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Philippe Block, Tom Van Mele
Matthias Rippmann, Noelle Paulson

Beyond Bending
Reimagining Compression Shells
 CONTENTS

6 Foreword
La Biennale di Venezia

11 
Reporting from the Front
The War on Bending
By Alejandro Aravena

12 In the Footsteps of Vitruvius

By John Ochsendorf
 15 Beyond Bending 178 Afterword
 A New Research-Driven
17 Beyond the Slab I Architectural Practice
20 Building with Weak Material By Gilles Retsin

33 Beyond the Slab II 184 Authors

42 Building with Less Material 186 Contributors
187 Exhibition and Object Credits
55 Beyond the Dome 188 Image Credits
64 Exploring Form and Forces 190 Bibliography

79 Beyond Freeform
90 Extending Stereotomy

101 The Making of the Armadillo Vault

103 Form and Structure
116 Engineering the Extreme
A Conversation with Ochsendorf DeJong & Block

127 Stereotomy and Fabrication

138 Informing Geometry
A Conversation with the Block Research Group

147 Construction and Assembly

170 Balancing Craft and Machine
A Conversation with the Escobedo Group
 FOREWORD

La Biennale di Venezia

For a world of beams and slabs built with steel-reinforced concrete, compres-
sion-only shell structures, which can be extremely thin constructions, offer
the potential to drastically reduce material requirements. Building with fewer
materials means in turn less environmental strain caused by the construction
industry. Drawing from a revival of forgotten principles combined with the latest
methods for reimagining the design, engineering, fabrication and construction
of compression shells, this book advocates for the logic of such forms. Through
in-depth background on the state-of-the-art research, advanced engineering,
and highly-skilled masonry craft that resulted in the Armadillo Vault and other
innovations exhibited at La Biennale di Venezia, the 15th International Architec-
ture Exhibition in 2016, by the Block Research Group, ETH Zürich, Ochsendorf
DeJong & Block, and the Escobedo Group, it demonstrates dramatic ways to
move beyond bending.
In August 2015, in his role as the newly appointed curator of La Biennale di
Venezia, Alejandro Aravena wrote to Philippe Block and John Ochsendorf to
invite them to contribute to his exhibition “Reporting from the Front”. Aravena
specifically asked Block and Ochsendorf to submit a report from the front of
their “War on Bending”. Ideas quickly coalesced to form the plan for an exhi-
bition entitled Beyond Bending. Their goal was to show what can be achieved
when reinforced concrete slabs, which normally work in bending, instead take
on curved, compression-only forms. A team was formed to include the Block
Research Group at ETH Zürich (led by Philippe Block and Tom Van Mele), the
engineering consultancy of Ochsendorf DeJong & Block (comprised of John
Ochsendorf, professor at MIT, Matthew DeJong, professor at the University
of Cambridge, and Philippe Block) and the construction and masonry experts
of the Escobedo Group (led by David and Matt Escobedo). Although the team
members had been collaborating in various constellations for over 10 years,
the invitation to exhibit at the Biennale represented their first opportunity on
such a large scale and on the world’s premier stage for architectural innovation.
Aravena’s initial invitation included the statement, “The battle for a better built
environment is neither a tantrum nor a romantic crusade”. This sentiment
also fittingly describes what the team accomplished in Venice. The objects
that were displayed in the Beyond Bending exhibition – and whose precedents,
principles, and potentials are described in greater depth on the pages that
follow – represent efforts toward achieving a better built environment. With
their focus on compression-only structures, they show methods for more ap-

6
 propriate construction. They demonstrate more efficient use of materials and
labour in various contexts from developing countries in Africa to prosperous,
high-income countries like Switzerland. Rather than being romantic attempts
at revival for revival’s sake, these structures draw upon historical examples
and “lost” techniques that have been reinvigorated and adapted for current
technological and fabricational possibilities. Thus, the exhibition carried the
.

subtitle “Learning from the past to design a better future”.

