Part 10

Larned, Augusta, Rutland, New York, April 16, 1835—1924. Author of six volumes of stories for children and of one on Greek mythology and another on Norse mythology. Contributor to various periodicals and for 20 years correspondent and editorial writer with _The Christian Register_, Boston. She published in 1895 a book of poems entitled _In the Woods and Fields_ from which was taken her hymn on peace of mind,

_In quiet hours the tranquil soul_,

for inclusion in the _Isles of Shoals Hymn-Book_, 1908; _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914 and _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.

H.W.F.

Lathrop, Rev. John Howland, D.D., Jackson, Michigan, June 6, 1880—still living. He graduated from Meadville Theological School in 1903, then entered Harvard where he took an A.B. in 1905. He also studied at the University of Chicago, and the University of Jena. He served as minister of the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley, California, 1905-1911, and the First Unitarian Congregational Church of Brooklyn, New York, 1911 to 1957, when he became pastor emeritus. In 1935 he wrote a hymn for Palm Sunday beginning,

_Hosanna in the highest! Our eager hearts acclaim_,

which was included in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, set to St. Theodulph.

H.W.F.

Livermore, Rev. Abiel Abbot, D.D., Wilton, New Hampshire, October 26, 1811—November 28, 1892, Wilton, New Hampshire. He graduated from Harvard College in 1833, and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1836. He was ordained minister of the Unitarian Church at Keene, New Hampshire, in November, 1836, and remained there until 1850, when he accepted a call to Cincinnati, Ohio. After a period in New York he was elected president of the Meadville Theological School in 1862, and served in that capacity until 1890, when he retired to his ancestral home at Wilton. He received the degree of D.D. from Harvard in 1888. He was author of a number of books, and of several hymns, printed in Putnam’s _Singers and Songs_. He was the chief editor of the Cheshire Pastoral Association’s _Christian Hymns_, 1844, one of the finest and most widely circulated American Unitarian collections, to which he contributed his Communion hymn beginning,

_A holy air is breathing round_,

This hymn was included in Martineau’s _Hymns_, 1873, in most American Unitarian collections, and appears in slightly altered form in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.

J. 680 H.W.F.

Livermore, Sarah White, Wilton, New Hampshire, July 20, 1789—July 3, 1874, Wilton. She was an aunt of A. A. Livermore, _q.v._, and was a school teacher for most of her life. She contributed two hymns to the _Cheshire Collection_, 1844, viz:

1. _Glory to God, and peace on earth_, (Christmas)

2. _Our pilgrim brethren, dwelling far_, (Mission)

These passed into a few other collections.

She wrote a number of others for various church occasions, but they have never been collected for publication.

J. 680 H.W.F.

Long, Hon. John Davis (1838-1915) was born in Buckfield, Maine, October 27, 1838, and died in Hingham, Massachusetts on August 28, 1915. Harvard, A.B. 1857, L.L.D. 1880. He was Governor of Massachusetts, 1880-1883, and Secretary of the Navy, 1897-1902. A member of the First Parish (Unitarian) in Hingham, he wrote one hymn beginning,

_The evening winds begin to blow_

which was included in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, but which has not passed into other books.

H.W.F.

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, D.C.L., Portland, Maine, February 27, 1807—March 24, 1882, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825. After four years of study in Europe he was appointed to the Chair of Modern Languages at Bowdoin, but removed to Harvard in 1835, upon his election as professor of Modern Languages and Belles-Lettres in the latter College. He retained that Professorship until 1854, when he retired to give himself time for authorship in prose and verse. He became one of the most widely read and beloved poets in the English-speaking world, and after his death a marble bust commemorating him was placed in Westminster Abbey. In the strict sense of the term he was not a hymn-writer, his brother, Samuel Longfellow, _q.v._, twelve years his junior, far surpassing him in this field, but hymn-book editors have culled selections from his poems which they could use, as follows:

1. _Ah, what a sound! The infinite fierce chorus_,

From his poem “The Arsenal at Springfield,” published in _The Belfry of Bruges_, 1845. Four stanzas, beginning as above, are included in _The Pilgrim Hymnal_, 1935. In S. Longfellow’s and Johnson’s _Book of Hymns_, 1848, the selected stanzas from this poem begin

_Down the dark future through long generations_,

and the hymn appeared in this form in other collections.

2. _Alas, how poor and little worth_,

Tr. from the Spanish of Don Jorge Manrique, (d. 1479), in Longfellow’s _Poetry of Spain_, 1833.

