XII. William Cullen Bryant Oliver Wendell Holmes Edmund Hamilton Sears And Other Unitarian Hymn Writers Life! we've been long together, Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; "Tis hard to part when friends are dear; Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear; Then steal away, give little warning, Choose thine own time; Say not "Good Night," but in some brighter clime ANNIE LAETITIA BARBAULD. So live that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan that moves To that mysterious realm where each shall take Thou go not like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. Lord, let War's tempest cease, Make all Thy nations one, OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. XII. WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, AND OTHER UNITARIAN HYMN WRITERS. We have already said that "Nearer, My God, to Thee" is one of the great hymns of the English language. It does not follow that it is one of the great bits of poetry, but it is one of the great hymns. Bishop Boyd Carpenter has written truly that "the great poet is not necessarily a good hymnwriter. This will be apparent to any one who studies our collection of hymns. Two things will strike such a student. He will find that among the hymn-writers there are few men of first-class literary rank. He will further find that the most popular hymns are not from the pens of these few. In other words, the highest poetic gift does not insure the power of writing a good hymn. Less gifted men succeed where men of higher endowments fail." Dryden gave shape to one of our hymns, beginning: 381 Creator Spirit, by whose aid. Pope wrote another, beginning: 487 Rise, crowned with light, imperial Salem, rise. And Thomas Moore still another, beginning: 637 Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish. These are almost the only noted poets from whom any of our hymns have come. Milton could write gloriously of "Para dise Lost," and also of "Paradise Regained," but he left us no hymns that endure. Wordsworth could give to the world his matchless "Intimations of Immortality," but no hymn sprang from his great brain and heart. Coleridge could also write his "Hymn Before Sunrise in the Vale of Chamouni," but no hymn pleading the infinite love of Jesus Christ. Yet all these were deeply religious men. It falls to the lot of lesser men and women to write the hymns of the Ages. "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." Another subject, however, is to engage our attention for a time. This may well be introduced by a statement taken from Dr. Julian's great "Dictionary of Hymnology," under the heading, "Nearer, My God, to Thee": "This hymn is a curious illustration of the coloring which is given to a hymn by the antecedents of its author. In the case of Addison's 'When all Thy mercies, O my God,' and many other hymns of a like kind, no attempt has ever been made to alter its distinctive character as a hymn to the Father alone. With Mrs. Adams, being a Unitarian, the treatment is changed, notwithstanding the redeeming lines, F'en though it be a cross That raiseth me, in the opening stanza. The following alterations and additions have been made to bring the hymn more in harmony with the views of the editors by whom it has been adopted: "1. The first change with which we are acquainted was the addition of the following stanza: Christ alone beareth me Where Thou dost shine; Of the Divine: In Christ my soul shall be, "This is by the Rev. A. T. Russell. "2. The second change and addition are: and the doxology: Though by Thy bitter cross We raised be, Glory, O God, to Thee; Glory to Thee, Almighty Trinity Glorious mystery, Through all Eternity Glory to Thee! "This addition is given in Skinner's 'Daily Service Hymnal.' "3. Another change in the same direction is: And when on joyful wing, Cleaving the sky, Unto the Light of Lights, by Dr. Monsell in his 'Parish Hymnal.' "4. In Kennedy, 1863, the following is substituted for Stanza V.: And when my Lord again In Thy bright home, Nearer to Thee, my God; "This same stanza is repeated in the 'Hymns for the Church Catholic.' "5. In Bishop Bickersteth's note to this hymn in his annotated edition of the 'Hymnal Companion' he says: |