Part 5

Bulfinch, Rev. Stephen Greenleaf, D.D., Boston, Massachusetts, June 18, 1809—October 12, 1870, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was son of Charles Bulfinch, a leading architect, and received his early education in Washington, D.C., returning to Cambridge to enter the Harvard Divinity School, from which he graduated in 1830. He was ordained in January, 1831, as assistant to Rev. Samuel Gilman, _q.v._, of Charleston, South Carolina, and later served Unitarian churches in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; Nashua, New Hampshire; Dorchester, Massachusetts and East Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a voluminous writer in both prose and verse. Most of his hymns first appeared in his books _Contemplations of the Saviour_, Boston, 1832; _Poems_, Charleston, 1834; and _Lays of the Gospel_, 1845. The first of these was reprinted in England, where 19 of his hymns were included in Beard’s _Collection_, 1837, and where they had widespread use.

His best known hymns are as follows:

1. _Benignant Saviour: ’twas not thine_, (Compassion of Christ)

From his “Contemplations of the Saviour,” altered in Horder’s _Congregational Hymns_, 1884, to read

_Most gracious Saviour: ’twas not thine_.

2. _Burden of shame and woe_, (The Crucifixion) 3. _Hail to the Sabbath day_, (Sunday) 4. _Hath not thy heart within thee burned_, (Evening) 5. _Holy Son of God most high_, (Christ) 6. _How glorious is the hour_, (The New Life) 7. _In the Saviour’s hour of death_, (Good Friday) 8. _It is finished! Glorious word_, (Good Friday) 9. _Lord, in this sacred hour_, (Worship) 10. _O suffering friend of all mankind_, (Passiontide) 11. _There is a strife we all must wage_, (Life’s Duty) 12. _Toiling through the livelong night_, (Miracle of fishes) 13. _What power unseen by mortal eye_, (Miracle)

These hymns are well written contemplations of gospel episodes, as viewed by the conservative piety of the author’s period. Several were included in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Book of Hymns_, 1846-1848; nos. 6 and 10 are in Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853; and most of them in one and another 19^th century collection. Only No. 4 has survived in present-day use, being found in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.

J. 191, 1555 revised H.W.F.

Burleigh, William Henry, Woodstock, Connecticut, February 12, 1812—March 18, 1871, Brooklyn, New York. He was an editor and publisher working successively in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1837-1843; in Hartford, Connecticut, 1843-1849; in Syracuse, New York, 1849-1854. From 1855-1870 he was Harbor Master of New York. He was a member of the Second Unitarian Church in Brooklyn and an ardent advocate of anti-slavery and temperance reforms. Early in life he began writing hymns and other poems which were printed in various periodicals, but for many of which the date and occasion are impossible to determine. They were collected for publication in a volume entitled _Poems_, Philadelphia, 1841, and this book, enlarged with his later poems, was republished in 1871 after his death, with a biographical notice by his wife. Some of the best were included in the British collection _Lyra Sacra Americana_, 1868, the editor of which, Dr. Cleveland, said, “Most of these beautiful hymns of Mr. Burleigh’s were given to me in ms. by the author.” From this publication they were taken for extensive use in British hymn books.

1. _Abide not in the realm of dreams_, (The Harvest Call)

Included in Putnam, _Singers and Songs_, etc., is a poem of 10 stanzas from which a cento consisting of the first two lines of stanza 1 combined with the second two lines of stanza 2, followed by stanzas 3, 6, 7 and 10 are taken to form a hymn in the _New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.

2. _Fades from the west the farewell light_ (Night)

This poem, entitled “A Psalm of Night,” is given in his _Poems_, New York, 1871. Although not in the first edition of _Poems_, 1841, stanzas selected from it came into use as early as 1844. The original is in 5 stanzas of 8 lines. From it the following centos have come into use.

(a) _Day unto day uttereth speech_,

This consists of stanzas III-V, and is given in the _Christian Hymns_ of the Cheshire Pastoral Association, 1844, as an “Evening Hymn.”

(b) _O Holy Father, mid the calm_

This cento consists of stanzas IV-V, and is given in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Book of Hymns_, 1846, and in their _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864.