3. _All are architects of fate_,

The first three stanzas of Longfellow’s poem, “The Builders,” written in 1846. Included in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.

4. _All is of God; If he but wave his hand._

From the poem “The Two Angels,” in his _Birds of Passage_, 1858; included in S. Longfellow’s and Johnson’s _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864.

5. _Blind Bartimeus at the gate_,

From _Miscellaneous Poems_, 1841. Included in G. W. Conder’s 1874 _Appendix_ to the (British) _Leeds Hymn Book_.

6. _Christ to the young man said, “Yet one thing more.”_

Written in 1848 for the ordination of the poet’s younger brother, Samuel Longfellow; published in the author’s _Seaside and Fireside_, 1851, and in H. W. Beecher’s _Plymouth Collection_, 1855, altered to read,

_The Saviour said, “Yet one thing more”_

In spite of the occasion for which it was written it is not a hymn but a hortatory poem of five stanzas in a most unusual 10.6.10.6 metre, for which it must have been difficult to find any singable tune.

7. _I heard the bells on Christmas Day_

This carol was written in 1864, for the Sunday School of the Unitarian Church of the Disciples, Boston, of which Rev. James Freeman Clarke was minister. The entire poem, entitled “Christmas Bells,” has seven stanzas, of which 1, 2, 6 and 7 are in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, and in _The Pilgrim Hymnal_, 1935. The omitted stanzas contain references to the Civil War, in progress when the carol was written.

8. Into the silent land,

A translation from the German poem “Ins Stille Land! Wer Leitet uns hinüber,” by J. G. Salis-Seewis, 1808. Published by Longfellow in _Voices of the Night_, 1840. Included in Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853, and other American collections.

9. _Tell me not in mournful numbers_,

Published in _Voices of the Night_, 1839, as “A Psalm of Life; What the heart of the Young Man said to the Psalmist.” Included in several hymnals in Great Britain and America. In some collections it begins with the second stanza

_Life is real! Life is earnest_

10. _There is no flock, however watched and tended_

A cento from the author’s _Seaside and Fireside_, 1849.

11. _We have not wings: we may not soar._

In 1850 the poet wrote “The Ladder of St. Augustine,” a poem in twelve stanzas, based upon a quotation from Sermon III, De Ascensione, by St. Augustine of Hippo, “De vitiis nostris scalam nobis facimus, si vitia ipsa calcamus.” (We shall make a ladder out of our vices, if we tread those vices under foot.) The three stanzas of the hymn are, respectively, the seventh, tenth and second stanzas of the poem.

H.W.F.

Longfellow, Rev. Samuel, Portland, Maine, June 18, 1819—October 3, 1892, Portland, was the youngest of the eight children of Stephen and Zilpah (Wadsworth) Longfellow. Stephen Longfellow had graduated from Harvard and had become one of the most prominent citizens of Portland. His son Samuel entered Harvard with the Class of 1839, just after his brother, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, more than twelve years his senior, had returned from Europe to begin his professorship at Harvard.

Samuel entered the Harvard Divinity School, from which he graduated in 1846, and served as minister of the Unitarian Church in Fall River, Massachusetts, 1848-51; the Second Unitarian Church, Brooklyn, New York, 1853-1860; and the Unitarian Church, Germantown, Pennsylvania, 1878-1883. In the intervals between these pastorates he did much occasional preaching, and, having independent means and no marital ties, made several prolonged visits to Europe. He had an attractive personality, was witty and highly intelligent, and was an acceptable though outspoken preacher, but he is now remembered for his contribution to American hymnody through the hymns which he wrote and the books which he edited. His accomplishment in this field was greater and more lasting than that of any other American in the middle period of the 19^th century. Its development can best be traced in the books which he published.

The first of these was _A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotions_, which he and his classmate in the Divinity School, Samuel Johnson, daringly compiled while still students in the School. A not improbable story of the origin of the book reports that their friend, Rev. Francis Parker Appleton, then a young minister at Peabody, Massachusetts, had complained to them about the antiquated hymn-book which he found in use in his church, to which they replied that they would prepare a book for him which would express the religious aspirations of the rising generation. The book appeared in 1846, before either of the young editors had been ordained, and was an immediate success. It was first used in the First Unitarian Church at Worcester, Massachusetts, where Longfellow’s classmate and lifelong friend, Edward Everett Hale, had just been ordained at a service for which Longfellow wrote the ordination hymn, and it was promptly adopted by Theodore Parker for his congregation in Music Hall. The book was re-published in somewhat revised and enlarged form in 1848, and ran to 12 editions. It marked a new epoch in American hymnody because it was the product of young and adventurous but well-trained minds seeking to give utterance to the emotions stirred by the intellectual and political ferment of the times, and because of the new sources to which they turned. They were the first to see and make use of the hymnic possibilities of the poems of John Greenleaf Whittier, and to include in an American hymn-book Newman’s “Lead, kindly Light,” which they had found printed in a newspaper without the author’s name, though they altered the first line to read “Send kindly Light,” and another line further down. From their book it passed into other collections, with variant readings.

