3 September 1815. Murray is regarded as the founder of the Universalist denomination in America (see Unitarian-Universalist hymnody, USA*). He contributed five hymn texts to James Relly* and John Relly's Christian Hymns, Poems, and Sacred Songs: Sacred to the Praise of God Our Saviour (Portsmouth, Massachusetts, 1782). His wife, Judith Murray*, became an important American literary figure and Universalist...
SWERTNER, John. b. Haarlem, the Netherlands, 1746; d. Bristol, 11 March 1813. As a young man he came to England, where he married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Cennick*. He was the minister of the Moravian church at Dublin, and for ten years minister of the Fairfield Moravian Settlement, Droylsden, Manchester (1790-1800).
He was the editor of the British Moravian hymnbook, A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Protestant Church of the United Brethren (1789) and of its enlarged edition,...
THOMAS, John (I). b. Myddfai, Carmarthenshire, 1730 (baptized 25 March); d. between 1804 and 1811. He learned to read as a boy with the help of friends and through Sunday school. He was converted by the preaching of Howell Harris in 1743 and later went to Trevecca, subsequently teaching in Griffith Jones's circulating schools in south Wales. He joined the Congregationalists, attended the Academy at Abergavenny, and was ordained in 1767 as minister of Rhayader and Llandrindod. He left...
TUFTS, John. b. Medford, Massachusetts, 26 February 1689; d. Amesbury, Massachusetts, 17 August 1750. Tufts was a minister, merchant, probably a singing teacher, and possibly a composer. He compiled An Introduction to the Art of Singing Psalm-Tunes (1721?), considered the first American music textbook.
John Tufts was the third son of Captain Peter Tufts (1648-1721) and Mercy Cotton Tufts (1666-1715). He graduated from Harvard College (AB, 1708), and was ordained on 30 June 1714 in connection...
A Collection of Psalms and Hymns (CPH, 1737) was the first Anglican hymnal published in Colonial America for use in private and public worship (Evans, no. 4207). It was compiled and published in 1737 at Charles-town [now Charleston], South Carolina, by the missionary-priest, John Wesley*, for use in his ministry to English settlers and others who attended his religious societies in Savannah and Frederica, in the Georgia colony.
The Collection is patterned after resources used by Anglican...
Evans, Jonathan. b. Coventry, 1748 or 1749; d. Foleshill, near Coventry, 31 August 1809. He worked in a ribbon factory as a young man. He was converted by hearing a sermon by George Burder*, who remained a close associate and staunch friend. He was led to preach at Foleshill: his preaching was so attractive that the chapel was enlarged in 1795. In 1797 he was ordained to the Congregational ministry. Burder was one of three people who gave addresses at the service, later published as Three...
ADDISON, Joseph. b. Milston, near Aylesbury, Wiltshire, 1 May 1672; d. Kensington, London, 17 June 1719. He was the son of a clergyman who became Dean of Lichfield. He was educated at Charterhouse and (after a period at Queen's College) Magdalen College, Oxford (BA 1691, MA 1693). He became a prominent man of letters: he first made his name with a poem, The Campaign, written in 1704 to celebrate the Duke of Marlborough's victory at Blenheim. He was extremely active politically in Whig circles,...
HAYDN, (Franz) Joseph. b. Rohrau, Lower Austria, 31 March 1732; d. Gumpendorf, near Vienna, 31 May 1809. He and his brother Michael Haydn* grew up in the environment of the late Austrian Baroque period — he was a chorister at St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna and later enjoyed a long career as a composer, initially under patronage (notably with Nicholas of Esterházy between 1761 and 1790) but later, able to earn his living without aristocratic support, he was a free artist who was lionised in...
MURRAY, Judith Sargent. b. Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1 May 1751; d. Natchez, Mississippi, 9 June 1820. She was an essayist, writer for women's rights, poet, and playwright. Possibly she was the first American-born woman to have a hymn published in a hymnal.
Judith's parents were Winthrop Sargent (1727-1793) and Judith Sanders Sargent (1731-1793). The Sargent family had been well established in Gloucester for several generations. 'In spite of his activity in introducing Universalism [cf.,...
Kindred in Christ, for his dear sake. John Newton* (1725-1807).
From Olney Hymns (1779). It was in Book II, 'On occasional Subjects', in a section entitled 'Providences'. It was Hymn LXX, entitled 'A welcome to christian friends':
Kindred in Christ, for his dear sake, A hearty welcome here receive; May we together now partake The joys which only he can give!
To you and us by grace 'tis giv'n, To know the Saviour's precious name; And shortly we shall meet in heav'n, Our hope, our way, our...
Kommt, Kinder, lasst uns gehen. Gerhard Tersteegen* (1697-1769).
First published in Tersteegen's Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein, Drittes Büchlein (Book III) (1738) in 19 stanzas (8-line). It was entitled 'Ermunterungs-Lied für die Pilger' ('a hymn of encouragement for pilgrims'). Of the 19 stanzas, 11 are printed at EG 393, omitting verses 3 ('Der Ausgang der geschehen'), 7 ('Laßt uns nicht viel besehen'), 8 ('Ist gleich der Weg was enge'), 9 ('Was wir hier hör'n und sehen'), 10 ('Wir wandeln...
Les anges dans nos campagnes. French carol, perhaps from Lorraine, perhaps 18 century.
This is the original French carol from which several translations have been made into English. They include 'The angels we have heard on high' by James Chadwick* ('Angels we have heard on high'* in The Holy Family Hymns, 1860, and Crown of Jesus, 1862) , 'Bright angel hosts are heard on high' by R.R. Chope*, 'Angels, we have heard your voices' by Richard Runciman Terry*. There are variations in the text, both...
Let Christian faith and hope dispel. John Logan* (1748-1788).
This was paraphrase 48 in Translations and Paraphrases (1781), part of the material for worship, together with the Scottish Psalter*, that dominated services in the Church of Scotland until recent times. The full title was Translations and Paraphrases, in verse, of several passages of Sacred Scripture. Collected and Prepared by a Committee of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in order to be sung in...
Let not your hearts with anxious thoughts. William Robertson, d. 1745*.
This is one of two paraphrases of chapter 14 of St John's Gospel. The first begins as above, and paraphrases verses 1-7; its companion-piece, 'You now must hear my voice no more', paraphrases verses 25-28. According to James Mearns* in JJ (p. 672), Robertson wrote them both for the draft of the never-published Translations and Paraphrases of 1745; they were identified as the work of Robertson by the daughter of William...
Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier,/ deinem Worte nachzuleben. Benjamin Schmolck* (1672-1737). First published in Schmolck's Heilige Flammen der himmlisch-gesinnter Seele (1704), in seven 6-line stanzas. It was entitled 'Gute Gedanken der Paten, welche mit einem Kinde zur Tauffe reisen' ('Good Reflections of the Godparents, who are on their way to Baptism with the child'). It is found in EG in the 'Taufe und Konfirmation' ('Baptism and Confirmation') section (EG 206). The omitted verses were 4 ('Wach...
