1858 - 1945 Person Name: J. A. L. Riley, 1858-1945 Hymnal Number: 540 Author of "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones" in Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary Riley, John Athelstan Laurie, M.A., s. of John Riley, Mytholmroyd, Yorks, was born in London, Aug. 10, 1858, and educated at Eton and at Pembroke College, Oxford (B.A. 1881, M.A. 1883). He has been since 1892 a member of the House of Laymen of the Province of Canterbury. He was one of the compilers of The English Hymnal, 1906, and contributed to it seven translations from the Latin (34, 185, 193, 195, 213, 242, 321, with No. 97 previously published), and one from the Greek, beginning, "What sweet of life endureth," from Iiola rod fiiov, p. 899, i., and the following originals:—
1. Come, let us join the Church above. Martyrs.
2. Saints of God! Lo, Jesu’s people. St. Bartholomew. The initials of the lines form the acrostic Saint Bartholomew; it is really a general hymn for Apostles.
3. Ye watchers and ye holy ones. Universal Praise to God. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
Athelstan Riley