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Holy, Holy, Holy
Author: Reginald Heber Appears in 1,642 hymnals Topics: Prayer Meeting Opening First Line: Holy, holy, holy! Used With Tune: NICAEA
Holy, Holy, Holy
God be with You
Author: J. E. Rankin Appears in 1,168 hymnals Topics: Prayer Meeting Closing First Line: God be with you till we meet again Refrain First Line: Till we meet, till we meet Used With Tune: [God be with you till we meet again]
God be with You
Saviour, Again to Thy Dear Name
Author: John Ellerton Appears in 851 hymnals Topics: Prayer Meeting Closing First Line: Saviour, again to Thy dear name we raise Used With Tune: BENEDICTION
Saviour, Again to Thy Dear Name
[God be with you till we meet again]
Appears in 700 hymnals Composer and/or Arranger: W. G. Tomer Topics: Prayer Meeting Closing Incipit: 33333 35236 66666 Used With Text: God be with You
[God be with you till we meet again]
ALMSGIVING
Appears in 290 hymnals Composer and/or Arranger: J. B. Dykes Topics: Prayer Meeting Opening Incipit: 33215 12351 35432 Used With Text: My God, is Any Hour So Sweet
ALMSGIVING
Sweet Hour of Prayer
Author: Rev. W. W. Walford Hymnal: The Praise Book #114 (1906) Topics: Prayer Meeting Opening First Line: Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer Tune Title: [Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer]
Sweet Hour of Prayer
Father, Again in Jesus' Name We Meet
Author: Lucy E. G. Whitmore Hymnal: The Praise Book #1 (1906) Topics: Prayer Meeting Opening Tune Title: [Father, again in Jesus' name we meet]
Father, Again in Jesus' Name We Meet
God be With You
Author: J. E. Rankin Hymnal: The Praise Book #49 (1906) Topics: Prayer Meeting Closing First Line: God be with you till we meet again Refrain First Line: Till we meet, till we meet Tune Title: [God be with you till we meet again]
God be With You
William W. Walford
1772 - 1850 Person Name: Rev. W. W. Walford Topics: Prayer Meeting Opening Author of "Sweet Hour of Prayer" in The Praise Book William W. Walford, a blind preacher of England, is the author of the hymn beginning "Sweet hour of prayer." This hymn first appeared in print in the New York Observer September 13, 1845. The contributor who furnished the hymn says:
"During my residence at Coleshill, Warwickshire, England, I became acquainted with W. W. Walford, the blind preacher, a man of obscure birth and connections and no education, but of strong mind and most retentive memory. In the pulpit he never failed to select a lesson well adapted to his subject, giving chapter and verse with unerring precision, and scarcely ever misplacing a word in his repetition of the Psalms, every part of the New Testament, the prophecies, and some of the histories, so as to have the reputation of knowing the whole Bible by heart."
Rev. Thomas Salmon, who was settled as the pastor of the Congregational Church at Coleshill in 1838, remained until 1842, and then removed to the United States, is believed to have been the contributor who says of the hymn: "I rapidly copied the lines with my pencil as he uttered them, and send them for insertion in the Observer if you think them worthy of preservation."
From: Nutter, C. S., & Tillett, W. F. (1911). The hymns and hymn writers of the church, an annotated edition of The Methodist hymnal. New York: Methodist Book Concern.
William W. Walford
Charles C. Converse
1832 - 1918 Person Name: C. Crozat Converse Topics: Prayer Meeting Opening Composer of "[What a Friend we have in Jesus]" in The Praise Book Pseudonyms: Clare, Lester Vesé, Nevers, Karl Reden, Revons
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Charles Crozat Converse LLD USA 1832-1918. Born in Warren, MA, he went to Leipzig, Germany to study law and philosophy, as well as music theory and composition under Moritz Hauptmann, Friedrich Richter, and Louis Plaidy at the Leipzig Conservatory. He also met Franz Liszt and Louis Spohr. He became an author, composer, arranger and editor. He returned to the states in 1859 and graduated from the Albany, NY, Law School two years later. He married Lida Lewis. From 1875 he practiced law in Erie, PA, and also was put in charge of the Burdetta Organ Company. He composed hymn tunes and other works. He was offered a DM degree for his Psalm 126 cantata, but he declined the offer. In 1895 Rutherford College honored him with a LLD degree. He spent his last years in Highwood, NJ, where he died. He published “New method for the guitar”, “Musical bouquet”, “The 126th Psalm”, “Sweet singer”, “Church singer”, “Sayings of Sages” between 1855 and 1863. he also wrote the “Turkish battle polka” and “Rock beside the sea” ballad, and “The anthem book of the Episcopal Methodist Church”.