Beyond Bending filled an entire room in the Corderie dell’Arsenale, a former
workshop for the production of naval ropes, the initial construction of which
began as early as 1303. For this exhibition, four examples of vaulted floor sys-
tems displayed in two of the corners formed “Beyond the Slab I” and “Beyond
the Slab II”; a canvas of 19 form and force diagrams covering one wall consti-
tuted “Beyond the Dome”; and the Armadillo Vault, the exhibition’s centrepiece
under the rubric of “Beyond Freeform”, spanned an area of 75 square metres.
Visitors could enter the exhibition from one of two large, arched doorways. To
move through the room, they were forced to either walk around or under the
Armadillo Vault, with each path providing different perspectives.
The format of this book follows the structure of the exhibition and its head-
ings. “Beyond Bending” describes the objects displayed in Venice. Each section
begins with a short explanatory text taken from the original exhibition labels
followed by photographs to provide visual context. Then, pages with a shaded
background allow for more in-depth, theoretical analysis. These sections each
present precedents, principles, and potentials. They indicate past or present
references, describe the architectural, computational, and/or structural meth-
ods behind the objects, and propose future possibilities for development and
innovation. The second section charts the “Making of the Armadillo Vault”
through photographs, diagrams, texts, and conversations with the team leaders
covering various aspects of the vault’s realisation. This variety of perspectives
demonstrates how constraints informed the design, engineering, fabrication,
and construction of this remarkable structural achievement.

Top view and sections of the Beyond

Bending exhibition in the Arsenale building
of La Biennale di Venezia, showing its main
components.

7
8
Original proposal with hand-drawn sketches
submitted to curator Alejandro Aravena in
­September 2015.

9
10
Alejandro Aravena

Reporting from the Front

The War on Bending

When people look at modern buildings, they tend to describe them as boxes:
rectilinear cubic volumes defined by vertical and horizontal lines and elements.
It is true that we need flat horizontal surfaces to walk around and use rooms
in a reasonably simple enough way, but we tend to assume that the lower side
of such surfaces (slabs) and the associated structural components (beams)
also have to be flat. For some reason, not only is a horizontal beam seen as
something inevitable but it is even seen as structurally desirable.
A rectilinear horizontal beam naturally tends to bend. In this bending there are
two forces at play: compression in the upper part (particles pushing against
each other) and tension in the lower part (particles trying to pull away from
each other). The invention of reinforced concrete consists in the introduction
of rebars to resist tension, a force that concrete alone cannot support. The
problem is that the mass needed in that lower part of the beam is not there to
perform any structural operation, but only to protect the steel from rusting;
structurally speaking, it is dead weight.
This was the starting point of these engineers’ research. They studied old
structures like the King’s College Chapel and Guastavino vaults, and conclud-
ed that if bending could be avoided and the structure could work only in com-
pression, then something like 70 % of the matter could be saved. This has huge
consequences for the weight and amount of matter used in the overall system,
with potentially dramatic savings in direct costs. But it also has consequences
in the amount of energy saved because less matter is needed – there is less
energy spent in the fabrication and less energy spent in the transportation. It
even saves time since less material has to be put in place. Using state-of-the-art
engineering, software, and robotic prefabrication technology, their research
may open a path for a global shift in the building paradigm.

Text from the catalogue of the 15th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia (May
28th – November 27th 2016). Used with permission.

11
 John Ochsendorf

In the Footsteps of Vitruvius

Why build a stone vault in the 21st century? The Armadillo Vault may be per-
ceived by some as a form of nostalgia, romanticising a past that we can never
return to. This structure could also be measured by the timeless Vitruvian
ideals of firmitas, utilitas, and venustas: solidity, utility, and beauty. It is useful
to examine the vault through these Vitruvian lenses, both to frame the project
and to evaluate its contribution to contemporary architecture.