In 1859 Longfellow published a little collection entitled _Vespers_, hymns for use at the vesper services which he had instituted in his church in Brooklyn. In 1860 he published _A Book of Hymns and Tunes for the Sunday School, the Congregation, and the Home_, and in 1864 he and Samuel Johnson brought out their second notable book, _Hymns of the Spirit_, (not to be confused with the hymn book with the same title published by the Beacon Press in 1937). This book contained most of the later hymns written by the two editors, and a good many new hymns by other authors who were glad to contribute them. Its literary level was higher than that of their first book, but it had less popular success, in part, perhaps, because they failed to set the words to tunes, which had become the common practice in the period since their earlier book appeared. In 1876 he brought out _A Book of Hymns & Tunes for the Congregation & the Home_, a revision of his earlier book with a similar title, in which several of his earlier hymns appear in revised form. In 1887 he printed privately _A Few Verses of Many Years_.

After his death a small volume entitled _Hymns and Verses by Samuel Longfellow_ was published in 1894 with a very brief introductory note by his niece, Miss Alice M. Longfellow. It included 41 hymns which she thought were his, followed by 30 short poems of no outstanding excellence. Some of the “hymns” included seem never to have come into use as such; some of her attributions were mistaken; she omitted some hymns which he wrote or adapted but cited in his books as “Anonymous” because based on the work of others; and she did not always print the best of extant variant readings. This book, therefore, must be used with caution in compiling the list of Longfellow’s hymns, whether original or adapted.

Before listing his hymns it should be noted that he wrote or edited several other literary works. In 1853 he and his classmate Thomas Wentworth Higginson published a beautiful collection of sea-poems entitled _Thalatta_. He wrote a memoir of his friend, Rev. Samuel Johnson, 1883; was the author of a _Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_, 1886; and edited _Final Memorials of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_ in 1887. A volume of his own _Essays and Sermons_, edited by Joseph May, was published in 1894.

_Alphabetical List of Hymns written or adapted by Samuel Longfellow_

_Abbreviations_:

Bk. Hys. = The Book of Hymns, 1846 or 1848.

H. and V. = Hymns & Verses by Samuel Longfellow, 1894.

Hys. Sp. = Hymns of the Spirit, 1864.

J. (followed by page number) = Julian’s Dictionary of Hymnology.

S. L. = Samuel Longfellow

1. _A voice by Jordan’s shore._ (Advent)

Printed in Hys. Sp. 1864, under title of “John and Jesus”; in H. & V., no date.

2. _Again as evening’s shadow falls._ (Evening)

Published in _Vespers_, New York, 1860, headed “Nox et tenebrae,” in 2 stas. of 8 l., and reprinted in Hys. Sp. 1864, with the title “Vesper Hymn,” in 4 stas. of 4 l.; also in H. & V. in which it is the fourth and concluding hymn of a group called “Vesper Hymns,” and dated 1859, the 3^d and 4^th of which were included in Hys. Sp., 1864.

3. _Beneath the shadow of the cross._ (Sacrifice)

Written in Fall River, 1848, and published in the _Supplement to A Book of Hymns, Second Edition_, Boston, 1848, with the title “The New Commandment,” in 3 stas. of 4 l.; in H. & V.

4. _Eternal One, Thou living God._ (Anniversary)

Written in 1875 for a church anniversary, possibly for the 25^th anniversary of the Preble Chapel in Portland, Maine; 5 stas. of 4 l. In H. & V. the original reading of the last two lines,

“Afloat upon its boundless sea, Who sails with God is safe indeed.”

are changed to the inferior reading,

“That truth alone can make us free; Who goes with God is safe indeed.”