John Perry
Charles C. Converse
Robert Lowry
1826 - 1899 Person Name: Rev. Robert Lowry Topics: Teachers' and Prayer Meetings Author of "One more day's work for Jesus" in Carmina for the Sunday School and Social Worship Robert Lowry was born in Philadelphia, March 12, 1826. His fondness for music was exhibited in his earliest years. As a child he amused himself with the various musical instruments that came into his hands. At the age of seventeen he joined the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, and soon became an active worker in the Sunday-school as teacher and chorister.
At the age of twenty-two he gave himself to the work of the ministry, and entered upon a course of study at the University of Lewisburg, Pa. At the age of twenty-eight he was graduated with the highest honors of his class. In the same year of his graduation, he entered upon the work of the ministry. He served as pastor at West Chester, Pa., 1851-1858; in New York City, 1859-1861; in Brooklyn, 1861-1869; in Lewisburg, Pa., 1869-1875. While pastor at Lewisburg, he was also professor of belles lettres in the University, and received the honorary degree of D. D. in 1875.
He then went to Plainfield, N. J., where he became pastor of Park Avenue Church. In each of these fields his work was crowned with marked success.
Dr. Lowry was a man of rare administrative ability, a most excellent preacher, a thorough Bible student, and whether in the pulpit or upon the platform, always a brilliant and interesting speaker. He was of a genial and pleasing disposition, and a high sense of humor was one of his most striking characteristics. Very few men had greater ability in painting pictures from the imagination. He could thrill an audience with his vivid descriptions, inspiring others with the same thoughts that inspired him.
His melodies are sung in every civilized land, and many of his hymns have been translated into foreign tongues. While preaching the Gospel, in which he found great joy, was his life-work, music and hymnology were favorite studies, but were always a side issue, a recreation.
In the year 1880, he took a rest of four years, visiting Europe. In 1885 he felt that he needed more rest, and resigned his pastorate at Plainfield, and visited in the South and West, also spending some time in Mexico. He returned, much improved in health, and again took up his work in Plainfield.
On the death of Wm. B. Bradbury, Messrs. Biglow & Main, successors to Mr. Bradbury in the publishing business, selected Dr. Lowry for editor of their Sunday-school book, Bright Jewels, which was a great success. Subsequently Dr. W. Doane was associated with him in the issue of the Sunday-school song book, Pure Gold, the sales of which exceeded a million copies. Then came Royal Diadem, Welcome Tidings, Brightest and Best, Glad Refrain, Good as Gold, Joyful Lays, Fountain of Song, Bright Array, Temple Anthems, and numerous other volumes. The good quality of their books did much to stimulate the cause of sacred song in this country.
When he saw that the obligations of musical editorship were laid upon him, he began the study of music in earnest, and sought the best musical text-books and works on the highest forms of musical composition. He possessed one of the finest musical libraries in the country. It abounded in works on the philosophy and science of musical sounds. He also had some musical works in his possession that were over one hundred and fifty years old.
One of his labors of love some years ago was an attempt to reduce music to a mathematical basis. On the established fact that Middle C has two hundred and fifty-six vibrations per second, he prepared a scale and went to work on the rule of three. After infinite calculation and repeated experiments, he carried it far enough to discover that it would not work.
A reporter once asked him what was his method of composition — "Do you write the words to fit the music, or the music to fit the words?" His reply was, "I have no method. Sometimes the music comes and the words follow, fitted insensibly to the melody. I watch my moods, and when anything good strikes me, whether words or music, and no matter where I am, at home or on the street, I jot it down. Often the margin of a newspaper or the back of an envelope serves as a notebook. My brain is a sort of spinning machine, I think, for there is music running through it all the time. I do not pick out my music on the keys of an instrument. The tunes of nearly all the hymns I have written have been completed on paper before I tried them on the organ. Frequently the words of the hymn and the music have been written at the same time."
The Doctor frequently said that he regarded "Weeping Will Not Save Me" as the best and most evangelistic hymn he ever wrote. The following are some of his most popular and sweetest gospel melodies: "Shall We Gather at the River?," "One More Day's Work for Jesus," "Where is My Wandering Boy To-night?," "I Need Thee Every Hour," "The Mistakes of My Life," "How Can I Keep from Singing?," "All the Way My Saviour Leads Me," "Saviour, Thy Dying Love," "We're Marching to Zion," etc. "Shall We Gather at the River?" is perhaps, without question, the most widely popular of all his songs. Of this Mr. Lowry said: "It is brass band music, has a march movement, and for that reason has become popular, though for myself I do not think much of it." Yet he tells us how, on several occasions, he had been deeply moved by the singing of that hymn, "Going from Harrisburg to Lewisburg once I got into a car filled with half-drunken lumbermen. Suddenly one of them struck up, "Shall We Gather at the River?" and they sang it over and over again, repeating the chorus in a wild, boisterous way. I did not think so much of the music then as I listened to those singers, but I did think that perhaps the spirit of the hymn, the words so flippantly uttered, might somehow survive and be carried forward into the lives of those careless men, and ultimately lift them upward to the realization of the hope expressed in my hymn." "A different appreciation of it was evinced during the Robert Raikes' Centennial. I was in London, and had gone to meeting in the Old Bailey to see some of the most famous Sunday-school workers in the world. They were present from Europe, Asia, and America. I sat in a rear seat alone. After there had been a number of addresses delivered in various languages, I was preparing to leave, when the chairman of the meeting announced that the author of "Shall We Gather at the River?" was present, and I was requested by name to come forward. Men applauded and women waved their handkerchiefs as I went to the platform. It was a tribute to the hymn; but I felt, when it was over, that, after all, I had perhaps done some little good in the world, and I felt more than ever content to die when God called." On Children's Day in Brooklyn, in 1865, this song was sung by over forty thousand voices.
