H.W.F.
Very, Jones, Salem, Massachusetts, August 28, 1813—May 8, 1880, Salem, Massachusetts. He was brother of [Washington Very], q.v. He graduated from Harvard College in 1836, and served as tutor in Greek there for two years. Although Julian, Dictionary, p. 1219, says that he entered the Unitarian ministry in 1843, he was never ordained as a settled minister though he served frequently as an occasional lay preacher. Most of his life was given to literary pursuits. In 1839 he published Essays and Poems, and thereafter was a frequent contributor in prose and verse to periodicals, including The Christian Register and the Monthly Magazine. The following hymns by him have passed into various American Unitarian collections.
1. Father! I wait Thy word, (Waiting upon God)
2. Father, there is no change to live with Thee (Peace)
3. Father! Thy wonders do not singly stand (The Spirit Land)
4. Wilt Thou not visit me? (The Divine Presence)
These four, from Essays and Hymns, were included in Longfellow and Johnson’s Book of Hymns, 1846, as were also three from other sources:—
5. I saw on earth another light (The Light Within)
6. The bud will soon become a flower (Sowing and Reaping)
7. Turn not from him who asks of thee (Kind Words)
Longfellow and Johnson’s second book, Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, also included
8. One saint to another I heard say, How long (The Future)
Most of these hymns are in Lyra Sacra Americana and in Putnam’s Singers and Songs, etc. Two other of his hymns have been published in later collections, viz:
9. O heavenly gift of love divine, (Divine assistance)
from his Essays and Poems is included in the Pilgrim Hymnal, 1904; and
10. We go not on a pilgrimage (This earth as holy land)
is included in the New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914 and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.
Of the hymns listed above nos. 2 and 3 are included in the Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, and in other publications. Another hymn beginning