Hurlburt, (Hurlbut, Hurlbert) William Henry. Charleston, South Carolina, July 3, 1827—September 4, 1895, Cadenabbia, Lake Como, Italy. (His family name is spelled Hurlburt in records at Charleston but at Harvard he was registered as Hurlbut, and in later years he changed the spelling to Hurlbert). He graduated from Harvard College in 1847 and from the Divinity School in 1849. He preached in Unitarian pulpits for a few months but was never ordained as a settled minister; then he studied in the Harvard Law School for a year; then turned to journalism in New York City. After 1883 he spent most of his time in Europe, his last few years in Italy. As a student at Harvard he was a contemporary of Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson and contributed three hymns to their Book of Hymns, edition of 1848, which they also included in their Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, viz:
1. My God, in life’s most doubtful hour,
2. We pray for truth and peace,
3. We will not weep, for God is standing by us
In both books his surname is spelled Hurlbut.
J. 545 Revised by H.W.F.
Johnson, Rev. Samuel, Salem, Massachusetts, October 10, 1822—February 19, 1882, North Andover, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard College in 1842 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1846. He served from 1853-1870 as minister of the Independent Church, Lynn, Massachusetts which he organized and which ceased to exist when he resigned. He refused to identify himself with any denomination, though in belief he was a Unitarian and in the public mind was associated with the churches which adhered to the liberal wing of the Congregational order. He was author of a book on Oriental Religions, one of the earliest American studies in the History of Religions. In 1846 he and his classmate in the Divinity School, [Samuel Longfellow], q.v., while still students, prepared their Book of Hymns, because they and some of their friends thought the Unitarian hymn books then in use were too traditional. This book appeared in enlarged edition in 1848, and made a notable contribution to American hymnody in its freshness of outlook and its inclusion of hymns by hitherto unrecognized writers, notably John Greenleaf Whittier. Johnson contributed 7 hymns to the edition of 1846, viz:
1. Father [Savior] in Thy mysterious presence kneeling (Worship)
2. Go, preach the gospel in my name (Ordination)
3. Lord, once our faith in man no fear could move, (In Time of War)
4. Onward, Christians, though the region (Conflict)
Altered in Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, to
Onward, onward though the region
5. Thy servants’ sandals, Lord, are wet (Ordination)
In the edition of 1848 he included
6. God of the earnest heart, (Trust)
which he had “Written for the Graduating Exercises of the Class of 1846, in Cambridge Divinity School.” In 1864 he and Longfellow published their second and no less important collection, Hymns of the Spirit, (not to be confused with the book of the same title published in 1937 by the American Unitarian Association). To this volume he contributed 7 more hymns, viz:
7. City of God, how broad, how far, (The Church Universal)
8. I bless Thee, Lord, for sorrows sent (Purification through suffering)