(c) _Not only doth the voiceful day_,

Composed of stanzas II-III, in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864. Another arrangement beginning with the same stanza is in _Lyra Sacra Americana_.

(d) _The brightening dawn and voiceful day_,

In the British _Hymnary_, London, 1872, an altered form of (c), with the addition of a doxology.

In these various forms the use of this hymn was very extensive.

3. _Father, beneath thy sheltering wing_, (Trust and Peace)

Printed in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines. Included in the British _Baptist Hymnal_, 1879; in Horder’s _Congregational Hymns_, 1884; and others; and in many American collections.

4. _Father, thy servant waits to do thy will_ (Ordination)

“Written for the ordination of Mr. J. W. Chadwick, as pastor of the Second Unitarian Church, in Brooklyn, New York, 1864.” Included in Putnam, _Singers and Songs_, etc.

5. _For the dear love that kept us through the night_ (Morning)

Taken from the author’s _Poems_, 1871, for inclusion in Horder’s _Congregational Hymns_, 1884.

6. _From the profoundest depths of tribulation_ (Lent)

A meditative poem rather than a hymn, included in the Supplement to Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns of the Church of Christ_, 1853.

7. _Lead us, O Father, in the paths of peace_ (Divine Guidance)

In _Lyra Sacra Americana_ headed “A Prayer for Guidance.” This is one of the author’s best known and most widely used hymns. Included in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.

8. Not in vain I poured my supplication (Lent)

A continuation of the same thought as no. 6, preceding, which it follows in the Supplement to Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns_, etc.

9. _O deem not that earth’s crowning bliss_, (Morning)

In his _Poems_, 1871; in _Lyra Sacra Americana_ from which it passed into the British _Baptist Hymnal_, 1879, and Horder’s _Congregational Hymns_, 1884, and others. In the Methodist Episcopal _Hymnal_, New York, 1878, the hymn beginning

_From lips divine the healing balm_

is a cento from this poem.

10. _Still will we trust though earth seems dark and dreary_, (Faith)

From _Lyra Sacra Americana_ this passed into many non-conformist collections in Great Britain where it was the most widely used of all of Burleigh’s hymns. It had a much more limited use in this country. Included in Putnam’s _Singers & Songs_, etc.

11. _There is a beautiful land by the spoiler untrod_, (Heaven)

Dr. Cleveland, editor of _Lyra Sacra Americana_ says “This piece was first published in the _Independent_, Jan. 18, 1866.”

12. _They who have kept their virgin whiteness_, (Purity)

In _Lyra Sacra Americana_.

13. _Thou who look’st with pitying eye_ (Lent)

In _Lyra Sacra Americana_.

14. _Through the changes of the day_ (Evening)

From his Poems, 1841. In _Lyra Sacra Americana_; in S.P.C.K.’s _Psalms and Hymns_, 1852; in Thring’s _Collection_, and other British books.

15. _We ask not that our path be always bright_, (Trust in God)

From _Lyra Sacra Americana_ this passed into Horder’s _Congregational Hymns_, 1884.

16. _When gladness gilds our prosperous day_ (Good in all)

From _Lyra Sacra Americana_ this passed into Horder’s _Congregational Hymns_, 1884.

The above hymns have had much less use in this country than in Great Britain. Nos. 7 and 10 are in the Universalist _Church Harmonies_, 1895; nos. 1 and 7 in _Hymns of the Spirit_. 1937, no. 7 in _The Hymnal_, 1940; and no. 3 in the _Isles of Shoals Hymn Book_. The others, though very acceptable expressions of the religious thought and feeling in the era in which the author lived, have now dropped out of use.

