John Moultrie › Recommendations

Moultrie, John, M.A., father of Gerard and Mary D. Moultrie, was born Dec. 31, 1799, at London, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A. 1823), where he was Bell's University Scholar, 1820, and Trinity College Scholar, 1822. Taking Holy Orders in 1825, he was presented the same year by the Earl of Craven to the Rectory of Rugby, where he remained till his death, on Dec. 26, 1874.
His publications included:—

(1) My Brother's Grave, and other Poems, 1837; (2) Dream of Life, Lays of the English Church, &c, 1843; (3) Memoir and Poetical Remains of W. S. Walker, 1852; (4) Sermons, 1852; (5) Altars, Hearths, and Graves, 1854; (6) Psalms and Hymns as Sung in the Parish Church, Rugby, 1851.

In his Preface Mr. Moultrie says of the Psalms & Hymns, 1851:—

"The present collection of Psalms & Hymns is founded on the basis of that which has been in use during the last twelve years in the Parish Church of Rugby, and for which the congregation of that Church are indebted to the kindness and taste of the Rev. H. J. Buckoll."

Further on in the same preface he says:—

"More than twenty original compositions--some altered or abridged from my former publications, others written expressly for the present collection, and (I am sorry to add) on the spur of the moment—-have thus been introduced into company with which they have perhaps but slender claims to associate. Several of these are little more than paraphrases of the Epistles or Gospel for the day."

These hymns, most of which are in Kennedy, 1863, include the following:—
1. Blest are the eyes of those. Gospel, 13 Sunday after Trinity. (The Good Samaritan.)
2. Bring the infant to the font. Holy Baptism.
3. Christ His own Apostles chooseth. St. Andrew.
4. Dear Lord, a lonely life was Thine. Gospel, 4 S. after Epiphany. (Stilling the Tempest.)
5. Friends and parents lingered weeping. Gospel, 24 S. after Trinity. (Raising the Ruler's daughter.)
6. God, Who dost the increase grant. Sexagesima. (The Sower.)
7. In patient faith till Christ shall come. Gospel, 6 S. after Epiphany.
8. In the beaming brow of Moses. Epistle, 12 S. after Trinity.
9. Lord, with glad and grateful spirits. Epistle, 1 S. after Trinity. (Perfect Love.)
10. Meek to suffer, strong to save. St. Mark.
11. Mysterious to the Christian heart. St. Michael and All Angels.
12. No act of sin our Saviour wrought. Collect, 2 S. after Easter. (Christ the Example.)
13. O Lord, a wondrous story. For Sunday Schools.
14. Our mortal eyes are all too dim. St. Stephen.
15. Source of wisdom, past and present. For Sunday Schools.
16. The world may look serene and bright. Circumcision.
17. Thou gavest, Lord, the life we live. Holy Communion.
18. When our hearts with grief are sore. Epistle. Ash Wednesday.
19. Wondrous was Thy path on earth. Gospel, 2 S. after Epiphany. (Marriage in Cana of Galilee.)
These hymns, from the special subjects of which they treat, are of more than ordinary interest to hymnal compilers, and are worthy of attention. Nos. 4, 6, 7, 12, 16, 18, 19, are from his Lays of the English Church, 1843; the rest were written expressly for the Psalms & Hymns, 1851 (S. MSS.).

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)