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Edmund H. Sears
1810 - 1876 Person Name: E. H. Sears Author of "It came upon the midnight clear" in The Westminster Abbey Hymn-Book Edmund Hamilton Sears was born in Berkshire [County], Massachusetts, in 1810; graduated at Union College, Schenectady, in 1834, and at the Theological School of Harvard University, in 1837. He became pastor of the Unitarian Society in Wayland, Mass., in 1838; removed to Lancaster in 1840; but on account of ill health was obliged to retire from the active duties of the ministry in 1847; since then, residing in Wayland, he devoted himself to literature. He has published several works.
--Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A., 1872
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Sears, Edmund Hamilton, D.D., son of Joseph Sears, was born at Sandisfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, April 6, 1810, and educated at Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., where he graduated in 1834; and at the Theological School at Cambridge. In 1838 he became pastor of the First Church (Unitarian) at Wayland, Massachusetts; then at Lancaster in the same State, in 1840; again at Wayland, in 1847; and finally at Weston, Massachusetts, in 1865. He died at Weston, Jan. 14, 1876. He published:—
(1) Regeneration, 1854; (2) Pictures of the Olden Time, 1857; (3) Athanasia, or Foregleams of Immortality, 1858, enlarged ed., 1872; (4) The Fourth Gospel the Heart of Christ; (5) Sermons and Songs of the Christian Life, 1875, in which his hymns are collected. Also co-editor of the Monthly Religious Magazine.
Of his hymns the following are in common use:—
1. Calm on the listening ear of night. Christmas. This hymn was first published in its original form, in the Boston Observer, 1834; afterwards, in the Christian Register, in 1835; subsequently it was emended by the author, and, as thus emended, was reprinted entire in the Monthly Magazine, vol. xxxv. Its use is extensive.
2. It came upon the midnight clear. Christmas.
"Rev. Dr. Morison writes to us, Sears's second Christmas hymn was sent to me as editor of the Christian Register, I think, in December, 1849. I was very much delighted with it, and before it came out in the Register, read it at a Christmas celebration of Dr. Lunt's Sunday School in Quincy. I always feel that, however poor my Christmas sermon may be, the reading and singing of this hymn are enough to make up for all deficiences.'"
3. Ho, ye that rest beneath the rock. Charitable Meetings on behalf of Children. Appeared in Longfellow and Johnson's Hymns of the Spirit, Boston, 1864, in 2 stanzas of 8 lines.
Dr. Sears's two Christmas hymns rank with the best on that holy season in the English language. Although a member of the Unitarian body, his views were rather Swedenborgian than Unitarian. He held always to the absolute Divinity of Christ. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.]
--Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Edmund H. Sears
E. H. Plumptre
1821 - 1891 Author of "Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old" in The Riverdale Hymn Book Edward H. Plumptre (b. London, England, August 6, 1821; d. Wells, England, February 1, 1891) was an eminent classical and biblical scholar who gained prominence in both church and university. Educated at King's College, London, and University College, Oxford, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1846. Plumptre served as a preacher at Oxford and a professor of pastoral theology at King's College, and held a number of other prestigious positions. His writings include A Life of Bishop Ken (1888), translations from Greek and Latin classics, and poetry and hymns. Plumptre was also a member of the committee that produced the Revised Version of the Bible.
Bert Polman
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Plumptre, Edward Hayes, D.D., son of Mr. E. H. Plumptre, was born in London, Aug. 6, 1821, and educated at King's College, London, and University College, Oxford, graduating as a double first in 1844. He was for some time Fellow of Brasenose. On taking Holy Orders in 1846 he rapidly attained to a foremost position as a Theologian and Preacher. His appointments have been important and influential, and include that of Assistant Preacher at Lincoln's Inn; Select Preacher at Oxford; Professor of Pastoral Theology at King's College, London; Dean of Queen's, Oxford; Prebendary in St. Paul's Cathedral, London; Professor of Exegesis of the New Testament in King's College, London; Boyle Lecturer; Grinfield Lecturer on the Septuagint, Oxford; Examiner in the Theological schools at Oxford; Member of the Old Testament Company for the Revision of the A.V. of the Holy Scriptures; Rector of Pluckley, 1869; Vicar of Bickley, Kent, 1873; and Dean of Wells, 1881.
Dean Plumptre's literary productions have been very numerous and important, and embrace the classics, history, divinity, biblical criticism, biography, and poetry. The list as set forth in Crockford's Clerical Directory is very extensive. His poetical works include Lazarus, and Other Poems, 1864; Master and Scholar, 1866; Things New and Old, 1884; and translations of Sophocles, Æschylus, and Dante. As a writer of sacred poetry he ranks very high. His hymns are elegant in style, fervent in spirit, and broad in treatment. The subjects chosen are mainly those associated with the revived Church life of the present day, from the Processional at a Choral Festival to hospital work and the spiritual life in schools and colleges. The rhythm of his verse has a special attraction for musicians, its poetry for the cultured, and its stately simplicity for the devout and earnest-minded. The two which have attained to the most extensive use in Great Britain and America are: Rejoice, ye pure in heart," and "Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old." His translations from the Latin, many of which were made for the Hymnary, 1871 and 1872, are very good and musical, but they have not been used in any way in proportion to their merits.
His original hymns in common use include:—
1. Behold they gain the lonely height. The Transfiguration. Written for and first published in the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Church Hymns, 1871.
2. For all Thy countless bounties. National Hymns. Written for the Jubilee of Queen Victoria, 1887, and set to music by C. W. Lavington. It was printed, together with the National Anthem adapted for the Jubilee, in Good Words, 1887.
