James Martineau

Martineau, James, LL.D., D.D., born at Norwich, April 21, 1805, the son of a manufacturer and wine merchant of Huguenot descent. After four years at the Norwich grammar school, and two as a pupil of Dr. Lant Carpenter, at Bristol, and a short experience in the shops of a mechanical engineer at Derby, he entered as a Divinity student in Manchester College, York. His first ministry was at Eustace St. Chapel, Dublin [1828-32], as assistant to his cousin, the Rev. Philip Taylor. From 1832 to 1857 he was in Liverpool, as minister of the congregation meeting in Paradise St. Chapel, and from 1849 in the new Hope St. Church. In 1840 he was appointed professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy in Manchester New College and in 1857 followed the college to London, becoming its Principal in 1869 and resigning in 1885. On settling in London he became also minister of Little Portland St. Chapel, first in conjunction with the Rev. J. J. Taylor, and afterwards alone till his resignation in 1872. He received the degree of D.C.L. from Oxford in 1888. Died Jan. 11, 1900.

The chief of Dr. Martineau's works hitherto published are four volumes of sermons, Endeavours after the Christian Life, 2 vols., 1843 and 1847; Hours of Thought on Sacred Things, 2 vols., 1876 and 1879; Studies of Christianity, 1858; Essays Philosophical and Theological 2 vols., 1866 and 1868, collected from various Reviews; A Study of Spinoza, 1882; and Types of Ethical Theories, 2 vols., 1885, 2nd ed. 1886. These contain the substance of his teaching as a Christian minister and an expounder of a spiritual philosophy of religion. By early training and matured conviction a Unitarian of the Catholic and spiritual type, Dr. Martineau has served not only the little group of churches with which he is immediately connected, but the Church Universal by his gifts of sympathy and insight into the deepest questions of human life. He has strengthened the foundations of faith in the light of modern knowledge, and added treasures, the worth of which have yet to be fully measured, to the rich store of the devout literature of the Church.

The Catholic spirit and deeply Christian temper impressed upon all Dr. Martineau's literary work give their distinctive character to the three hymn-books which he has edited, viz.:—

(1) A Collection of Hymns for Christian Worship. Dublin: Printed for the Congregation of Eustace Street 1831. This collection of 273 hymns already clearly indicates the principles of selection afterwards to be more fully worked out. It was made for the use of a society, "whose worship is paid solely to the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," and in adopting the hymns of Dr. Watts and others, such changes are made as are required by theological consistency; but the preface pleads for a wider latitude of choice than had been usual in older selections, "bringing all the resources of lyric poetry (the poetry of the affections) into the service of religion." There are 18 hymns by Bishop Heber introduced, and special mention is made of his merit in ”first liberalizing the style of poetry designed for our churches."

During his ministry in Liverpool Dr. Martineau published:—

(2) Hymns for the Christian Church and Home. Collected and edited by James Martineau. London, 1840. This with his own congregation took the place of the old Paradise St. collection of 1815, and was quickly recognised as pre-eminent among the books in use among the non-subscribing churches.

Dr. Martineau's last collection was:—

(3) Hymns of Praise and Prayer, collected and edited by James Martineau, LL.D., D.D. “Vatum suspiria solatium Ecclesiae." London, 1873.

Dr. Martineau's own hymns:—
1. A Voice upon the mid-night air. Good Friday
2. Thy way is in [on] the deep, 0 Lord. Trust.
3. "Where is your God?" Inward witness of God.

They have been hitherto published anonymously, but the authorship is now acknowledged. Nos. 1, 2, appeared first in his Hymns, &c, 1840, and 3 in his Hymns, &c.,1873. They are also found in other collections in Great Britain and America. [Rev. Valentine D. Davis, B.A.]

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)