Lo, God is here! Let us adore. Gerhard Tersteegen* (1697-1769), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
Tersteegen's hymn, 'Gott ist gegenwärtig'*, was published in his Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein (1729), and then in the Moravian hymnbook, Das Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Herrnhut (1735), where Wesley would have found it. His translation was included in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), entitled 'Public Worship. From the German'.
Terasteegen's hymn has eight 8-line verses. Wesley translated six, in...
The London Hospitals and their hymns
The mid-18th century saw a remarkable burst of new London hospitals (in the wider sense of charitable homes), some of which played an important part in the development of hymnody.
The reasons for the rapid rise of philanthropy are various. Greater sexual promiscuity resulting from early industrialization, urbanization, and the decline of the Puritan ethic had led to soaring numbers of births outside marriage, and to increases in prostitution and venereal...
Lord, can a helpless worm like me. Susanna Harrison* (1752-1784).
From Harrison's Songs in the Night, by a young woman under deep afflictions, first published in 1780. In the Seventh American Edition (New York, 1847) it was no. LXIII. It was prefaced with a quotation: '“Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus.” - Heb. xii. 1,2.' It had five stanzas:
Lord, can a helpless worm like me Attempt to make her way to thee? Yes, let me raise thy praises high - In...
Love's redeeming work is done. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
The first stanza of this hymn is stanza 2 of Charles Wesley's 'Christ the Lord is risen today'*. Wesley used quotation marks in the first line to indicate that he was echoing the first line of the hymn from Lyra Davidica (1708), 'Jesus Christ is risen today'*. He probably wanted to demonstrate that he could write a different, and greater, hymn than the three simple stanzas of Lyra Davidica.
'Christ the Lord is risen today' was first...
GOTTER, Ludwig Andreas. b. Gotha, 26 May 1661; d. Gotha, 19 Sept 1735. The son of a Lutheran Superintendent, he worked in his native town in local government, first as a secretary and then as a senior official (Hofrat). He is described in JJ as 'a pious, spiritually-minded man, with tendencies towards Pietism; and one of the best hymn-writers of the period' (p. 444). His hymns appeared in the Geistreiches Gesang-Buch (Halle, 1697); nine were in the important Pietist collection, Johann...
Lyra Davidica (1708). The full title of this book is Lyra Davidica, or, A Collection of Divine Songs and Hymns, Partly New Compos'd, partly Translated from the High-German, and Latin Hymns: And set to easy and pleasant Tunes, for more General Use. A quotation from Isaiah on the title page reads 'Isa. XXIV. XVI, XIV, XV. From the [Wing] of the Earth we have heard Songs: Even Glory to the Righteous. — They shall Sing for the Majesty of the Lord; they shall Cry aloud from the Sea. — Wherefore...
Mein erst Gefühl sei Preis und Dank. Christian Fürchtegott Gellert* (1715-1769). From Gellert's Geistliche Oden und Lieder (Leipzig, 1757), where it had 12 stanzas. It is shortened in EG (451) to 10, omitting verses 3 and 4, which address God: ('Who watches over me?… Who strengthens me, and protects me from dangers?… Who teaches the eyes their duty?… Who calls the day to awaken the soul?'):
Wer wacht, wenn ich von mir nichts weiß
Mein Leben zu bewahren?
Wer stärkt mein Blut in seinem...
Methodist Sunday-school hymnals and songbooks, USA
A list of collections with or without music published by or for the Methodist Episcopal Church (1784-1939), the Methodist Protestant Church (1830-1939), the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (1845-1939) and the Methodist Church (1939-1968). Many collections were issued for general use, e.g. The Cokesbury Hymnal (MEC,S 1923+), The Abingdon Hymnal (MEC 1928+), Abingdon Song Book (MEC 1938+) and Upper Room Hymns (MC 1942+).
Methodist Episcopal...
BRUCE, Michael. b. Kinnesswood, Kinross-shire, 27 March 1746; d. Kinnesswood, 5 July 1767. The son of a weaver, he was educated at the local schools: he entered Edinburgh University, intending to become a minister, but died while still an undergraduate. During vacations from the university, he taught at schools at Gairney Bridge and Tillicoultry in order to pay for his studies, and joined a 'singing class' at Kinnesswood in which the members sang hymns composed by him, written down in a...
HAYDN, (Johann) Michael. b. Rohrau, Lower Austria, 1737 (baptized 14 September); d. Salzburg, 10 August 1806. Born at Rohrau, like his elder brother (Franz) Joseph Haydn*, he was a chorister at St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. Accounts of his life state that in 1757 he became Kapellmeister at Grosswardein (now Oradea, Roumania) to the bishop Count Firmian, though there is no evidence of his being there until 1760. There he composed 15 symphonies and 14 masses among other works. In 1763 he took...
Mir ist Erbarmung widerfahren. Philipp Friedrich Hiller* (1699-1769).
Based on 1 Timothy 1: 13, 'Mir ist Barmherzigkeit widerfahren' ('to me has mercy happened again'), this had five stanzas, prefaced by the quotation: 'Ein Unbekehrter ist in seinem Sinn viel zu hochmüthig, daß er das sagen sollte von Herzen; aber ein Bekehrter spricht vor Gott und Menschen davon' ('An unconverted person is much too proud in mind, but a converted one speaks before God and not from people'). In Hiller's...
Mission hymnody, USA
Beginnings
The beginnings of American churches' missions can be traced to the efforts of John Eliot (1604-1690) to gather 'Praying Indians' into towns for worship, preaching, language instruction and Bible study; the churches and day schools established by John Sargent (1710-1749) in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and Eleazar Wheelock (1711-1779) in Connecticut; and the organization of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge among 'Indians' in North America in...
Monarche aller Ding. Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen* (1670-1739).
First published in Freylinghausen's Neues Geist-reiches Gesang-Buch (Halle, 1714). It had eleven 6-line stanzas. It was described by James Mearns* in JJ as 'a fine hymn of Praise, on the majesty and love of God' (p. 396). Its stanzas began as follows (with John Wesley*'s translation in parenthesis. He omitted stanzas 3, 4, and 8):
Monarche aller Ding ('Monarch of all, with lowly fear')
Du bist die Majestät ('Before thy Face,...
RHYS, Morgan. b. Efail-fach, Cil-y-cwm, Carmarthenshire, 1 April 1716; d. August 1779. Very little is known of his life. Such as is known comes from the references to him in Welch Piety, the annual reports of the progress of the circulating schools that Gruffydd Jones (1683-1761) provided for the subscribers to that enterprise in universal education in Wales. It is clear that Morgan Rhys was a teacher in those schools between 1757 and 1775 and that his work with both children and adults was...