3. Lo, summer comes again! Harvest. Written in 1871 for use at the Harvest Festival in Pluckley Church, Kent, of which the author was then rector, and published in the same year in the Hymnary, No. 466.
4. March, march, onward soldiers true. Processional at Choral Festivals. Written in 1867 for the tune of Costa's March of the Israelites in the Oratorio of Eli, at the request of the Rev. Henry White, Chaplain of the Savoy, and first used in that Chapel. It was subsequently published in the Savoy Hymnary, N.D. [1870], in 4 stanzas of 4 lines; in a Choral Festival book at Peterborough, and in the S. P. C. K. Church Hymns, 1871.
5. 0 Light, Whose beams illumine all. The Way, the Truth, and the Life. Written in May 1864, and published in his Lazarus, and Other Poems, 1864, as one of five Hymns for School and College. It passed into the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient & Modern, and again into other collections.
6. 0 Lord of hosts, all heaven possessing. For School or College. Written in May, 1864, and published in his Lazarus and other Poems, 1864, in 5 stanzas of 6 lines.
7. 0 praise the Lord our God. Processional Thanksgiving Hymn. Written May 1864, and published in his Lazarus, and other Poems, 1864, in 4 stanzas of 8 lines. It is a most suitable hymn for Sunday school gatherings.
8. Rejoice, ye pure in heart. Processional at Choral Festival. Written in May 1865, for the Peterborough Choral Festival of that year, and first used in Peterborough Cathedral. In the same year it was published with special music by Novello & Co; and again (without music) in the 2nd edition of Lazarus, and Other Poems, 1865. It was included in the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient & Modern with the change in stanza i., line 3, of "Your orient banner wave on high," to "Your festal banner wave on high." It is more widely used than any other of the author's hymns. Authorized text in Hymns Ancient & Modern.
9. Thine arm, 0 Lord, in days of old. Hospitals. Written in 1864 for use in King's College Hospital, London, and first printed on a fly-sheet as "A Hymn used in the Chapel of King's College Hospital." It was included in the 2nd edition of Lazarus, and Other Poems, 1865; in the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient & Modern; the S. P. C. K. Church Hymns, 1871; Thring's Collection, 1882; and many others.
10. Thy hand, 0 God, has guided. Church Defence. Included in the 1889 Supplemental Hymns to Hymns Ancient & Modern The closing line of each stanza, "One Church, one Faith, one Lord," comes in with fine effect.
Dean Plumptre's Life of Bishop Ken, 1888, is an exhaustive and excellent work.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Plumptre, E. H., p. 897, i. Died at the Deanery, Wells, Feb. 1, 1891.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
E. H. Plumptre
Samuel Reay
1822 - 1905 Person Name: S. Reay Composer of "[It came upon the midnight clear]" in The Westminster Abbey Hymn-Book
Samuel Reay
George Gascoigne
1525 - 1577 Author of "Ye that have spent the silent night" in The Westminster Abbey Hymn-Book Gascoigne, George, son and heir of Sir John Gascoigne. The date and place of his birth are unknown, but it is probable that he was born about 1525, and from a statement in the Address to Queen Elizabeth prefixed to one of his works, he seems to have spent a part of his early life in Westmoreland. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, from whence he entered the Middle Temple as a student of law before 1548; but neglecting his studies he led a life of reckless extravagance and dissipation, on account of which he was disinherited by his father. In 1555 he migrated to Gray's Inn, but seems to have left it also. In 1557-58 he represented Bedford in Parliament. In 1565 he returned to Gray's Inn, and there, in the following year, two plays by him were represented, The Supposes, translated from the Italian of Ariosto, and Jocasta, adapted from the Phoenissae of Euripides. To the latter Gascoigne contributed three acts. In 1572 he was returned to Parliament as member for the borough of Midhurst: but objections being made to his character he appears not to have taken his seat, and not long afterwards went to the Low Countries and took service with William of Orange, from whom he received a captain's commission. His gallant conduct in the field obtained the favourable notice of that Prince, but after some time he was taken prisoner by the Spaniards and sent back to England.
During Gascoigne's absence his first book, A Hundredth sundrie Floures bound up in one small Poesie, the manuscript of which he had left in the hands of a friend, was printed in 1572 or 1573 without his permission, and after his return from Holland, he published in 1575 a corrected and enlarged edition of his Poesies. Thenceforward he seems to have led a literary life, and is said to have been in some way attached to the court. On the occasion of Elizabeth's celebrated visit to Kenilworth in the summer of 1575, Gascoigne was commissioned by Leicester to devise the masques, &c, performed for the Queen's entertainment. He died at Stamford, Lincolnshire, Oct. 7, 1577, and was probably buried by his friend George Whetstone in the family vault of the Whetstones at Barnack, but this id not certainly known. At some time between 1558 and 1568 Gascoigne married Elizabeth Breton, mother, by her first husband, of the poet Nicholas Breton, and by her had a son. His widow survived until 1585. Gascoigne is noticeable as being one of the earliest English dramatists, the first English satirist, and the first English critic in poetry. In 1869 his poems were collected and edited for the Roxburghe Library by W. C. Hazlitt, and in 1868 his Notes of Instruction in English Verse; The Steele Glas; and The Complaynt of Philomene were included in English reprints edited by Edward Arber, together with Whetstone's metrical life of Gascoigne. To modern hymnody he is known by "We that have passed in slumber sweet," an altered version of his morning hymn, "Ye that have spent the silent night;" and other religious poems. [George Arthur Crawford, M.A.]
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
George Gascoigne
