And cannot waste away.
The improvements are attributed to William Cameron, 1751-1811, who, as a young licentiate, was entrusted with the final revision of the Scottish Paraphrases.
For comments on Isaac Watts see [Hymn 11].
MUSIC. ST. STEPHEN (ABRIDGE) is described by Archibald Jacob as a “beautifully fluent and graceful melody ... in the best 18th-century style of this class of tune.” It appeared originally in A Collection of Psalm Tunes in Three Parts ... by Isaac Smith, c. 1770, under the name ABRIDGE, by which it continues to be known in England. In Sacred Harmony for Use in St. George’s, Edinburgh, 1820, it appeared under the name ST. STEPHEN, with slight modification of the last line.
Isaac Smith, c. 1725-c. 1800, was a London linen-draper with a taste for music. He composed and published a number of Psalm-tunes which long remained popular, though ABRIDGE is almost the only one now left of his compositions. Smith named his tunes after localities in and about London. ABRIDGE was the name of a small village near Epping Forest, in Essex.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
267. Forward through the ages
Frederick L. Hosmer, 1840-1929
A hymn expressing the unity of God’s people in their labor for the Kingdom through the ages. “The goodly fellowship of the prophets” is set forth here with power and poetic beauty.
For comments on Frederick L. Hosmer see [Hymn 72].