My God, all nature owns Thy sway. Helen Maria Williams* (1759-1827). This is one of four 'Paraphrases from Scripture' from Williams's Poems (1786). This one is on Psalm 74: 16, 17. It was described in JJ as being 'in C.U.' ('Common Use'), and as found in Hymns for the Christian Church and Home (1840), compiled by James Martineau*. It is no longer used in Britain, and its time in the USA seems to be over also:
PSALM lxxiv. 16, 17.
My God! all nature owns Thy sway,Thou giv'st the night, and...
My God, since I can call thee mine. John Murray* (ca. 1740-1815).
This is the fourth of five hymns, published in the 1782 edition of Christian Hymns, Poems and Sacred Songs, Sacred to the Praise of God, Our Saviour, compiled by English Universalist James Relly* and his brother John Relly. The book was first published in London in 1754, and the 1782 edition was published in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for Noah Parker (1734-1787), a convert of Murray's and preacher in Portsmouth (Brewster, pp....
My Saviour, how shall I proclaim. Paul Gerhardt* (1607-1676), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
John Wesley translated most of Gerhardt's 'O Welt, sieh hier dein Leben'*, a hymn of 16 stanzas, using verses 1, 3, 4, 6, 8-11 and 16. His translation began 'Extended on a cursed tree'. It appeared in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), with the heading 'Zechariah XII. 10. “They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced.” From the German.' The translated hymn appeared in all its nine stanzas in the...
My Shepherd will supply my need.Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
Psalm 23 has always been a great comfort in life, and in the face of death (it is often used in funerals). By the time Watts wrote his version, it had attracted several versifiers, from William Whittingham* ('The Lord is only my support') and George Herbert* ('The God of love my shepherd is'*) to Nahum Tate*/Nicholas Brady* ('The Lord himself, the mighty Lord') and Joseph Addison* ('The Lord my pasture shall prepare'*). Watts provided...
DOUGALL, Neil. b. Greenock, near Glasgow, 9 December 1776; d. Greenock, 1 October 1862. He was the son of a joiner. His father was captured by the press gang and died on service abroad. When Neil left school at Greenock, he became a sailor in the merchant marine. In 1794 he lost part of his eyesight and the use of one arm in a gunnery accident while celebrating the victory over the French by Admiral Lord Howe on 'the glorious first of June'. Leaving the sea, he became a teacher of singing, and...
'New Version', Supplement (c. 1700). Shortly after the New Version (1696) came A Supplement to the New Version of Psalms. In some ways it was a more significant enterprise than its parent book, for it was not a mere substitute for the Old Version. It offered a group of new hymns and tunes, some of which gained a permanent foothold in English hymnody.
The Supplement was advertised in the 1698 Hodgkin edition of the New Version, for binding up with the volume in either size; but the earliest...
BRADY, Nicholas. b. Bandon, Cork, Ireland, 28 October 1659; d. Richmond, Surrey, 20 May 1726. He was educated at Cork, and at Westminster School, London. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, but was sent down, for reasons that are unknown. He returned to Ireland and entered Trinity College, Dublin (BA 1685, MA 1686). He was ordained in 1687, becoming a prebendary of Cork Cathedral and the holder of several poor Irish livings. Early in the reign of William III he came to London, where he...
KANTOUNIARĒS (NAUTOUNIARĒS), Nikēphoros. b. Chios, 1750-75; d. 1830s. Born on the island of Chios, Greece, Kantouniarēs undertook a musical apprenticeship in Constantinople under the patriarchal cantor (psaltēs) Iakobos Peloponnesios* (Protopsaltes) (d. 1800). He spoke Greek, Turkish, Arabic, and maybe Romanian, French and Italian.
Kantouniarēs was an important psaltēs, a composer of both ecclesiastical and secular music, a pedagogue, scribe, and exegete. As archdeacon of Antioch, Kanoutniarēs...
ZINZENDORF, Nikolaus Ludwig von. b. Dresden, 26 May 1700; d. Herrnhut, 9 May 1760. He was raised in the home of his Pietist maternal grandmother, Henriette von Gersdorf and educated at the Pietist School (Paedagogium) at Halle and the University of Wittenberg. Although forced to study law, his true vocation was theology, and his association with the Bohemian Brethren beginning in 1722 led him to ordination in the Lutheran Church and consecration as a Moravian bishop in 1737. He was of noble...
Now I have found the ground wherein. Johann Andreas Rothe* (1688-1758), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
Rothe's hymn, 'Ich habe nun den Grund gefunden'*, was first published in Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf's Christ-Catholisches Singe- und Bet-Büchlein (1727), and then in the Moravian book that John Wesley would have encountered on his voyage to Georgia, Das Gesang-buch der Gemeine in Herrnhut (1735). It had ten stanzas, of which Wesley translated six. Rothe's magnificent hymn is...
Now may He who from the dead. John Newton* (1725-1807).
From Olney Hymns (1779), Book III, Hymn 100. It is found among the 'Short Hymns' at the end, in the section entitled 'After Sermon'. It had three stanzas:
Now may He who from the deadBrought the Shepherd of the sheep,Jesus Christ, our King and Head,All our souls in safety keep!
May he teach us to fulfill,What is pleasing in his sight;Perfect us in all his will,And preserve us day and night!
To that dear Redeemer's praise,Who the...
Nun schläfet man. Gerhard Tersteegen* (1697-1769). First published in Tersteegen's Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein. Drittes Büchlein (Book III) (1745 edition), entitled 'Andacht bey nächtlichem Wachen' ('Devotion for the night watch'). Its three verses (as in the 'Abend' (evening) section of EG (EG 480)) are a moving prayer to the God who watches and never sleeps ('du schläfst, mein Wächter, nie'). In 1745 the melody (from the 17th century, according to EG) was entitled 'Sie schläffet schon'.
JRW
Nun sich der Tag geendet hat. Gerhard Tersteegen* (1697-1769).
First published in Tersteegen's Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein, Drittes Büchlein (Book III) (1745 edition) as a hymn suitable (with alternative words) for morning or evening worship. It was entitled 'Morgens oder Abends Opffer' ('Morning or evening sacrifice'): it began 'Wann sich die Sonn erhebet'. It is used as an evening hymn in the 'Abend' section of EG (EG 478). The text is taken from stanza 6 onwards, which begins 'Nun sich der...
O could I find some peaceful bower. Susanna Harrison* (1752-1784).
This was published in Harrison's Songs of the Night (with additional tunes, 1782), No. CXXVI, with the title 'Complaining of Sin, as being Ever Present'. It had four stanzas:
O could I find some peaceful bow'r, Where sin has neither place nor pow'r!This traitor vile I fain would shun, But cannot from its presence run.
When to the throne of grace I flee, It stands betwixt my God and meWhere'er I rove, where'er I rest, I...