J. 195-6 Revised H.W.F

Chadwick, Rev. John White, Marblehead, Massachusetts, October 19, 1840—December 11, 1904, Brooklyn, New York. After two years of study at the Bridgewater Normal School, and a shorter period at Phillips Exeter Academy, he entered the Harvard Divinity School, from which he graduated in 1864. He received the degree of A.M. 1888. In December, 1864, he was ordained minister of the Second Unitarian Church, Brooklyn, where he remained until his death. He was an influential preacher and a prolific author in both prose and verse, his principal publications being a _Book of Poems_, 1876, _Nazareth Town_, 1883 (poems), the two being later combined and republished in 1888 with the earlier title; _The Bible Today_, 1879: _Old and New Unitarian Belief_, 1894; and first-rate biographies of _Theodore Parker_, 1901, and _William Ellery Channing_, 1903. After his death a small volume was published entitled _Later Poems_, 1905, and his printed sermons have been collected in 14 volumes. As a young man he became a close friend of W. C. Gannett, _q.v._, and F. L. Hosmer, _q.v._, both of whom were also born in 1840, though not his classmates in the Divinity School, and his hymns are expressions of a theological outlook similar to theirs, notably in his endeavor to give a religious interpretation to the then disputed doctrine of evolution. Although several of his hymns are of exceptionally fine quality, he often wrote in haste, lacking the patience with which his two friends sought for the precise word to convey their meaning, but he often abbreviated or re-wrote his verses at the request of hymn-book editors, or willingly accepted their proposed alterations. The result is that some of his hymns now appear in forms which depart considerably from their original texts. His secular poems, mostly the utterances of a nature lover, are often the too hastily written verse of a minor poet.

His _Book of Poems_, 1888, and _Later Poems_, 1905, include all his hymns, three of which had little use, viz:

1. _A gentle tumult in the earth_, (Easter) 1876

2. _Everlasting Holy One_, (Invocation) 1875

3. _O God, we come not as of old_, (Worship) 1874

His best known hymn was written for the Visitation Day exercises at the Harvard Divinity School, 1864,

4. _Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round_,

It has been widely used in Great Britain and in this country. Other hymns by him have had considerable use, as follows:

5. _Another year of setting suns_, (New Year’s) 1873

This was written in ten stanzas beginning

“That this shall be a better year,”

but in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, only stas. 5, 6, 7, and 10 are given, beginning as above.

6. _It singeth low in every heart_, (Commemoration) 1876

Written for the 25^th anniversary of the dedication of his church in Brooklyn, and widely used.

7. _Now sing we a song of the harvest_, (Thanksgiving Day) 1871

8. _O Love Divine, of all that is_, (A song of Trust) 1865

9. _O Thou, whose perfect goodness crowns_, (Anniversary Hymn)

Written in 1889 for the 25^th anniversary of his ordination.

10. _Thou glorious God, before whose face_, (Anniversary Hymn)

Undated.

11. _Thou whose spirit dwells in all_, (Easter)

Written in 1890.

12. _Thy seamless robe conceals Thee not_, (Jesus)

Written in 1876. Included in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, but not in later publications.

13. _What has drawn us thus apart_, (Unity of Spirit)

Written in 1891.

Several of the above hymns, as printed in current hymn-books, consist of selected stanzas, or have been slightly altered from their original forms, in most cases by Gannett and Hosmer, for inclusion in their collection _Unity Hymns and Chorals_, 1880, 1911. Two others included in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, were not written as hymns but have been quarried out of verses in _Later Poems_, by permission of the author’s widow, viz:

14. _Spirit of God, in thunder speak_, (Summons to Duty)

This arrangement combines stanzas 13 and 16 in the poem entitled “A Missionary Chant”, used as the first two stanzas of the hymn, with stanzas 8 and 9 of the poem to “William Cullen Bryant” as the third and fourth stanzas of the hymn, both poems being found in _Later Poems_, 1905.

15. _Thou mighty God, who didst of old_, (Communion of Saints)

This is arranged from the same sources. Stanzas 1 and 2 are the first two stanzas in “William Cullen Bryant,” the last three stanzas are stanzas 11, 7, and 8 in “A Missionary Chant,” considerably altered. These arrangements were made by H. W. Foote, with the coöperation of F. L. Hosmer and W. C. Gannett, for inclusion in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914.

Of the hymns listed above _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937 includes Nos. 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, and 15.

J. 216, 1619 Revised by H.W.F.

Chapman, Mrs. (No information available).

An anti-slavery hymn beginning

_O God of freedom! Hear us pray_,

is attributed to “Mrs. Chapman” in Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853.

H.W.F.