Firmitas
Builders throughout time and space have chosen stone for monumental archi-
tecture precisely for its solidity and durability. As human settlements achieved
greater wealth, buildings of earth and wood gave way to stone, from Çatalhöyük
to Angkor Wat. Many cultures constructed stone shelters as a way of seeking
permanence: safety from fire and the elements. Well-constructed stone pyra-
mids, walls, and vaults are the most durable architecture ever created. The Ar-
madillo Vault is constructed of stone in order to demonstrate new potential for
one of the oldest and most durable building materials. The vault finds stability
through geometry, with a double-curved shell to provide structural integrity.
Hidden steel reinforcement is not required for the vault to stand. Stone stacked
on stone creates a solid structure. In an age of 50-year building lifetimes, the
Armadillo Vault is nearly permanent. If left outside in the rain and wind, its
limestone would erode at the rate of approximately one millimetre per decade.
Over 500 years, it could lose enough thickness by erosion to threaten the sta-
bility of the thin vault. While the use of dry-jointed stone achieves firmitas, the
Armadillo Vault is more fragile than a traditional stone vault for two reasons. As
a temporary installation at the Venice Biennale, it has not yet found a permanent
home. And as a daring demonstration of the possibility of computation today, it
can give the visual impression of fragilitas due to its remarkable thinness. Thus,
the Armadillo Vault expresses both firmitas and fragilitas simultaneously, and
its structural audacity is obvious to both stonemasons and casual observers.

Utilitas
But what is the utility of a stone vault? The oldest stone vaults in the world
acted as shelters, whether for the tholos tombs at Mycenae, or the brick-vaulted
grain storage sheds for the funerary complex of Ramses II, each built more than
a thousand years before Vitruvius. Shelter is the most basic utility. However,

12
as an interior installation, the Armadillo Vault was not built to provide shelter
from the elements. This project is an act of intellectual and technical explora-
tion. It builds on millennia of exploration in masonry vaulting that flourished
until the early 20th century, when the rise of steel and concrete structures led
to a heavy reliance on the flexure of beams. The freeform stone vault demon-
strates the potential for compression-only structures. It embraces extreme
constraints in the formal exploration of design and digital fabrication. The vault
was designed and built in less than six months based on more than a decade
of intense research at MIT, ETH Zürich, and the University of Cambridge.
It is an opportunity to put theory into practice by marrying new theoretical
knowledge with new practical capabilities. Transferring research into practice
is the ultimate utilitas of the Armadillo Vault.

Venustas
Beauty is subjective and reasonable opinions will differ. However, the propor-
tions of the Armadillo Vault were created in response to extreme constraints:
fitting inside an existing historic building with severe limitations on weight
and construction. Within these constraints, the designers sought to create
moments of discovery and surprise. From different viewpoints, the limestone
vault oscillates between expected and unexpected. The limitations on time
for fabrication required that only one side of each of the stones could be ac-
curately machined. The flat exterior panels are a visual demonstration of this
fabrication constraint, and the interior saw cuts illustrate the dominant flow
of compression in the vault. Reading the flow of forces in the surface of the
material is beautiful, at least to students of structural design. The material
is unadorned, and the vault aims to be honest throughout. Limestone obeys
gravity. The outward thrust of the vault is expressed in the steel tension ties,
and the bearing pads demonstrate the limitations on floor loads in the soft soils
of Venice. The Armadillo Vault is both simple and complex simultaneously. It
finds beauty by embracing the constraints of Venice.

The Beyond Bending installation was possible only because of years of collab-
oration and trust between all contributors. Each explored our own personal
frontiers: both theoretical and practical. In the pages that follow, the details of
the design and fabrication are outlined. We do not seek to revive dead traditions,
but to discover new possibilities. And to explore our own Vitruvian Triad.

13
Beyond Bending
Throughout history, master builders have discovered expressive forms through the con-
straints of economy, efficiency, and elegance. There is much to learn from the architectural
and structural principles they developed. Novel structural design tools that extend tradi-
tional graphical methods to three dimensions allow designers to discover a vast range of
possible forms in compression. By better understanding the flow of compressive forces in
three dimensions, excess steel can be eliminated, natural resources can be conserved, and
humble materials like earth and stone can be reimagined for the future.
By combining methods from the past with new technologies and fabrication techniques,
this exhibition advocated for the logic of compression-only forms. It offered possibilities to
move beyond the slab, beyond the dome, beyond freeform, and ultimately beyond bending.