O God, thou bottomless abyss. Ernst Lange* (1650-1727), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
Lange's hymn, 'O Gott, du Tiefe sonder Grund'*, was first published in Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen*'s Neues Geist-reiches Gesang-Buch (Halle, 1714), and then in Das Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Herrnhut (1735), the book which the Moravian missionaries took with them to America. John Wesley, learning German from the Moravians and worshipping with them on board ship, would have found it in that...
O God, thy being who can sound. Ernst Lange* (1650-1727), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791), altered.
This is a modernized version by a Methodist minister, Rupert E. Davies, in HP of Wesley's magnificent translation of Lange's 'O Gott, du Tiefe sonder Grund'*. See 'O God, thou bottomless abyss'*.
JRW
O God, what offering shall I give. Joachim Lange* (1670-1744), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
This is John Wesley's translation of Lange's 'O Jesu, süsses Licht', which he would have found in the Moravian Das Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Herrnhut (1735). The translation was published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), with the heading 'A Morning Dedication of Ourselves to Christ. From the German.' The first stanza was as follows (with the German text for comparison):
WesleyLange
Jesu,...
O Gott, du Tiefe sonder Grund. Ernst Lange* (1650-1727).
First published in Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen*'s Neues Geist-reiches Gesang-Buch (Halle, 1714). It is a huge hymn of ten 14-line stanzas (the text may be found in John Nuelsen, John Wesley und das deutsche Kirchenlied, 1938, translated as John Wesley and the German Hymn, Calverley, Yorkshire, 1972). It is not found in EG, but it is annotated here because it was the German text for one of John Wesley*'s earliest and greatest...
O happy souls that love the Lord. Susanna Harrison* (1752-1784).
This was hymn 13 in Harrison's Songs in the Night (1780). It was prefaced by a quotation from the Book of Proverbs: 'I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me. - PROV. Viii.17.' It had eight stanzas:
O happy souls that love the Lord, He will return them, love for love: All needful grace he will afford To such as seek the world above.
They in his kind protection share, He is their father and...
O Jesus Christus, wachs' in mir. Johann Kaspar Lavater* (1741-1801).
From Lavater's Christliche Lieder…Zweytes Hundert (1780), with the date 'Am Neujahrstage 1780'. It was prefaced with the words 'Christus muß wachsen; ich aber muß abnehmen' ('Christ must increase; but I must decrease'), from John 3: 30. It is found in Part II of Lavater's Zweihundert Christliche Lieder (Zürich, 1844), at no. 86 (the book is not indexed). It had ten 4-line stanzas. It is well known in British and American books...
O let Jehovah' s liberal hand. Susanna Harrison* (1752-1784).
From Harrison's Songs in the Night, by a young woman under deep afflictions (1780). In the Seventh American Edition (New York, 1847) it was no. CXVIII, entitled 'Praising God for a Plentiful Harvest'. It had six stanzas:
O let Jehovah's liberal handBe own'd and sung through all the land'Tis He that sends a plenteous store,His name let every soul adore.
Let undeserved goodness raiseOur admiration and our praise:Such vile,...
O Lord, enlarge our scanty thought. Moravian authors, translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
This is a shortened version of selected stanzas from four Moravian hymns, found by Wesley in the 'Anhang' (Supplement) to Das Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Herrnhut (1737/1738). The hymns are all in 6-line stanzas:
Stanzas 1-2 are from Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf*'s 'Ach! mein verwundter fürste ('I thirst, Thou wounded Lamb of God'):
Stanzas 3-6 are from Johann Nitschmann*'s 'Du blutiger Versöhner'...
O that mine eyes would closed be. Thomas Ellwood* (1639-1713).
This hymn is taken from The History of the Life of Thomas Ellwood. Or, an Account of his Birth, Education, &c… Written by his own hand. To which is added a Supplement by J. W. (1714). Published after Ellwood's death, his autobiography was supplemented by Joseph Wyeth (J.W.) in which this poem is quoted on page 462:
O that mine Eye might closed be To what becomes me not to see! The Deafness might possess mine Ear, To what...
O the delights, the heavenly joys. Isaac Watts* (1674-1848).
This is Hymn 91 from Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), Book II, 'Composed on Divine Subjects, Conformable to the Word of God'. It was entitled 'The Glory of Christ in Heaven'. The nine stanzas in 1707 were as follows:
O the Delights, the heavenly Joys, The Glorys of the Place, Where Jesus sheds the brightest Beams Of his O'er-flowing Grace!
Sweet Majesty and awful Love Sit smiling on his Brow, And all the glorious Ranks...
O thou by long experience tried. Jeanne Marie Guyon* (1648-1717), translated by William Cowper* (1731-1800).
Madame Guyon's spiritual songs, entitled Poésies et Cantiques Spirituels (1722), were published after her death in 1717. Cowper translated 37 of them into English in 1782. His attention was drawn to them by his friend William Bull, the evangelical rector of Newport Pagnell. Bull published them after Cowper's death, as Poems Translated from the French of Madame de la Mothe Guion (1801)....
O'er the gloomy hills of darkness. William Williams* (1717-1791).
From Williams's Gloria in Excelsis (Carmarthen, 1772), where it was Hymn XXXVII. A correspondent to the Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal of 1941 suggests that the diction and imagery may have been inspired by the Black Mountain range in Carmarthenshire which may be seen from Williams's home (Polack, 1958, p. 352).
The customary text is one of three (or sometimes four) stanzas, selected from the original seven. It was included in...
Olney Hymns
Olney is a small town in Buckinghamshire, England. In the 18th century the principal occupation of the inhabitants was lace-making (see, for example, Eliza Westbury*). To Olney came John Newton* as curate-in-charge in 1764. In the same year he had published An Authentic Narrative of some Remarkable and Interesting Particulars in the Life of --------, a book which detailed his remarkable early life and his religious conversion. He rapidly became well known among evangelicals, and in...
On all the earth thy Spirit shower. John Wesley* (1703-1791) adapted from Henry More* (1614-1687).
This hymn consists of the last four stanzas of a hymn of fifteen stanzas by John Wesley, based on one by Henry More beginning 'When Christ his body up had born' [sic.], published in More's Divine Hymns, added to the Second Edition of his Divine Dialogues (1668), where it was entitled 'An Hymn Upon the Descent of the Holy Ghost at the Day of Pentecost'. For the first part of Wesley's hymn (eleven...
Our country is Immanuel's ground. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1742-1825).
This is a selection of stanzas from a hymn published in Barbauld's Poems (1792) beginning 'Lo where a crowd of Pilgrims toil/ Yon craggy steeps among!' The usual selection of stanzas begins as above, which is different from Barbauld's first line ('...Emanuel's land').
She portrays the pilgrims as singing on their way:
“Our country is Emanuel's land, We seek that promised soil; The songs of Zion chear our hearts, While...