While Dr. Lowry said, "I would rather preach a gospel sermon to an appreciative, receptive congregation than write a hymn," yet in spite of his preferences, his hymns have gone on and on, translated into many languages, preaching and comforting thousands upon thousands of souls, furnishing them expression for their deepest feelings of praise and gratitude to God for His goodness to the children of men. What he had thought in his inmost soul has become a part of the emotions of the whole Christian world. We are all his debtors.
Rev. Robert Lowry, D. D., died at his residence in Plainfield, K J., November 25, 1899. Dead, yet he lives and his sermons in gospel song are still heard and are doing good. Dr. Lowry was a great and good man, and his life, well spent, is highly worthy of a place among the world's greatest gospel song and hymn writers.
-- Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers
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Lowry, Robert, D.D., son of Crozier Lowry, was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 12, 1826, and educated at Lewisburg University. Having received ordination as a Baptist Minister, his first charge was at West Chester, Pennsylvania. From thence he passed to New York City, and then to Brooklyn, N. Y. In 1876 he was appointed Professor of Rhetoric in his University. On resigning his Professorship he undertook the charge of the 2nd Baptist Church, New Jersey. Dr. Lowry has been associated with some of the most popular Sunday School hymn-books published in the States, including Happy Voices, 1865; Chapel Melodies, 1868; Bright Jewels, 1869; Pure Gold, 1871; Royal Diadem, 1873; Tidal Wave, 1874; Fountain of Song1877; Welcome Tidings, 1877, &c. Of Dr. Lowry's hymns those which have attained the widest circulation are:—
1. Jerusalem, for ever bright. Heaven. Appeared in the American Tract Society's Happy Voices, 1865, with music by the author.
2. Low in the grave He lay. Resurrection of Christ. Written in 1874 and published in Brightest and Best, 1875.
3. Marching on, marching on. Sunday School Battle Song. Appeared, with music by the author, in Happy Voices, 1865.
4. My home is in heaven, my rest is not here. In Happy Voices, 1865, with music by the author.
5. My life flows on in endless song. Joy in God. In Bright Jewels, 1869; the Royal Diadem, 1873, and others in America and Great Britain, with music by the author.
6. One more day's work for Jesus. Work for Christ. Published, with music by the author, in Bright Jewels, 1869.
7. Shall we gather at the river? Mutual recognition in the Hereafter. The origin of this hymn is thus set forth in E. W. Long's Illustrated History of Hymns and their Authors, Philadelphia, 1876, p. 64:—
”On a very hot summer day, in 1864, a pastor was seated in his parlour in Brooklyn, N. Y. It was a time when an epidemic was sweeping through the city, and draping many persons and dwellings in mourning. All around friends and acquaintances were passing away to the spirit land in large numbers. The question began to arise in the heart, with unusual emphasis, ‘Shall we meet again? We are parting at the river of death, shall we meet at the river of life?' ‘Seating myself at the organ,’ says he, ‘simply to give vent to the pent up emotions of the heart, the words and music of the hymn began to flow out, as if by inspiration:—
‘Shall we gather at the river,
Where bright angel feet have trod?’"
In 1865 the hymn and music were given in Happy Voices, No. 220, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines and a chorus. The hymn has since passed into a great number of hymnals in Great Britain and America.
8. Take the wings of the morning; speed quickly thy flight. Exhortation to Repentance. Written for, and published with music by the author in, the Royal Diadem, 1873.
9. Weeping will not save me. Salvation through Faith. Published in the Chapel Melodies, 1868.
10. What can wash away my stain? Precious Blood of Jesus. Given in the Welcome Tidings, 1877, with music by the author.
11. Where is my wandering boy tonight! The absent Child. In the Fountain of Song, 1877, together with music by the author.
Most of these hymns are given in Mr. I. D. Sankey's Sacred Songs & Solos, Pts. i., ii.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Robert Lowry
