languages and is sung around the world. While it is the best, it is only one among several fine hymns on this subject from the same pen. Shortly before leaving the seminary, Mr. Smith wrote "The Missionary's Farewell," which at once became very popular, and during the next fifty years was probably sung on more farewell occasions than any other hymn. When we remember what it meant to go to the foreign field nearly one hundred years ago, the months at sea, the numberless perils, the grave uncertainty of ever seeing one's native land again, we can the more readily appreciate the intensity of these lines: "Yes, my native land, I love thee; All thy scenes, I love them well; Can I leave you, Far in heathen lands to dwell? "Bear me on, thou restless ocean; Native land, farewell! farewell!” It is interesting to know that though Dr. Smith was never able to gratify his early desire to enter the foreign field, he gave a son to the work, who for many years was a distinguished leader in Burmah. The father himself was a lifelong student of missions; he wrote extensively on the subject, and he visited the principal mission countries. The months just preceding and immediately following his graduation from the seminary were remarkably prolific in the number of well-known hymns which this young theologue produced. Besides those already mentioned, we have that beautiful evening hymn: "Softly fades the twilight ray Of the holy Sabbath day; When the Christian's course is run. "Peace is on the world abroad, 'Tis the holy peace of God, "Saviour, may our Sabbaths be Where the Sabbath ne'er shall close." About this same time he composed the hymn, which, as altered by Thomas Hastings, has been a favorite in evangelistic services ever since: "To-day the Saviour calls: Ye wanderers, come; To the year 1833 belong those lines written on the death of a young lady friend, which used to be sung or quoted at so many funerals: "Sister, thou wast mild and lovely, Gentle as the summer breeze, When it floats among the trees." It is not surprising that Mr. Smith's gifts were early recognized and that compilers eagerly sought his hymns for their collections. In 1843, assisted by Dr. Baron Stow, he published The Psalmist, in which twenty-six of the hymns were from his own pen. For half a century this was regarded as the best collection among the Baptists. Dr. Smith continued to write to the end of his long life. In 1894, only a year before his death, when eighty-six years old, he composed a hymn on the church, which holds a high place: "Founded on thee, our only Lord, On thee, the everlasting Rock, Thy church shall stand as stands thy word, "For thee our waiting spirits yearn, For thee this house of praise we rear; "Come, with thy Spirit and thy power, "Accept the work our hands have wrought; The aged poet died very suddenly on Saturday, November 16, 1895, just as he was leaving Boston to meet a preaching engagement for the following day. CHAPTER XVII W. H. FURNESS, WARE, BURLEIGH, BULFINCH WILLIAM HENRY FURNESS 1802-1896 THE remarkable life of Rev. William Henry Furness, D.D., almost spanned the nineteenth century. He was born in Boston in 1802, and died in Philadelphia in 1896. Graduating from Harvard at the age of eighteen, and finishing his theological course three years later, he became pastor of the first Unitarian Church in Philadelphia in 1825. Here he continued in full service, loved and revered, till 1875, a pastorate with few parallels in American history. He was a prominent and earnest advocate of various reform movements, an accomplished scholar, and a voluminous author. He wrote a number of hymns, but while they all reach a high level of literary excellence, and are found in Unitarian collections at home and in England, few of them have passed into more general use. One of the best is a morning hymn, all the more valuable because songs for the opening of the day are not as common as for the close. This one was written by Dr. Furness in 1840: |