WILLIAMS, Peter. b. West Marsh, near Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, 7 January 1723; d. Llandyfaelog, Carmarthenshire, 8 August 1796. He was educated at Carmarthen Grammar School. He was converted in 1743 by the preaching of George Whitefield*. He became a schoolmaster, and then decided to take Holy Orders: although he was ordained deacon, the Bishop of St David's refused to ordain him to the priesthood because of his Methodist sympathies. He was licensed as a curate, but his Methodism brought him...
PETROS Bereketes. b. 1665?; d. 1725?. The name Bereketes derives from the Turkish word 'bereket', meaning 'abundance'. The story goes that when Bereketes was asked by his pupils if he had more heirmoi for them, he always answered that he had an abundance of them. Petros studied music in his home town of Constantinople and afterwards with Damianos of Vatopedi on Mount Athos. He was influenced by works by his contemporaries Chrysaphes the Younger*, Germanos of Neai Patrai* and Balasios*. He was...
PETROS Byzantios. b. Constantinople, mid-18th century; d. Iaşi, 1808. According to Chrysanthos of Madyta* Petros Byzantios came from Constantinople and studied music with Petros Lakedaimonos. The first reference to Petros Byzantios dates from 1771, when he was appointed second domestikos at the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. He was promoted to first domestikos (1778-89), then lampadarios (1789-1800) and finally protopsaltes (1800-05), from which post he was dismissed by patriarch...
PETROS Peloponnesios. b. ca. 1730; d. Constantinople, 1778. Petros Peloponnesios received his first instruction in music from monks in Smyrna. He went to Constantinople in 1764, where he became a pupil of Ioannes Trapezuntios*, then protopsaltes at the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia. After singing as a domestikos, Petros was promoted to lampadarios between 1769 and 1773. Petros Peloponnesios also taught at the patriarchal school of music alongside Daniel Protopsaltes* and Iakobos Peloponnesios*,...
BROWN, Phoebe Hinsdale (née Hinsdale). b. Canaan, New York State, 1 May 1783; d. Henry, Marshall County, Illinois, 10 October 1861. Hinsdale's parents died when she was a child, her father when she was less than a year old, and her mother when she was eight. She was brought up for a year by her grandmother, who taught her reading and instructed her in religion; but she was then sent to live with her married sister and cruel husband at Claverack, New Jersey, who treated her as a household slave...
Pocket Hymn Book (1787)
The history of A Pocket Hymn Book begins with a production by Robert Spence, a bookseller in York. In 1781 Spence had earlier, to John Wesley*'s disapproval, printed a much shortened version of the 1780 Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists. The 1780 book was expensive, and Spence saw an opportunity. He added 'about fifty hymns by other authors popular in evangelical circles', reduced it in size, and printed it as A Pocket Hymn Book, designed...
Psalmodia Germanica (1722). Psalmodia Germanica; or a Specimen of Divine Hymns, Translated from the High Dutch. Together with their Proper Tunes and Thorough Bass was published in London in 1722. It was dedicated to the Princesses Anne, Amalia and Carolina (the first two were the daughters of the future George II, who became king in 1727; Carolina was his wife), and it consisted of 'a Translation of Psalmody, used in the Native Country of your Royal Highnesses'. A Psalmodia Germanica, Part II...
Quiet, Lord, my froward heart. John Newton* (1725-1807).
From Book III of Olney Hymns (1779), 'On the Rise, Progress, Changes, and Comforts of the Spiritual Life.' This hymn comes from Section V, 'Dedication and Surrender'. It was entitled 'The Child (e)'. The '(e)' points to two references at the foot of the page, Psalm 131: 2 ('Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child') and Matthew 18: 3-4 ('Except ye be converted,...
DAVIS, Richard. b. Cardiganshire, Wales, 1658; d. Rothwell, Northamptonshire, 1714. WRS (W.R. Stevenson) in JJ, p. 281 notes that he was well educated, and a person who was for some years master of a school in London. He must have become an Independent Church minister at some point, because he was invited by the congregation at Rothwell to become their pastor. He remained there for 24 years, which indicates a pastorate from 1690 onwards.
Stevenson described him as 'a remarkable man', who...
Ride on, Jesu, all-victorious. William Williams* (1717-1791), translated by Gwilym Owen Williams* (1913-1990).
This hymn by William Williams Pantycelyn, 'Marchog Jesu, yn llwyddiannus', is part of a five-stanza hymn printed in Williams's Gloria in Excelsis (1772), beginning 'Mewn anialwch 'r wyf yn trigo'. The full text of the hymn is in Llyfr Emynau a Thonau y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd a Wesleaidd (1929) at nos. 420 (stanzas 4 and 5) and 421 (stanzas 1, 2 and 3).
This translation is of stanzas...
BURNS, Robert. b. Alloway, Ayrshire, 25 January 1759; d. Dumfries, 21 July 1796. The son of a 'cotter', an agricultural labourer too poor to own his own house, Burns was given a good local education, read much as a child, and began to write poems while still at school. His family remained very poor, before and after his father's death in 1784. With his brother Gilbert he continued to farm, so unsuccessfully that he contemplated emigration to Jamaica. Before leaving, however, he sent his poems...
Salvation! O the joyful sound. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748) and Walter Shirley* (1725-1786).
This began as 'LXXXVIII. Salvation' in Book II, 'Compos'd on Divine Subjects', of Isaac Watts's Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707). It had three stanzas:
Salvation! O the joyful Sound! 'Tis Music to our Ears; A Sovereign Balm for every Wound, A Cordial for our Fears.
Bury'd in Sorrow and in Sin, At Hell's dark Door we lay, But we arise by Grace Divine To see a heavenly Day.
Salvation! let the Eccho...
OCCOM, Samson. b. Mohegan Nation, near New London, Connecticut, 1723; d. Brothertown, New York, 14 July 1792. Occom was converted to Christianity in 1741 by the preaching and singing of James Davenport (1716-1757), a Connecticut 'New light' preacher. He attended Eleazar Wheelock's (1711-1779) school for four years and learned English, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. Occom was ordained by the Suffolk Presbytery on Long Island, New York, in 1759, and served as a teacher and minister and in a variety of...
DAVIES, Samuel. b. New Castle, Delaware, 3 November 1723; d. Princeton, New Jersey, 4 February 1761. Born at the Welsh tract, Pencader Hundred, he was given money for his education by William Robinson, a Presbyterian minister of New Brunswick, and was educated at Fagg's Manor, Pennsylvania, by one of the best teachers in the USA, Samuel Blair. He was licensed as a probationer by the Presbytery of New Castle in 1746, and became a very successful evangelist in Virginia in 1747, later settling in...
The Sandemanian Church was formed in Scotland, ca. 1730, by John Glas (1695-1773), who was dismissed from his charge as minister of Tealing, near Dundee, and who formed an independent church of his followers, opposed to the authority of anything except Holy Scripture, and believing that the death of Jesus Christ was sufficient to present even the worst sinner spotless before God (this antinomian doctrine was the subject of James Hogg's Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner,...
Saviour, visit thy plantation. John Newton* (1725-1807).
