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Benjamin Francis

1734 - 1799 Person Name: Benjamin Francis, 1734-1799 Author of "Praise the Saviour, all ye nations" in The Abingdon Hymnal Francis, Benjamin , M.A., was born in Wales in 1734. He was baptized at the age of 15, and began to preach at 19. He studied at the Bristol Baptist College, and commenced his ministry at Sodbury. In 1757 he removed to Horsley (afterwards called Shortwood), in Gloucestershire. There he remained, through a happy and very successful ministry of 42 years, until his death in 1799. He was the author of many poetical compositions :— (1) Conflagration, a Poem in Four Parts, (1770); (2) Elegies on the Deaths of the Revs. George Whitefield , Caleb Evans, Robert Day, and Joshua Thomas; (3) The Association, a Poem (1790); (4) a Poetical Address to the Stockbridge Indians (5) two satirical pieces on the Baptismal controversy; The Salopian Zealot; and The Oracle, the former passing through several editions and being reprinted in America. Francis was the author of five hymns in Rippon's Selections, 1787, all of which are still in common use :— 1. Before Thy throne, eternal King . Meetings of Ministers: or Church Conferences. 2. Glory to the eternal King. Majesty of God. In Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory for Private, Family and Public Worship, 1872. 3. In tweet [loud] exalted strains . Opening of a Place of Worship . This was given in Rippon, No. 338, in 6 st. of 6 1. with the note:—“Sung on opening the Meeting House at Horsley, Gloucestershire, [his Chapel,] September 18, 1774; and also at the opening of the New Meeting House, at Downend, near Bristol, October 4, 1786."This hymn is abbreviated in the Baptist Hymnal, 1879, to 4 stanzas, and begins with st. iii. which is altered to "Come, King of glory, come." No. 1020 in Spurgeon's Our Own Hymnbook is the same arrangement of stanzas altered by Mr. Spurgeon to "Great King of Zion, now." In several American hymnals it reads: "Great King of glory, come." 4. My gracious Redeemer, I love. The love of Christ to Men. In various collections. 5. Praise the Saviour, all ye nations . Offertory. In Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872, No. 739, "With my substance I will honour," is a cento from this hymn. 6. Ye objects of sense and enjoyments of time . Death. A long hymn of 16 st. of 4 l. given in the new and improved edition of Rippon, 1837, No. 553, Pt. ii. with the heading, "The dying Christian bidding adieu to the world." This hymn had previously appeared in the Baptist Register, 1795. It was as a writer of Welsh hymns, however, that Francis excelled. In 1774 he published his Alleluia, neu Hymnau perthynol i Addoliad Cyhoeddus (Hymns pertaining to Public Worship) To this he contributed 103 hymns. A second volume appeared in 1786, to which he contributed 91 hymns, being a total of 194 in all [D. Sedgwick’s Manuscript]. Of these many are still in common use in Wales, the most popular being:— 1. Clod i'r bendigedig Oen—-a oddefodd. 2. Deffro 'nghalon, deffro 'nghan—-i ddyrchafu. 3. Gwyn fyd y dyn a gred yn Nuw. 4. Arglwydd grasol, clyw fy nghri—-a'm griddfanau. 5. Wele gadarn sylfaen Sion. [Rev. W. R. Stevenson, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) See also in: Hymn Writers of the Church

