In Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853, there is no Index of Authors, but in its Index of First Lines the name of the author, (often only his or her surname) is given in most instances. The Index also lists 57 hymns as “Anon.” or, more often, with no word as to authorship. The source of several of these hymns can be traced in Julian’s Dictionary or in Putnam’s Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, but I have been unable to identify the author or source of the following hymns, or to check their later use, if any.
H.W.F.
Hys. Ch. Ch.
509 Abba, Father, hear thy child, 758 Alas! how poor and little worth, 602 Behold, the servant of the Lord, 73 Blest is the hour when cares depart, 510 Come, let us who in Christ believe 288 Come, O thou universal good! 581 Come to the morning prayer,
707 Gently, Lord, O gently lead us, 868 God of the mountain, God of the storm, 437 God of the rolling year! to Thee 765 Go to thy rest, fair child! 305 Head of the church triumphant, 860 Hear, Father, hear our prayer 691 He sendeth sun, he sendeth shower 686 I cannot always trace the way 763 In the broad fields of heaven, 37 “Let there be light!” When born on high 255 Lord, in thy garden agony, 409 Lord, may the spirit of this feast, 861 Meek and lowly, pure and holy, 573 Meek hearts are by sweet manna fed, 798 Mortal, the angels say, 856 My feet are worn and weary with the march, 481 O’er mountaintops, the mount of God, 294 On earth was darkness spread, 742 O speed thee, Christian, on thy way, 506 O Thou, who hearest prayer, 803 O why should friendship grieve for them 56 O wondrous depth of grace divine,
307 Saviour and dearest friend, 312 Saviour, source of every blessing, 539 Sovereign of worlds! display thy power, 757 Swift years, but teach me how to bear, 611 Take my heart, O Father, take it, 75 There is a world, and O how blest, 276 Thou art the Way, and he who sighs, 768 Thou must go forth alone, my soul! 155 ’Tis not Thy chastening hand I fear, 247 Wake the song of jubilee. 528 When shall the voice of singing, 846 Why come not spirits from the realms of glory? 448 Why slumbereth, Lord, each promised sign?
Anonymous Hymns
Come, Holy Spirit, hush my heart,
C.M. 3 stas. 3 Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908.
Come thou Almighty King!
The widely used hymn to the Trinity which begins with this line was written about 1757 in England. It has often been mistakenly attributed to Charles Wesley, and research has failed to discover who its author was. Perhaps he thought it prudent not to disclose his name because both his words and the tune by Felice di Giardini to which it was set in 1769 offered so marked a contrast to the British national anthem, in the same unusual metre, which had come into popular use about 1745 with the words God save our lord the King. American Unitarians in the 19th century could sing the first stanza of the hymn, addressed to the “Father all glorious,” but not the trinitarian stanzas which followed. An unknown writer produced two additional stanzas in a carefully revised version which was included in Lunt’s Christian Psalter, 1841; in the 1851 Supplement to Longfellow and Johnson’s Book of Hymns, 1846; and in their Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. This version, however, was not satisfactory to later Unitarians and was again largely rewritten in the form in which it has been included in most of the Unitarian hymn books of more recent date. This version will be found in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.
H.W.F.
For mercies past we praise thee, Lord,
Given as Anonymous in Longfellow and Johnson’s Book of Hymns, 1846, in 4 stas. of 4 l. It was repeated in their Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, and in the (Unitarian) Hymn and Tune Book, 1868.