As indicated in the foregoing list, the text of several of Bryant’s hymns is found with the opening line altered from the original, either by the author himself, or, presumably, with his consent, so that it is impossible to say which is the correct or authorized form, and frequently no more than approximate date of composition can be given.

The early flowering of Bryant’s gifts as a poet, promoted by a fortunate combination of circumstances, quickly brought him widespread recognition in both Great Britain and America, which deepened into respect for his fine character as he advanced in age. The writings of no other American poet of his period were so eagerly searched by compilers of hymn books, who sometimes included verses which were meditative, poems rather than hymns, e.g., nos. 8, 10, 20 and 25 in the above list. Bryant’s mind was cool and meditative, and his hymns are correct and smoothly flowing, but seldom touched with lyric fire, and none of them quite reach the highest level. They express an attitude towards religion characteristic of the intellectual life of his time but now largely passed away. No. 16 is still included in several leading hymn collections of the 20th century; nos. 11 and 18 are in the Unitarian New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914; and nos. 12 and 18 are in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

J. 189-190, 1682 H.W.F.

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 19th 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.