15
Beyond the Slab I
An arch in compression with a tension tie makes more effi-
cient use of material than a beam in bending. To create mas-
terpieces in unreinforced masonry, great builders of the past
discovered stable geometry in compression. The vaults and
floor systems here demonstrate that compression geometry
can be used to build with minimal steel and with relatively
weak material. These structures can be visually exciting with
lower cost, lower weight, and lower environmental impact
than conventional concrete slabs.

Ceramic Tile Vault

Builders have constructed thin tile vaults throughout the Mediterranean re-
gion for over 600 years. These vaults require minimal support from below
during construction, making them economical to build. In this model, the
doubly curved masonry shell carries loads efficiently in compression, and the
horizontal thrust is resisted by steel tension ties. Stiffening ribs provide the
required depth to carry concentrated loads and to ensure that the thin tiles
remain in compression. This historical form serves as an inspiration for new
designs in compression.

Earthen Vault
The masonry materials of a well-designed compression shell do not require
high strength because stresses are low. To design for resource constraints, lo-
cal soil can be used to create stabilised, unfired earth bricks. The earthen shell
can serve as a low-cost floor system with dramatically lower environmental
impact, up to 90 % less embodied CO₂ than conventional steel and concrete
structures. Local masons can be trained in the production and construction of
these systems, providing new economic livelihood as well.

17
BE YO N D T H E SL AB I

18
 BE YON D TH E S L A B I

The tile-vaulted floor consists of diaphragms in a herringbone pattern. Four arches on the
or spandrel walls on the top to stiffen the edges, initially supported by temporary false-
­shallow, doubly curved shell underneath. The work during construction, convey the loads to
masonry shell is composed of two layers of the supports.
thin ceramic tiles bonded with cement mortar

19
BE YO N D T H E SL AB I

Building with Weak Material

When building unreinforced masonry vaults, good geometry

is essential for maintaining equilibrium through contact only
– that is, principally through compression. These funicular
­geometries have the advantage that the stresses in them are
very low. Current development of engineered materials, such
as concrete, steel, and so on, is largely focused on making
these materials stronger, on increasing their allowable stress.
However, achieving stability through geometry, through funic-
ular forms, for example, rather than through material strength,
opens up the possibility of using weak materials. Particularly
in developing contexts, such materials may be locally sourced
and produced with lower environmental impact, thus offering
more viable, sustainable alternatives to typical construction
practice.

Tile Vaulting
Originating in the Mediterranean region, the traditional building method of
thin-tile vaulting has a long history that stretches back more than 600 years.
Also known today as Catalan or Guastavino vaulting, this technique makes use
of lightweight tiles and a fast-setting mortar. This allows the vaults to be built
without support from below by temporarily cantilevering newly placed bricks
from already stable sections. Starting from (arched) boundary conditions – often
built on reusable falsework – the tiles are placed flat to build the vault’s surface
in stable arches with minimal guidework describing the vault’s target geometry.
When a self-supporting part of the shell has been completed, this first layer of
tiles serves as permanent formwork upon which the additional layers of brick
can be laid with conventionally setting mortar (at different angles to avoid ob-
vious hinge lines), thus building up the section to the required structural depth.
Nubian vaulting is another technique that allows unreinforced brick vaults to
be built without falsework. This construction method, whose history dates
to more than 3,000 years ago, uses air-dried adobe bricks and earthen mor-
tars. Because it depends only on natural materials that can be found locally,
Nubian vaulting is often the preferred vaulting technique for construction in

20
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 which it has been included in most of the Unitarian hymn books of more
recent date. This version will be found in The New Hymn and Tune Book,
1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

H.W.F.

For mercies past we praise thee, Lord,

50
Given as Anonymous in Longfellow and Johnson’s Book of Hymns,
1846, in 4 stas. of 4 l. It was repeated in their Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, and
in the (Unitarian) Hymn and Tune Book, 1868.

J. 1564

My life flows on in endless song,

8.7.8.7.D. 3 stas. Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908.