This was Hymn LI in Book II ('On Occasional Subjects') of Olney Hymns (1779). Book II was divided into four sections, 'Seasons', 'Ordinances', 'Providences', and 'Creation'. The present hymn was in section II. It was entitled 'Prayer for a revival'. There were five 8-line stanzas, notable for Newton's ability to sustain the gardening metaphor, and for a lament by his usually sanguine spirit:
Saviour, visit thy plantation, Grant us,...
Set-Piece
A set piece (or set-piece) is, loosely speaking, a choral setting of sacred or secular metrical poetry performed with or without accompaniment, sometimes with the congregation, usually but not necessarily non-strophic—that is, usually but not necessarily through-composed. As it is not practical to formulate a precise definition based directly on musical and textual characteristics, in this article 'set-piece' is defined as a piece that has been designated a set piece by a composer,...
Show pity, Lord, O Lord, forgive. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
From The Psalms of David imitated in the language of the New Testament, and apply'd to the Christian State and Worship (1719). It was entitled 'Psalm LI. First Part. Long Metre. A Penitent Pleading for Pardon.' It had six stanzas:
Shew pity, Lord, O Lord forgive, Let a repenting Rebel live: Are not thy Mercies large and free? May not a Sinner trust in Thee?
My Crimes are great, but not surpass The Power and Glory of thy Grace: Great...
BALLOU, Silas. b. Cumberland, Rhode Island, 24 February 1753; d. Richmond, New Hampshire, 10 February 1837. Silas Ballou was the son of James (1723-1812) and Tamasin (née) Cook Ballou (1725-1804) , and a cousin of Hosea Ballou*. He was largely self-educated and his verses were popular with his peers. In addition to hymns, he wrote several patriotic ballads and occasional verses. He married Hannah Hilton (1756-1837) in 1774 and they had seven children.
Ballou compiled an early Universalist...
Stop, poor sinner! stop and think. John Newton* (1725-1807).
This is from Olney Hymns (1779), Book III, 'On the Rise, Progress, Changes, and Comforts of the Spiritual Life.' It was the second hymn in the first section of Book III, 'Solemn Addresses to Sinners', entitled 'Alarm'. It had five stanzas:
Stop, poor sinner! stop and think Before you farther go!Will you sport upon the brink Of everlasting woe?Once again I charge you, stop! For, unless you warning take,Ere you are aware, you...
HARRISON, Susanna. b. 1752; d. Ipswich, 3 August 1784. Little is known of Harrison's early years. It is probable that she was born in Ipswich, where she lived and died. Her father died when she was young, and she became responsible for the younger children. She took up a post as a domestic servant, ca. 1768, when she was 16 years old. She remained in service for four years, but became ill, remaining an invalid for the rest of her life. Her hymns were published anonymously as Songs in the Night,...
Sweet the time, exceeding sweet. George Burder* (1752-1832).
According to JJ, p. 1108, this was first published in the Gospel Magazine, April 1779, in five stanzas, headed 'An Hymn for Christian Company', and signed 'A.R'. In Burder's A Collection of Hymns, from various authors, intended as a supplement to Dr. Watts's hymns, and imitation of the psalms (Coventry, 1784), it was indexed as by 'G. Burder'. It was entitled 'Another', one of five hymns on 'Brotherly love' in different...
Synod of Relief hymns
The 'presbytery of relief' was founded in 1761 by three Scottish ministers, Thomas Gillespie of Dunfermline, Thomas Boston of Jedburgh, and Thomas Collier of Conisburgh, Fife, formerly of Ravenstonedale, Northumberland. Gillespie, who had been educated at the University of Edinburgh and under Philip Doddridge* at Northampton, had been deposed as minister of Carnock, near Dunfermline by the General Assembly in 1752. He had opposed the imposition of ministers by patronage,...
Tell me no more of earthly toys. Susanna Harrison* (1752-1784).
From Harrison's Songs in the Night (1780). This hymn was included in John Dobell*'s A New Selection of Seven Hundred Evangelical Hymns (1806), but it was never much used in Britain. The publication of Dobell's book in the USA made it widely known. It was entitled 'Renouncing the World', and sometimes associated with 1 Timothy 6: 6 ('godliness with contentment is great gain')or 2 Corinthians 4: 18 ('While we look not at the things...
Temperance is one of the four cardinal virtues, and it is recorded as one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 23). St Paul preached to Felix about temperance (Acts 24: 25) and the Second Epistle General of Peter includes temperance as part of the divine nature to which Christians are to aspire (2 Peter 1: 6). It was assimilated into the Christian order of moral thought from the 'nothing too much' of Greek philosophy, and it has remained an important constituent of the Christian life,...
The one thing needful, that good part. Benjamin Ingham* (1712-1772).
This unusual hymn was published in The Gospel Magazine (July 1768), and was included in A Collection of Hymns sung in the Countess of Huntingdon's Chapels, Bath (Bristol, ca. 1774). It is based on the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10: 38-42, in which Martha was 'cumbered about much serving', but 'one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.' It had six stanzas:
The one...
The race that long in darkness pin'd. John Morison* (1750-1798).
This paraphrase of Isaiah 9: 2-8 was written for the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases (1781). It has a complicated history, and has appeared in many versions.
Morison originally wrote a six-stanza text, reproduced in JJ, p. 1155, containing two blood-curdling stanzas (3 and 4) that do not accord well with the final vision of the coming of the Prince of Peace:
For thou our burden hast remov'd ,
and quell'd th'oppressor's...
The Sacred Harp
The Sacred Harp (Philadelphia: T. K. & P. G. Collins, 1844) was a 'Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Odes, and Anthems; selected from the most eminent authors, together with nearly one hundred pieces never before published…well adapted to churches of every denomination, singing schools, and private societies, with plain rules for learners', by B. F. White* and Elisha J. King*, of Hamilton, Georgia.
The Preface consists of a main paragraph dated April, 1844 followed by the...
The Saviour died, but rose again. John Logan*.
This hymn is part of Paraphrase 48 in the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases (1781), on Romans 8: 31-39. For the Biblical text, see the entry under 'Let Christian faith and hope dispel (Logan)'*. It is one of the paraphrases that was claimed by William Cameron* for Logan, a claim that, according to JJ, has 'never been seriously disputed' (p. 188).
The text beginning as above forms stanzas 5-9 of 'Let Christian faith and hope dispel'. The 1745...
The Worcester Collection of Sacred Harmony
The Worcester Collection first appeared in 1786, the work of compiler, printer, and publisher Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831). The first five editions reveal no author, but the prefaces are signed by Thomas. With a total of eight editions during 1786-1803, the work became 'by all standards the most popular tunebook of the day, and as such was a work for other collections to follow and emulate' (Kroeger, p. xxii). Compilers and composers represented...
