1813 - 1880 Person Name: Jones Very (1813-1880) Author of "O heavenly gift of love divine" in The Pilgrim Hymnal Very, Jones, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, Aug. 28, 1813, his father, Jones Very, being a shipmaster. He graduated at Harvard College in 1836. He remained at his College, as tutor in Greek, for two years, and then entered the Unitarian Ministry (1843). He has been engaged in the work of a preacher without a pastorate from the first, a great part of his time being devoted to literary pursuits. In 1839 he published a volume of Essays and Poems, from which several pieces have been taken as hymns, including:—
1. Father! I wait Thy word. The sun doth stand. Waiting upon God.
2. Father, there is no change to live with Thee. Peace in the Father's Care.
3. Father! Thy wonders do not singly stand. The Spirit-Land.
4. Wilt Thou not visit me? The Divine Presence desired.
These hymns were included in Longfellow and Johnson's Unitarian Book of Hymns, 1846. In the same collection also appeared:—
5. I saw on earth another light. The Light Within.
6. The bud will soon become a flower. Sowing and Reaping.
7. Turn not from him who asks of thee. Kind Words.
In addition the following hymns appeared in Longfellow and Johnson's Hymns of the Spirit, 1864 :—
8. One saint to another I heard say,"How long?" The Future anticipated.
9. There is a world eye hath not seen. The Spirit World.
Most of these hymns are in the Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868; and in Putnam's Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, 1874. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Very, J., p. 1219, i. His hymn, "O heavenly gift of love divine" (Divine assistance asked), from his Poems and Essays, 1839, is given in The Pilgrim Hymnal, 1904. He d. May 8, 1880.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
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Very, Jones. (Salem, Massachusetts, August 28, 1813--May 8, 1880, Salem). He was brother of Washington Very. He graduated from Harvard College in 1836, and served as tutor in Greek there for two years. Although Julian (p. 1219) says that he entered the Unitarian ministry in 1843, he was never ordained as a settled minister though he served frequently as an occasional lay preacher. Most of his life was given to literary pursuits. In 1839 he published Essays and Poems, and thereafter was a frequent contributor in prose and verse to periodicals, including The Christian Register and the Monthly Magazine.
--Henry Wilder Foote, DNAH Archives
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