Now, when the dusky shades of night retreating,

This is a free translation in five stanzas of the Latin hymn, Ecce jam noctis
tenuatar umbra by Gregory the Great, c. 600, included in Hedge and
Huntington’s Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853, as anonymous. It passed
into Beecher’s Plymouth Collection, 1855, and into many other hymn books,
d th
British and American, often with the 3 and 4 stanzas omitted. There is no
clue as to its author though Julian (p. 320) points out that the first stanza
appears to be an altered form of W. J. Copeland’s translation from the Latin,
published in 1848. The three stanza form of the hymn is included in the New
Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

J. 819
H.W.F.

We follow, Lord, where thou dost lead,

L.M. 5 stas. Attributed to “Book of Hymns,” in Isles of Shoals Hymn

Book, 1908.
51

Appleton, Rev. Francis Parker, Boston, Massachusetts, August 9,

1822—June 14, 1903, Cohasset, Massachusetts. He graduated from
the Harvard Divinity School in 1845, and was minister to the
Unitarian church, in South Danvers, (now Peabody) Massachusetts
from 1846 to 1853. He then left the ministry for secular occupations.
His hymn,

Thirsting for a living spring,

was included, anonymously, in Longfellow and Johnson’s Book of

Hymns, 1846, and, attributed to him, in Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. It
is included in the Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908; in The New
Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937. His
hymn,

The past yet lives in all its truth, O God,

was also included in Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, and in The New
Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, but has now dropped out of use.

J. 1551, 1606
H.W.F.
52

Badger, Rev. George Henry, Charlestown, Massachusetts, March

27, 1859—May 11, 1953, Orlando, Florida. He was educated at
Williams College, A.B. 1883, at Andover Theological Seminary and
the Harvard Divinity School, receiving the degree of S.T.B. from the
latter institution in 1886. He served several Unitarian churches in
New England. From 1912-1918 he was a minister in San Antonio,
Texas; from 1919-1936 in Orlando, Florida. The preface to The Isles
of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908, is signed with his initials as editor. That
book contains three hymns of which he was author:—

1. God of the vastness of the far-spread sea,

2. Lord, I believe, and in my faith,

3. Thy way, O Lord, is in the sea,

In 1910 he wrote a hymn beginning,

4. O Thou who art my King,

which was included in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914. None of
these hymns have passed into later collections.

H.W.F.
53

Ballou, Rev. Adin, 1803-1890. Without much formal education, but

gifted in mind and spirit, he was ordained in 1827 as a Universalist
minister, but in 1831 joined the Unitarian denomination in which he
served a number of New England parishes. He wrote a hymn
beginning,

Years are coming—speed them onward!

When the sword shall gather rust

which was included in Universalist hymnbooks and in Hymns of the

Spirit, 1937.

H.W.F.

Barber, Rev. Henry Hervey, Warwick, Massachusetts, December

30, 1835—January 18, 1923, Jacksonville, Florida. He was educated
at Deerfield (Massachusetts) Academy, and at Meadville Theological
School from which he graduated in 1861. After pastorates in two
New England churches he became in 1881 a professor in Meadville
Theological School, a position from which he retired in 1904. His
hymn beginning,

Far off, O God, and yet most near,

dated 1891, had considerable use and was included in The New
Hymn and Tune Book, 1914.
 H.W.F.
54

Barnard, Rev. John, Boston, Massachusetts, November 6, 1681—

January 24, 1770, Marblehead, Massachusetts. He graduated from
Harvard in 1700, and was installed as minister of the Congregational
Church in Marblehead in 1716, which he served with distinction
through the rest of his life. A number of his sermons were printed,
and in 1752 he published A New Version of the Psalms of David, 278
pp., printed in Boston, the result of his own endeavor to produce a
fresh metrical translation. It is listed in Julian’s Dictionary, p. 929,
under Psalters, English. His book was used in his own church, but
not elsewhere, and is now very rare. His own annotated copy is in
the Harvard College Library and the original ms. is in the
Massachusetts Historical Society.

H.W.F.