ARNE, Thomas Augustine. b. London, 12 March 1710; d. London, 5 March 1778. Born into a wealthy family of London upholsterers, Arne was brought up a Roman Catholic owing to his mother's allegiance to that faith. Well educated, Arne nevertheless threw off a career in the law in favour of music and, in particular the theatre. With the family nose for business, he was assisted by his father in setting up a theatre company for performances of opera at the Haymarket with John Frederick Lampe*. After...
ELLWOOD, Thomas. b. Crowell, near Chinnor, Oxfordshire, 1639 (baptized 15 October); d. Amersham, Buckinghamshire, 1 May 1713. He was born into a Puritan family which moved to London during the Civil War to support the Parliamentary cause. In 1659 Ellwood heard two Quakers preach at Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, and was so impressed that he became one of the early Friends. Thereafter his life was dominated by the joys of being a Quaker (friendships, such as that with the Pennington family,...
KELLY, Thomas. b. Kellyville, Queen's County [Co. Laois], Ireland, 13 July 1769; d. Dublin, 14 May 1855. He was the son of an Irish judge, Baron Kelly of Kellyville. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA, 1789), and began studying for a legal career. Against the wishes of his family, however, he gave up the law and became ordained as a priest in the Church of England in Ireland (1792). He began preaching in Dublin in 1793: the emphasis on the doctrine of grace, and the unusual energy...
KEN, Thomas. b. Little Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire, July 1637; d. Longleat, Wiltshire, 19 March 1711. He was the son of Thomas Ken, an attorney. He was brought up by his brother-in-law, Isaak Walton (1593-1683), the biographer of John Donne* and George Herbert*. Ken was educated at Winchester College (1651-56), Hart Hall, Oxford, and New College, Oxford (BA 1661, MA 1664). He was appointed Tutor in Logic at New College in 1661, and took Holy Orders in 1661 or 1662. He was rector of Little...
WALTER, Thomas. b. Roxbury, Massachusetts, 13 December 1696; d. Roxbury, 10 January 1725. Walter, a Congregational minister and school teacher, is known primarily for The Grounds and Rules of Musick (1721), the earliest American tunebook of which copies have survived.
Walter was the second son of Rev. Nehemiah Walter (1663-1750) and Sarah Mather Walter (1671-1746); Sarah was the sister of Cotton Mather* and daughter of Increase Mather (1639-1723). These three ministers were among the fifteen...
WILLIAM, Thomas. b. Pendeulwyn, Glamorgan 1 Mar 1761; d. Llantwit Major, Glamorgan, 23 Nov 1844. Thomas William joined the Methodists as a young man but was later ordained as an Independent (Congregationalist) minister. He built Bethesda chapel at Llantwit Major in 1806 and ministered there until his death. His hymns were published in volumes and collected together in Dyfroedd Bethesda ('The Waters of Bethesda'), in 1824, with a second edition in 1841. Strongly biblical and full of scriptural...
Thou hidden love of God, whose height. Gerhard Tersteegen* (1697-1769) translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
This translation of Tersteegen's 'Verborgne Gottes-liebe du'* was made by John Wesley in 1736. He would have found the hymn in Das Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Hernnhut (1735), taken by the Moravian missionaries on the voyage to Georgia. It was shortened there to eight stanzas from its original ten in Tersteegen's Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein (1729). The translation was printed in the...
To thy pastures fair and large. James Merrick* (1720-1769).
This is from Merrick's The Psalms, translated or paraphrased in English Verse (Reading, 1765). It is based on his version of Psalm 23, which in the last two lines, has a distinct echo of 'The Lord my pasture shall prepare'* by Joseph Addison*:
Lo, my Shepherd's hand divine!Want shall never more be mine.In a pasture fair and largeHe shall feed his happy Charge,And my couch with tend'rest care'Midst the springing grass prepare.When I...
Toplady's Psalms and Hymns (1776). One of the major early collections of the Evangelical Revival (cf. Madan*, Conyers*) was A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Public and Private Worship. Collected (for the most part), and Published, By Augustus Toplady, A.B., Vicar of Broad Hembury. London, 1776. In the preface, Toplady wrote: 'God is the God of Truth, of Holiness, and of Elegance. Whoever, therefore, has the honor to compose, or to compile, any thing that may constitute a part of His...
'Twas on that dark, that doleful night. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
From Watts's Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), Book III, 'Prepared for the holy Ordinance of the Lord's Supper' (many authorities give the Second Edition of 1709 as the publication date, but it was printed also in 1707). It was the first hymn in Book III, headed 'The Lord's Supper instituted, I Cor. 11. 23, &c.'. It had seven stanzas:
'Twas on that dark, that doleful Night When Powers of Earth and Hell arose Against the Son...
'Twas on that night when doomed to know. John Morison* (1750-1798).
This paraphrase of Matthew 26: 26-29 was no 35 in the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases (1781). It is attributed to Morison on the evidence of the daughter of William Cameron*, who thus marked her copy. According to JJ, p. 1180, it is based on a Latin hymn, 'Nocte quâ Christus rabidis Apellis', by Andreas Ellinger (1526-1582), translated by William Archibald, minister of Unst, Shetland (d. 1785).
It has remained as...
LÖSCHER, Valentin Ernst. b. Sonderhausen, Thuringia, 29 December 1673; d. Dresden, 12 February 1749. He was educated at schools in Zwickau and Wittenberg, where his father had become General Superintendent and Professor of Theology at the University. He studied History at Wittenberg University, graduating in 1692, after which he taught for a year in the Philosophy Department. In 1694 he moved to the University of Jena, followed by a year of travel, returning to Wittenberg in 1698 at the...
We are climbing Jacob's ladder (Jacob's Ladder). African American spiritual*.
Enslaved Africans found fertile connections between the biblical story of Jacob's ladder in Genesis 28: 10-22 and their existential experience and spirituality. As with many spirituals, the origins are unknown. An undocumented account indicates that the spiritual dates between 1750 and 1875 (James, 1995, p. 58). Ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax (1915–2002) suggests without documentation that 'This is one of the old...
What shall we offer our good Lord. August Gottlieb Spangenberg* (1704-1792), translated by John Wesley* (1703-1791).
Spangenberg's hymn, beginning 'Der König ruht, und schauet doch', was written for the 34th birthday of Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf* on 26 May 1734. It was too late for the Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Herrnhut of 1735, but was printed in an appendix of 1737.
Wesley, who knew Spangenberg in Georgia, translated the hymn, beginning 'High on His everlasting throne'. He expanded on...
When God would prove his love. John Murray* (ca. 1740-1815).
This was the second of five hymns first published in the 1782 edition of Christian Hymns, Poems and Sacred Songs, Sacred to the Praise of God, Our Saviour, compiled by English Universalist James Relly* and his brother John Relly. The book was first published in London in 1754, and the 1782 edition was published in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for Noah Parker (1734-1787), a convert of Murray's and preacher in Portsmouth (Brewster, pp....