Cheney, Mrs. Ednah D. (Dow) Boston, Massachusetts, June 27, 1824—November 19, 1904, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. She married Seth Wells Cheney. She was the author of several books, including _The Life and Letters of Louisa May Alcott_. She wrote a hymn on “the larger prayer,” beginning

_At first I prayed for Light_,

in 4 stanzas of 10 lines each, printed in the _Riverside Record_ and reprinted in the _Boston Gazette_, February 4, 1882. Enough lines have been taken from this hymn to make a much shorter one in 5 stanzas of four lines each, C.M. for inclusion in Unitarian hymn-books. It has also been considerably rewritten, but since this revised form is not marked as “altered” it is probable that the changes were made by the author or at least with her permission. It is included in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.

H.W.F.

Church, Edward Alonzo, Boston, Massachusetts, —— 1844—January 29, 1929, Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was a business man who wrote in 1904, for the laying of the cornerstone of a new edifice for the Church of the Disciples (Unitarian), Boston, of which he was a member, a hymn beginning,

_Almighty Builder, bless, we pray,_ _The cornerstone that here we lay,_

The next year, for the final service in the old edifice which the congregation was leaving, he wrote one beginning,

_O Thou to whom in prayer and praise_ _We here have turned with constant heart._

Both hymns were included in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and the first is also in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.

H.W.F.

Clapp, Eliza Thayer, 1811-1888. She was a resident of Dorchester, Massachusetts. She was author of _Words in a Sunday School_, of _Studies in Religion_, New York, 1845, and of later essays on religion and of poems posthumously collected in a volume entitled _Essays, Letters and Poems_, privately printed in Boston, 1888. At the request of her friend R. W. Emerson she contributed three hymns and two poems to The _Dial_, 1841. From one of the hymns in 9 stanzas of 4 lines, published in The _Dial_, July, 1841, and entitled “The future is better than the past,” is taken the hymn beginning

_All before us is the way_, (Onward with confidence)

included in Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853, where it was erroneously attributed to Emerson, an error which was repeated in several other collections which included it.

J. 234 H.W.F.

Clarke, Rev. James Freeman, D.D., Hanover, New Hampshire, April 4, 1810—June 8, 1888, Boston, Massachusetts. He was named for his step-grandfather, Rev. James Freeman, _q.v._ He graduated from Harvard College in 1829 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1833. He served as minister of the Unitarian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1833 to 1840. In 1841 he returned to Boston where he gathered a group of persons interested in the more radical social and religious reforms of the day into a church which he named the Church of the Disciples (Unitarian) of which he remained minister until his death. He became one of the most distinguished ministers of his period in Boston, greatly beloved and admired for his courage as well as his piety, his wisdom as well as his wit. He was the author of several books (and many short printed articles) the best known of which were his _Orthodoxy: its Truths and Errors_, and _Ten Great Religions_. The latter is an amplification of lectures on Comparative Religion which he gave at the Harvard Divinity School as early as 1854, and again for several years in the eighteen-seventies, the earliest course in this field of study to be given in any American theological school. In 1844 he published a _Service Book_ for use by his congregation, which included a small selection of hymns, among them Sarah Flower Adams’ _Nearer my, God, to Thee_, which had appeared in England only three years earlier and was now introduced for the first time to an American congregation, whence it quickly passed into numerous other collections. In 1852 a revised and enlarged edition of the _Service Book_ was published entitled the _Disciples Hymn Book_, which included five hymns by the compiler. A few of his poems are included in Putnam’s _Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith_, and the following hymns by him have come into some use.

1. _Brother, hast thou wandered far?_ (The Prodigal)

First printed in the _Service Book_, 1844. It appeared in abbreviated form as

_Hast thou wasted all the powers?_

(beginning with the second stanza) in _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853; in Beecher’s _Plymouth Collection_, 1855, and in other American and British books.

2. _Dear Friend, whose presence in the house_, (Jesus at Cana)

Dated 1855. A tender poem rather than a hymn, included in the British _Lyra Sacra Americana_.