Barrows, Rev. Samuel June, New York, New York, May 26, 1845
—April 21, 1909, New York. He graduated from the Harvard Divinity
School in 1875 and in 1876 was ordained minister of Mount Pleasant
Church, Dorchester, Massachusetts, where he served until 1881. He
was editor of the Christian Register from 1881 to 1897, and was a
member of Congress, 1897-1899.

A hymn beginning

Enkindling Love, eternal Flame

is attributed to him in the Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908.

H.W.F.

55
Bartol, Rev. Cyrus Augustus, D.D., Freeport, Maine, August 30,
1813—December 16, 1890, Boston. He graduated from Bowdoin
College in 1832 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1835. After
lay preaching for a year in Cincinnati he was ordained in 1837 as
successor to Rev. Charles Lowell (father of James Russell Lowell) in
the West Church (Unitarian) in Boston. He retired in 1889. He was
author of several books and of a large number of printed sermons
and addresses. He, with others, edited Hymns for the Sanctuary,
Boston, 1849, commonly called “Bartol’s Collection”, in which was
included an anonymous hymn beginning

Be thou ready, fellow-mortal (Readiness for Duty)

This hymn passed into the Supplement to Hedge and Huntington’s

Hymns of the Church of Christ, Boston, 1853, and into other
collections. Its authorship has never been disclosed, but its theme
and mode of expression suggest that it may have been written by
Bartol.

J. 120
H.W.F.

56
th
Bartrum, Joseph P., a Unitarian layman living in the 19
century, who published The Psalms newly Paraphrased for the
Service of the Sanctuary, Boston, 1833, from which his version of
Psalm CVI,

O from these visions, dark and drear,

was taken for inclusion in several Unitarian collections in Great

Britain and America and in the Universalist Church Harmonies, New
and Old, 1895. His version of Psalm LXXXVII,
Amid the heaven of heavens,
is included in Holland’s Psalmists of Britain, 1843, vol. II, p. 339,
with a critical note.

Neither hymn is found in use today.

J. 116
H.W.F.
57

Beach, Rev. Seth Curtis, D.D., near Marion, Wayne County, New
York, August 3, 1837—January 30, 1932, Watertown, Massachusetts.
He graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York in 1863,
and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1866. From 1867 to 1869 he
served the Unitarian Church in Augusta, Maine. Ill health then led
him to take up a farm in Minnesota for four years. In 1873 he
returned to New England, where his longest pastorates were at
Bangor, Maine, 1891-1901, and at Wayland, Massachusetts, 1901-
1911, when he retired to Watertown. His hymn,

1. Mysterious Presence! Source of all,

was first printed in the “Order of Exercises at the Fiftieth Annual

Visitation of the Divinity School, July 17, 1866,” having been written
for that occasion.

In 1884 he wrote

2. Thou One in all, thou All in one (God in Nature)

These two hymns were included in the Unitarian New Hymn and
Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937. His third hymn
3. Kingdom of God! The day how blest,

is included in the Isles of Shoals Hymn Book, 1908.

J. 1581
H.W.F.
Belknap, Rev. Jeremy, D.D., Boston, Massachusetts, June 4, 58
1744—June 20, 1798, Boston. He graduated from Harvard
College in 1762; taught school for four years; in 1766 accepted a
position as assistant to Rev. Jonathan Cushing of Dover, New
Hampshire, and in 1767 was ordained, serving that parish until
1786. In 1787 he became minister of the Federal Street Church,
(now the Arlington Street Church) Boston, which he served until his
death. Harvard gave him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity in
1792. He was the author of a three volume History of New
Hampshire; of a petition (1788) for the abolition of the slave trade;
and of other books and essays; and formed the plan for the
Massachusetts Historical Society, organized in 1791. He wrote no
hymns but made an important contribution to American hymnody in
his collection Sacred Poetry: consisting of Psalms and Hymns
adapted to Christian devotion in public and private. Selected from
the best authors, with variations and additions, by Jeremy Belknap,
D.D., Boston, 1795, which ran to many editions. His intention was to
provide a book acceptable to both the conservative and the liberal
wings of Congregationalism, to bridge the widening gap which
resulted in the formation of the Unitarian denomination a generation
later. In this he failed, for only the liberal churches accepted it,
though it was widely used by them for 40 years, being much the
best of the period. It includes 300 hymns from the best English
sources, and was the first to introduce to Americans the hymns by
Anne Steele. The only American hymns in the collection are Jacob
Kimball’s metrical version of Psalm 65 and Mather Byles’ When wild
confusion rends the air.