Where high the heavenly temple stands. Scottish Translations and Paraphrases (1781).
This is the second of two paraphrases of Hebrews 14-16, numbered 58 in the paraphrases. It is thought to have been one of those written by Michael Bruce* for his singing class at Kinnesswood. It appeared in Poems on Several Occasions, by Michael Bruce (1770), edited by John Logan*. It was then found in Poems. By the Rev. Mr. Logan. One of the Ministers of Leith (1781). In this book Logan seemed to be passing...
While Thee I seek, protecting Power. Helen Maria Williams* (1759-1827).
This was from Williams's Poems (1786), in which it was entitled 'Hymn':
While thee I seek, protecting Power! Be my vain wishes still'd; And may this consecrated hour With better hopes be fill'd. Thy love the powers of thought bestow'd, To thee my thoughts would soar; Thy mercy o'er my life has flow'd- That mercy I adore. In each event of life, how clear, Thy ruling hand I see; Each blessing to my soul more dear, Because...
While with ceaseless course the sun. John Newton* (1725-1807).
JJ notes (p. 1275) that this was first published in Newton's Twenty-Six Letters on Religious Subjects. To which are added, Hymns, &c. by Omicron (1774), where it was the last hymn in the book, entitled 'On the New Year'. It was included in the 1774 Edition of Richard Conyers*'s Collection of Psalms and Hymns, from Various Authors, before finding its place as the opening hymn of Book II ('On Occasional Subjects') of Olney Hymns...
Why should I fear the darkest hour. John Newton* (1725- 1807).
According to JJ, p. 1279, this was published in the Gospel Magazine for June 1771, signed 'Omicron', with the title 'In uno Jesu omnia'. It was then included in Olney Hymns (1779), Book III, 'On the Rise, Progress, Changes, and Comforts of the Spiritual Life', where it was Hymn XLVI, with the title 'Jesus my all'. It was in the 'Comfort' section, hymns XLIII to LVIII. It had eight 3-line stanzas, with one misprint ('interceedes',...
CAMERON, William. b. near Ballater, Aberdeenshire, 1751; d. Kirknewton, Midlothian, 17 November 1811. He was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he was a student and friend of the poet James Beattie. It may have been through Beattie's influence that Cameron became a member of the Committee of the General Assembly charged with producing the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases, which appeared in 1781. In turn, it may have been Cameron who introduced the dubious figure of John Logan*...
CROFT, William. b. Nether Ettington, Warwickshire, 1678 (baptized 30 December); d. Bath, 14 August 1727. He served as a chorister in the Chapel Royal under John Blow, and in 1700 became a Gentleman Extraordinary, and later organist, of that institution. On Blow's death in 1708 Croft succeeded him as Composer and Master of the Children. In the same year he also succeeded Blow as organist of Westminster Abbey. From 1700 to 1712 he was also organist of St Anne's, Soho.
In 1713 Croft was awarded...
ENFIELD, William. b. Sudbury, Suffolk, 29 March 1741; d. Norwich, 3 November 1797. Enfield came from a poor family, but was encouraged and taught by the local minister, William Hextal (or Hextall), who secured his entry to a Dissenting Academy at Daventry. He became pastor of a Presbyterian chapel at Liverpool (1763-70), and then at Warrington (1770-85), where he taught belles-lettres at the celebrated Warrington Academy. He was minister of the Octagon Chapel, Norwich (then still Presbyterian,...
HAMMOND, William. b. Battle, Sussex, 6 January 1719; d. London, 19 August 1793. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge. He joined the Calvinistic Methodists in 1743, and became a Moravian in 1745: his career parallels that of John Cennick*. He wrote an autobiography in Greek, and translated Latin hymns. He published a book with the revealing title Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs. To which is prefix'd a Preface, giving some Account of a Weak Faith, and a Full Assurance of Faith;...
JONES, William. b. Lowick, Northamptonshire, 30 July 1726; d. Nayland, Suffolk, 6 January 1800. He was educated at Charterhouse School and University College, Oxford (BA 1749), after which he took Holy Orders (deacon 1749, priest 1751). He served curacies at Finedon, and then Wadenhoe, both in Northamptonshire, before becoming the incumbent of Bethersden, Kent (1754-55) and then Pluckley, Kent (1755-77). In 1777 he moved to Nayland in Suffolk as Perpetual Curate, from which his many...
ROBERTSON, William. b. date unknown, ca. 1688; d. 16 November 1745. He was the son of David Robertson of Brunton, Fife (James Mearns* in JJ, p. 968, the source of much of the information that follows). He was licensed to preach in 1711. He was assistant minister in the Presbyterian Church at London Wall, but returned to Scotland in 1714 as minister of Borthwick, Midlothian. In 1733 he became minister of Lady Yester's Kirk, Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, at that time one of the most prestigious...
ROMAINE, William. b. Hartlepool, County Durham, 25 September 1714; d. London, 26 July 1795. The son of a Huguenot refugee, he was educated at Houghton-le-Spring Grammar School and Hart Hall, Oxford, followed by Christ Church (BA 1734, MA 1737). He took Holy Orders (deacon 1736, priest 1738), serving curacies simultaneously at Banstead, Surrey and Horton, Middlesex. He was chaplain to the Lord Mayor of London in 1741, and a 'Lecturer' at St Botolph's, Billingsgate in 1748 and at St Dunstan's in...
WILLIAMS, William, Pantycelyn. b. Cefncoed, Llanfair-ar-y-bryn, Camarthenshire, 11 February 1717; d. Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, 11 January 1791. Williams was the fourth child of John Williams, a farmer. In 1731 William's mother, Dorothy, inherited the farm of Pantycelyn, into which, following the death of her husband, she moved in 1742. Williams married Mary Francis of Llansawel in about 1748 and they moved to live with his mother. In the Welsh manner Williams was distinguished from others of...
With all thy Pow'r, O Lord, defend. Rowland Hill* (1744-1833).
This is from Hill's A Collection of Hymns, chiefly intended for the Use of the Poor (1776), the second of two hymns for ministers, 'For Ministers at their Arrival', and 'For Ministers at their Departure':
With all thy Pow'r, O Lord, defendHim whom we now to Thee commend;Thy faithful Messenger secure,And make him to the End endure.
Gird him with all-sufficient Grace; Direct his Feet in Paths of Peace; Thy Truth and Faithfulness...
Ye that in his Courts are found. Rowland Hill* (1744-1833).
This hymn comes from Hill's A Collection of Hymns, chiefly intended for the Use of the Poor (1776), where it was entitled 'Enjoyment of Christ in Worship':
Ye that in his Courts are found,List'ning to the joyful Sound,Lost and helpless as ye are,Sons of Sorrow, Sin, and Care,Glorify the King of Kings,Take the Peace the Gospel brings.
Turn to Christ your longing Eyes,View his bloody Sacrifice;See in Him your Sins forgiv'n,Pardon,...