5. _Every bird that upward springs._

Included in _Supplement to Bk. Hys._, 1848, attributed to Neale, and also in Hys. Sp., 1864. It is in fact S.L.’s adaptation of part of a hymn by Neale for St. Andrew’s Day, included in his “Hymns for Children”, 1842; see pp. 360-1 of the _Collected Hymns, Sequences and Carols of J. M. Neale_, 1914. S.L. used stas. 4, 5, 6 and 7 of Neale’s hymn in 8 stas. Of the 16 lines in S.L.’s version 9 are taken unchanged from Neale, 6 contain part of Neale’s wording, and only 1 is wholly S.L.’s. S.L. writing in 1880 said, “I may say that hymn 585, [i.e. Every bird, etc.] is mine—I did not put my name because two lines were not mine—“. (see H. W. Foote, _The Anonymous Hymns of Samuel Longfellow_, Harv. Theol. Rev. Oct., 1917.) This letter illustrates the fallibility of human memory. In the 32 years which had elapsed since he had adapted Neale’s verses for the _Supplement to Bk. Hys._ his own contribution to the final result had come to bulk much larger than it really was. S.L. was right in ascribing the hymn to Neale, as he did in 1848 and 1864, tho he might properly have marked it as “Neale, altered.”

6. Father, give thy benediction. (Dismissal)

One stanza, 8 lines, printed anonymously in Hys. Sp.; described by S.L. as “of no importance”, but included in his H. & V. Listed as “Anon.” in the first edition of the _Pilgrim Hymnal_. Included in the _Isles of Shoals Hymn Book_, 1908. (H. W. Foote, _The Anonymous Hymns of Samuel Longfellow_, Harv. Theol. Rev. October, 1917). See J. 1563.

7. _Go forth to life, O child of earth._ (Life’s mission)

Written in 1859, included in his _Book of Hymns and Tunes for the Sunday School_, and in Hys. Sp. 1864, under title “Life’s Mission.” 4 stas. of 4 l.

8. _God of the earth, the sea, the sky._ (Divine Immanence)

Printed anonymously in Hys. Sp. 1864, under title “God, through all and in you all”; included in H. & V. with l. 2 in sta. 1 altered; no date. (H. W. Foote, _The Anonymous Hymns of Samuel Longfellow_, Harv. Theol. Rev. October, 1917).

9. _God of Truth! Thy sons should be_,

No. 550 in Hys. Sp. 1864, where it is listed as “Anon,” because, as he later wrote, it was “founded on a H. of Wesley” though “nearly all mine.” (H. W. Foote, _The Anonymous Hymns of Samuel Longfellow_, Harv. Theol. Rev., October, 1917).

10. _God’s trumpet wakes the slumbering world._ (Courage)

Printed anonymously in Hys. Sp. 1864 under title “On the Lord’s Side”; in H. & V., no date. 5 stas. of 4 l.

11. _He, who himself and God would know._ (Silent worship)

Printed in Hys. Sp. 1864 as “From Martineau” under title of “Be still, and know that I am God.” This is S.L.’s versification of a passage from Martineau’s sermon, “Silence and Meditation”, no. 17 in “Endeavors after the Christian Life,” in which Martineau paraphrased a few sentences in Pascal’s “Thoughts”, no. 72. Not dated; not included in H. & V. (H. W. Foote, _The Anonymous Hymns of Samuel Longfellow_, Harv. Theol. Rev. October, 1917.)

12. _Holy Spirit, Truth [Light] Divine._

Included in Hys. Sp. under title “Prayer for Inspiration”; also in H. & V., without date. In the introductory note to H. & V. it is stated that this hymn “bears some resemblance to one by Andrew Reed, but after careful investigation they appear to be quite distinct.” In spite of this disclaimer it is clear that the theme of the hymn as a whole, and several of its lines, are borrowed from the hymn, “Holy Ghost, with light divine” by Andrew Reed, 1817. Furthermore, S.L.’s arrangement of this hymn is found in two different versions, the one in H. & V. beginning, “Holy Spirit, Truth divine,” the other, and superior one, beginning, “Holy Spirit, Light divine.” It will be found in this latter form in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, in both of which it is attributed to both Reed and Longfellow.

13. _Holy Spirit, source of gladness._

S.L.’s adaptation of Jacobi and Toplady’s version of Gerhardt’s “O du allersusste Freude”; included in _Supplement to Bk. Hys._ 1848, and in altered form in Hys. Sp. 1864; set down as “Anon.” in both; not included in H. & V.

