How still and peaceful is the grave. Hugh Blair. [Burial of the Dead.] First appeared as No. 39 in the Draft Scottish Translations and Paraphrases, 1745, as a version of Job iii. 17-20, thus:—
"How still and peaceful is the Grave!
that silent Bed how blest!
The Wicked there from Troubling cease,
and there the Weary rest.
"There the freed Pris'ner groans no more
beneath Life's galling Load:
Mute is th' Oppressor's cruel Voice;
and broke the Tyrant's Rod.
“There Slaves and Masters equally,
and share the same Repose:
The Small and Great are there; and Friends
now mingle with their Foes."
In the draft of 1781 it appeared as No. 4, rewritten in 5 stanzas; and again, with three lines altered, in the public worship edition issued in that year by the Church of Scotland, and still in use. In the markings by the eldest daughter of W. Cameron (q.v.) the original is ascribed to Blair, and the alterations in 1781 to Cameron. It is given also in several modern hymnals in Great Britain and America. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Blair, Hugh, D.D., eldest son of John Blair, merchant. Edinburgh, was born at Edinburgh, April 7, 1718. In 1730 he entered the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.A. in 1739. In 1742 he was ordained parish minister of Collessie, in Fife, became, in 1743, second minister of the Canongate, Edinburgh, in 1754 minister of Lady Yester's, and in 1758 joint minister of the High Church (now styled St. Giles's Cathedral). In 1762, while still retaining his pastoral charge, he was appointed the first Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Edinburgh—a chair founded for him. He received the degree of D.D. from the University of St. Andrews, in 1757. He died in Edinburgh, Dec. 27, 1800.
In 1744 Dr. Blair was appointed a member of the C… Go to person page >
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