Joseph Swain, English Baptist minister and hymn writer, lost his parents early in life and was apprenticed to an engraver. He led a careless, frivolous life until his conversion at the age of twenty-two, when he became a fervent Christian. He qualified for the Baptist ministry and began serving as minister of a congregation in East Street, Walworth, in 1791. His poetic gifts, formerly given worldly and superficial expression, were now turned with great effect to his evangelistic appeals. His short ministry of five years, cut off by a lamented early death, was very successful.
MUSIC. REMEMBER ME. For comments on Asa Hull, composer of the tune, see [Hymn 232].
MISSIONS
324. The morning light is breaking
Samuel F. Smith, 1808-95
A great missionary hymn, though a little too optimistic. It was written in 1832 while the author was a student in Andover Theological Seminary. After reading an inspiring account by Adoniram Judson of his great missionary work in Burma, Smith put his enthusiasm for missions into these verses, now sung in all the churches.
Rev. Samuel F. Smith, Harvard graduate in the class with Oliver Wendell Holmes, became the foremost American Baptist hymn writer of the 19th century. He is the author of numerous hymns but is best known by “My country, ’tis of thee” and the present hymn. His desire to be a missionary himself was never fulfilled, but his son volunteered for the service and became the successor to Judson in the great work in Burma. “The morning light is breaking” has been translated into many tongues. In a letter dated March 17, 1883, the author said of this hymn: “I have heard versions of it sung in Karen, Burman, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, German, and Telegu.” Dr. Smith was a great linguist. He taught modern languages for a time in Colby College and had a familiarity with no less than fifteen languages. It is said that at the age of 86 he was seeking a suitable textbook to use in the study of the Russian language. He served as minister of Baptist churches at Waterville, Me., and Newton Center, Mass., and was secretary of the Baptist Missionary Union for 15 years.
MUSIC. WEBB. For comments on this tune and its composer, George J. Webb, see [Hymn 65].
325. Far and near the fields are teeming
J. O. Thompson