3. _Father, to us Thy children humbly kneeling_ (Aspiration)

About 1833, after arrival in Louisville, Clarke wrote a poem entitled “Hymn and Prayer” beginning _Infinite Spirit, who art round us ever_, which was published in _The Dial_ for January, 1841. Five stanzas beginning

_Unseen, yet not unfelt!—if any thought_

were taken from this form of the poem for inclusion in Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853, but already Clarke had taken from his poem, and largely rewritten, three stanzas to make the hymn beginning as above. In this later form it was included in his _Service Book_, 1844, in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Book of Hymns_, 1846, in the _Disciples Hymn Book_, 1852, and in many later collections down to the present day.

4. _For all thy gifts we bless Thee, Lord_

Written for a Unitarian Convention in New York City, held on October 22, 1845, and included in _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853.

5. _Hast thou wasted all the powers_,

Included in _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853.

6. _To him who children blessed_ (Christening)

7. _To Thee, O God in heaven_ (Christening)

Both of these tender and beautiful hymns for a christening appeared in the _Service Book_, 1844, and have passed into a good many other collections, although hymns are now seldom sung at such a service.

Of the above no. 3 was included in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Book of Hymns_, 1846, attributed to Clarke, and nos. 1, 5 and 6 were included as Anonymous. In their _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864, these hymns were correctly attributed to Clarke. He was the author of a limited quantity of pleasing religious verse acceptable to his many friends rather than a hymn writer of distinction, his best ones being nos. 3, 5 and 6. _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, includes nos. 3 and 6; _The Pilgrim Hymnal_, 1935, includes nos. 3 and 5; _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, has only no. 3.

J. 235, 1556 Re-written, H.W.F.

Collyer, Rev. Robert, D.D., Keighly, Yorkshire, England, December 8, 1823—November 30, 1912, New York, New York. His education in childhood was very limited, and in early manhood he became a blacksmith, which had been his father’s trade. He joined the Methodist Church in 1847 and three years later sailed for America, settling at Shoemakertown, Pennsylvania, where he was both a blacksmith and a preacher. Having become acquainted with Dr. W. H. Furness, _q.v._, of Philadelphia, he accepted Unitarian beliefs and left the Methodist Church. His great intellectual abilities and natural gifts as a preacher brought him an invitation in 1859 to go to Chicago to take charge of the newly organized Unity Church in that city, which he served until 1879, when he accepted a call to the Church of the Messiah (Unitarian), New York. He was a widely popular lecturer and author of many published sermons, other articles, and a few occasional verses. The church of which he was minister was destroyed by the great Chicago fire of 1870 but was soon rebuilt. For the dedication of the new building in December 3, 1873, he wrote his one fine hymn beginning,

_With thankful hearts, O God, we come_,

which altered to

_Unto thy temple, Lord, we come_,

has had wide use in Unitarian hymn books and is included in the _New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937.

J. 1623 H.W.F.

Clute, Rev. Oscar, Bethlehem, New York, March 11, 1837—January 27, 1902, Sawtelle, California. He took the degree of M.S. at Michigan State College, and then studied at Meadville Theological School, 1867-1868. In the latter year he was ordained as minister of the Unitarian Church at Vineland, New Jersey, where he remained for five years. He served churches in Keokuk, Iowa, 1875-1878; Iowa City, 1878-1888; and Pomona, California, 1888-1889. From 1889 to 1893 he was president of Michigan State Agricultural College, and president of Florida Agricultural College from 1893 to 1897, when he moved to California.

He wrote a hymn beginning,

_O Love of God most full,_ _O Love of God most free,_

which is included in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937, and in _The Hymnal_ (Presbyterian), 1935, the Handbook to which describes it as “a rhapsody of gratitude for the love of God.”

J. 1682 H.W.F.

Dana, Charles Anderson, Hinsdale, New Hampshire, August 8, 1819—October 17, 1897, Glen Cove, Long Island, New York. He was one of the leaders in the Brook Farm Association, 1842; then became a journalist and man of letters; on the staff of the New York _Tribune_, 1847-1862; Assistant Secretary of War, 1863-1864; editor of the New York _Sun_, 1868.

The hymn beginning

_Work, and thou shalt bless the day_ (Joy in Labor)

which Hedge and Huntington included in their _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853, and attributed to “C. A. Dana” was probably written while he was engaged in the Brook Farm experiment.

H.W.F.