1. Lo! the day of rest declineth (Evening)
for which L. B. Barnes, then president of the Handel and Haydn Society composed the tune, Bedford Street, named for the location of Dr. Robbins’ church.
2. While thus [now] thy throne of grace we seek, (Voice of God)
The first of these is included in The Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908, and in the New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914. The second is in Church Harmonies, 1895.
J. 966 H.W.F.
Robbins, Rev. Samuel Dowse, Lynn, Massachusetts, March 7, 1812—?1884, Belmont, Massachusetts, he was a brother of [Chandler Robbins], q.v. He graduated from the Harvard Divinity School in 1833 and on November 13 of the same year was ordained minister of the Unitarian Church in Lynn. He subsequently held pastorates in Chelsea (1840), Framingham (1859) and Wayland, Massachusetts, 1867-1873.
He wrote a good many poems on religious themes, which were published in magazines and newspapers but were never collected in a volume. The Unitarian Hymn and Tune Book, 1868, included four of his hymns, viz:
1. Down toward the twilight drifting, (Sunset)
2. Saviour, when thy bread we break, (Communion)
3. Thou art my morning, God of light, (Day)
4. Thou art, O God! my East. In thee I dawned,
In Putnam, Singers and Songs, etc., this is entitled “The Compass,” with the statement, “Several mistakes in this hymn, as it is printed in the Hymn and Tune Book, are here corrected by Mr. Robbins.”
Julian’s Dictionary, p. 967, also cites one beginning
5. Thou art our father! thou of God the Son (Christ)
but it is a religious poem rather than a hymn and there is no evidence that it was included in any hymn book.
J. 967 Revised H.W.F.
Sargent, Lucius Manlius, Boston, Massachusetts, June 25, 1786—June 2, 1867, Boston. A layman of independent means, author of many articles advocating temperance. His temperance hymn beginning