H. Elvet Lewis

1860 - 1953 Person Name: Howell Elvet Lewis, 1860- Author of "Lord of light, whose Name out-shineth" in The Hymnary of the United Church of Canada Lewis, Howell Elvet, M.A., born April 14, 1860, and educated for the Congregational Ministry. After holding several charges in the country, he removed to London in 1898. His Sweet Singers of Wales, 1889, contains translations of standard Welsh hymns. They are well done, and worthy of attention on the part of hymn-book compilers. Mr. Lewis is M.A. of the University of Wales. [Rev. T. G. Crippen] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907) ================= Howell Elvet Lewis, CH (14 April 1860 – 10 December 1953), widely known by his bardic name Elfed, was a Welsh Congregational minister, hymn-writer, and devotional poet, who served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1924 to 1928. Elfed was born on 14 April 1860, the eldest son of twelve children of James and Anna Lewis, of Y Gangell, near Blaenycoed, Carmarthenshire. His father was a farm labourer and his mother was a local shopkeeper. He had a very limited early education, but through self-study and attendance at the local chapel schoolroom he managed to gain entry to Newcastle Emlyn Grammar School at the age of 14. Two years later he succeeded in an examination for admission to the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen, where he trained for the ministry. Elfed was ordained in 1880 and was made pastor of St John’s English Congregational Church in Buckley, Flintshire, where the local Secondary School Elfed High School is named after him. In 1884 he moved to minister at Fish Street Church, Hull. He returned to Wales in 1891 as minister of the English Congregational Park Chapel, Llanelli. In 1898 he accepted a calling to Harecourt Chapel in London, where he remained until 1904. In 1904 he became minister of Tabernacle Chapel (Capel y Tabernacl in Welsh) – a Welsh language Congregational chapel in King's Cross, London. He remained at Y Tabernacl until his retirement in 1940. He retired to Penarth, where he became a member of Ebeneser Chapel, Cardiff. Apart from serving as a church minister Elfed's ministry included two periods as chair of the London Missionary Board in 1910 and 1922. He was one of three representatives of the Congregational Union of England and Wales invited to visit Madagascar to celebrate the centenary of the arrival of the first missionaries to the country. He was elected President of the National Free Church Council, 1926–27, President of the Welsh Union of the League of Nations, 1927–28, and chairman of the Congregational Union in 1933. Elfed's literary output was prolific: he wrote essays, historical treaties, obituaries, devotional works and poetry. He won the National Eisteddfod Crown consecutively in 1888 (Wrexham) and 1889 (Brecon), and the Chair in 1894 (Caernarfon).[5] He was inaugurated into the bardic order of the Gorsedd in 1888 and enthroned as its Archdruid in 1924, a position which he held until 1928. Elfed's greatest contribution to Welsh literature was in the field of hymnody and hymnology. He published his first hymn, O Dywysog Pob Daioni, in 1881 during the first year of his ministry, he went on to write a large number of original hymns in Welsh and in English and to translate hymns between the two languages, many of which are still popular with congregations today. Among his best known original Welsh language hymns is the patriotic hymn Cofia'n gwlad Benllywydd tirion (described as "a kind of second national anthem"); while his original English hymn Lord of Light, Your Name Outshining is widely used in hymn books on both sides of the Atlantic. A number of Welsh hymns translated into English appeared in a series of articles published in the magazine Sunday at Home, and were republished in book form in 1889 by the Religious Tract Society as Sweet Singers of Wales. The University of Wales awarded Elfed three honorary degrees: MA (1906), D.D. (1937) and Ll.D (1949). He was the first person to achieve such an honour from the University. He was created a Companion of Honour in 1948. Marriage and family Elfed married three times. Elfed died on 10 December 1953. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in Blaenycoed Principal publications: Welsh Caniadau (2 vols, 1895-1901) English My Christ and other Poems (1891) Israel and other Poems (1930) Songs of Assisi (1938) --en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ (excerpts) See also in: Wikipedia

Henry Downton

1818 - 1885 Person Name: Henry Downton, 1818-85 Author of "Lord, her watch Thy Church is keeping" in The Methodist Hymn-Book with Tunes Downton, Henry, M.A, son of Mr. John Downton, Sub-Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge, was born at Pulverbatch, Shropshire, Feb. 12, 1818, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. 1840, and M.A. 1843. Taking Holy Orders in 1843, he became Curate of Bembridge, Isle of Wight, 1843, and of Holy Trinity, Cambridge, 1847. In 1849 he was preferred to the Incumbency of St. John's, Chatham. He went to Geneva as English Chaplain in 1857; and was appointed Rector of Hopton in 1873. He was also for some time Domestic Chaplain to the late Lord Monson. He died at Hopton, June 8, 1885. Mr. Downton published a translation of Professor Ernest Naville's Lectures on Modern Atheism, 1865; and Holy Scripture and the Temperance Question, 1878. His hymns were chiefly contributed to the Church of England Magazine; A. T. Russell's Psalms & Hymns, 1851; Barry's Psalms & Hymns, 1862; and the Sunday Magazine. In 1873 he collected these and published them as Hymns and Verses. His translations from the French of Alexandre Vinet are also in the volume. His best known hymns are "Another year, another year" (given anonymously in the Harrow School Hymns, 1855); "For Thy mercy, and Thy grace"; and " Harp awake, tell out the story." These have attained to great popularity, and are in extensive use. - John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)