John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807-92
One of the great hymns on the living presence and sympathy of Christ. It is taken from the poem, “Our Master,” of 38 stanzas, of which this hymn is a selection of stanzas 1, 5, 13, 14, and 16 of the original.
John Greenleaf Whittier, the “Quaker Poet,” was born near Haverhill, Mass., where he began life as a farm boy and village shoemaker. At the age of 20, with only a limited education, he entered the profession of journalism, largely as the result of becoming acquainted with William Lloyd Garrison. He became editor of the American Manufacturer in 1828, and of the New England Review in 1830. In 1836 he became the secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society and editor of its official organ, the Freeman. Whittier was a staunch advocate of the freedom of slaves, and as a Quaker, he was just as strongly opposed to war. His poems are characterized by wide sympathy and a fervent love for God and man. Though a staunch Quaker, wearing the distinctive garb and using the Quaker mode of speech all his life, there was no narrow sectarianism in his heart. A letter written to friends in Whittier, California, a city named after the poet, for the dedication of the Protestant Episcopal Church at that place, illustrates his large-hearted religious views:
I see the good in all denominations, and hope that all will be represented in the settlement; ... diligent in business and serving the Lord, not wasting strength and vitality in spasmodic emotions, not relying on creed and dogma, but upon faithful obedience to the voice of God in the soul. I see your town is spoken of as an orthodox Quaker colony. I hope there will be no sectarian fence about “Whittier,” but that good men, irrespective of their creeds, will find a home there. Nothing would be worse for it than to have the idea get abroad that anything like intolerance and self-righteousness was its foundation. I am gratified to know that the people of the town which bears my name will remember me on my birthday. I watch its growth with great interest. It has the reputation among all who have seen it that it occupies one of the loveliest sites in California, and that in a moral and religious and educational point of view it need
Fear not the skeptic’s puny hand
While near the school the church will stand;
Nor fear the blinded bigot’s rule
While near the church shall stand the school.
MUSIC. SERENITY is taken from a larger work entitled, Waft ye winds. Though the tune is named “Serenity,” the composer’s life was anything but serene; he was the world’s most restless and most picturesque composer. William Vincent Wallace, 1812-65, son of an Irish bandmaster, became a brilliant violinist. He loved adventure and travel and made successful concert tours to Australia, the South Sea Islands, India, South America, Mexico, the United States, and elsewhere. Wallace spent 14 years in Germany composing piano music chiefly, but also writing a number of operas. On account of failing health, he abandoned writing, and went to New York where he lost all his fortune through the failure of a piano factory. Undiscouraged by this disaster, he once more resumed his career as composer, returned to London, and then on doctor’s orders went to the Pyrenees where he died at the age of 51.
174. Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost
Christopher Wordsworth, 1807-85
Written for one of the pre-Lenten Sundays (Quinquagesima), the lesson for the day being I Corinthians 13. It is a fine enough hymn, but no poet can render this great paean of praise of love into verse to equal in poetic beauty the English of the King James Version.
Christopher Wordsworth was a nephew of the poet William Wordsworth. He was a brilliant student and a good athlete. After graduation from Cambridge, he became Head Master of Harrow for a time, then minister of a church where he proved to be a model parish priest, and later was appointed Bishop of Lincoln. Among his writings are a Commentary on the Bible, and a book of devotional poetry, The Holy Year, prepared for use in public worship.
MUSIC. CAPETOWN is an adaptation of a melody in “Vierstimmiges Choralbuch herausgegeben von Dr. F. Filitz,” Berlin, 1847. It was originally set to the hymn, “Morgenglanz der Ewigkeit” ([554]).