14. _I look to Thee in every need_, (Trust)

In Hys. Sp., 1864, with title “Looking Unto God,” and listed as “Anon.”, but included in H. & V. as Longfellow’s. He had not claimed it because its opening stanza was strongly reminiscent of a love-song by Thomas Haynes Bayly, as indicated by S.L.’s pencilled notation in his copy of Hys. Sp. now in the library of Union Theological Seminary, New York, reading “V. 1, T. H. Bayley, alt.” Bayly (not Baylēy) (1797-1839) was an English composer of popular sentimental songs one of which began,

I turn to thee in time of need And never turn in vain; I see thy fond and fearless smile And hope revives again. It gives me strength to struggle on, Whate’er the strife may be; And if again my courage fail Again I turn to thee.

This song, though one of Bayly’s best, is not included in his collected works, but a copy, with his name as its author, is in the Harvard University Library. It was published by C. Bradlee, 107 Washington St., Boston, n.d., the words set “to a favorite Neapolitan melody”, and must have still been well remembered when S.L. was inspired to transfigure the thought of its opening stanza by giving it a profoundly spiritual interpretation. He made no use of Bayly’s second and third stanzas, and changed the metre from 8.6.8.6. double to six line stanzas, 8.6.8.6.8.8., thus making sure that his words would be sung to another tune than the “Neapolitan melody.”

15. _In the beginning was the word._ (The Word of God)

This was printed in _The Liberty Bell_, Boston, 1851, in 6 stanzas of 8 lines, and dated “Fall River, Sept. 1850.” Two stanzas are included in Hys. Sp. 1864; also in H. & V., undated.

16. _Life of all that lives below._

An adaptation from Charles Wesley; not in Bk. Hys. or Hys. Sp.

17. _Life of God, within my soul._ (God in the soul)

Only found in H. & V., undated, entitled “A Prayer.” 4 stas. of 4 l.

18. _Light of ages and of nations._ (Inspiration)

Dated 1860 in H. & V. in which it begins as above with title “In all ages entering holy souls.” It was first printed, however, in Hys. Sp. 1864 as “God of ages,” under title “The word of the Lord abideth forever.” 3 stas. of 8 l.

19. _Lo! the earth is risen again._ (Easter)

In H. & V. the first line reads “Lo the earth again is risen,” with no date, but Dr. Louis F. Benson owned a copy of the book in which a ms. note was appended to this hymn reading

“In memory of C.J. July 6, 1864 May 12, 1886. Written for the first anniversary of her death, May 12, 1887.”

Several other lines besides the opening one have been re-written, presumably by S.L., to make the later and improved version of the hymn included in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.

20. _Love for all! and can it be?_ (The Prodigal Son)

Included in Hys. Sp. 1864 under title “Father, I have sinned”; also in H. & V. without date. 6 stas. of 4 l.

21. _Now on land and sea descending._ (Evening)

This is the 3^d of the Vesper Hymns in H. & V. 2 stas. of 8 l. (See note under “Again as evening’s shadow falls.”)

22. _Now while we sing our closing psalm._ (Close of worship)

In H. & V., no date; not in Bk. Hys. or Hys. Sp.

23. _Now with creation’s morning song._ (Morning)

In Hys. Sp. 1864, ascribed to “Breviary”; it is S.L.’s adaptation of E. Caswall’s trans. of “Lux ecce surgit aurea”, beginning “Now with the rising golden dawn”; see Julian’s Dict. pp. 820-821.

24. _O church of freedom and of faith._ (Installation)

Written in 1891, presumably for the installation of Rev. John Carroll Perkins as minister of the First Parish in Portland in that year. Included in H. & V. Not found elsewhere.

25. _O Father, fix this wavering will._

No. 368 in Hys. Sp. 1864, “Anon.” but later acknowledged by S.L. as his though “of no importance.” (H. W. Foote, _The Anonymous Hymns of Samuel Longfellow_, Harv. Theol. Rev., Oct., 1917.)

26. _O God! a temple to thy name._

“Hymn for the dedication of the new chapel of the First Parish, Haverhill.” Dated 1848 in H. & V., but not found elsewhere. 5 stas. of 4 l.

27. _O God! Thy children gathered here._ (Ordination)

“Hymn for the ordination of Edward Everett Hale” at Worcester, Massachusetts in 1846. Bk. Hys. 1848; H. & V. 1894. 6 stas. of 4 l.

28. _O God, thou giver of all good!_ (Gratitude)

Included in Hys. Sp. 1864, and in H. & V., without date, under title “Give us this day our daily bread.” 4 stas. of 4 l.

29. _O God unseen, but ever near._