H.W.F.

59
Blake, Rev. James Vila, Brooklyn, New York, January 21,
1842—April 28, 1925, Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Harvard
College in 1862 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1866, and
served Unitarian churches in Massachusetts and Illinois, his last and
longest pastorate being at Evanston, Ill., 1892-1916. Author of a
number of books. He shared with W. C. Gannett, q.v. and F. L.
Hosmer, q.v. in the compilation of the first edition of Unity Hymns
and Chorals, 1880, which included his hymn,
Father, Thou art calling, calling to us plainly,

included also in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns
of the Spirit, 1937. The latter book also includes his hymn of the
church universal,

O sing with loud and joyful song.

H.W.F.
60

Briggs, C. A.

A hymn beginning,

God’s law demands one living faith (Law of God)

is attributed to a person with this name in Hedge and Huntington’s

Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853. It is probable, but not certain,
that the author was Rev. Charles Briggs, Halifax, Massachusetts,
January 17, 1791—December 1, 1873, Roxbury, Massachusetts. He
graduated from Harvard College in 1815 and from the Divinity
School in 1818, was minister of the First Church in Lexington,
Massachusetts, 1818-1834, and secretary of the American Unitarian
Association, 1835-1848.

H.W.F.

61
Briggs, LeBaron Russell, LL.D., Salem, Massachusetts,
December 11, 1855—April 24, 1934, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He
graduated from Harvard College in 1875, A.M., 1882; served as tutor,
then as professor of English, and as dean from 1891-1925. Harvard
gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1900, as did Yale in 1917, and
Lafayette University gave him the degree of Litt.D. For the
th
celebration of the 300 anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims at
Plymouth, December 21, 1920, he wrote a poem which is introduced
by a prayer in three stanzas, 11.10.11.10, offered by “The Pilgrim”,
beginning,

God of our fathers, who hast safely brought us,

It is a fine hymn of thanksgiving for religious freedom and it was

th
included in the program celebrating the 300 anniversary of the
“Cambridge Platform” in October 27, 1948. It deserves wide use.

H.W.F.
62

Brooks, Rev. Charles Timothy, Salem, Massachusetts, June 20,

1813—June 14, 1883, Newport, Rhode Island. He graduated from
Harvard College in 1832 and from the Harvard Divinity School in
1835. He was ordained as the first minister of the Unitarian Church
in Newport, Rhode Island, on January 1, 1837, and served there
until 1873. He was author of a number of books, most of them
translations from German poets and novelists. After his death a
volume entitled Poems, Original and Translated, was published. The
only hymn with which his name is associated was in two stanzas
beginning,

God bless our native land!

said to have been written while he was a student in the Divinity

School. Part of the first and almost the whole of the second stanza
were rewritten by J. S. Dwight, q.v., and Putnam, in Songs of the
Liberal Faith, states that it was first published in this form in one of
Lowell Mason’s song books in 1844. It was included, with further
alterations, in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns of the Church of
Christ, 1853, and with yet other changes in Longfellow and
th
Johnson’s Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. In the 20 century collection
also entitled Hymns of the Spirit, 1937, the hymn appears in 3 stas.
of which the first is by Brooks, the second by Dwight, and a third, of
which the first 3 lines are those introduced by Longfellow and
Johnson, the remaining four lines from a later unknown source, and
its authorship is attributed to “Composite: based on Charles Timothy
Brooks and John Sullivan Dwight.” The complicated history of this
hymn is traced in Julian, 184, 1566, 1685.

H.W.F.
63

Bryant, William Cullen, Cummington, Massachusetts, November

3, 1794—June 12, 1878, New York, New York. He was a student at
Williams College for two years, then studied law, and was admitted
to the bar at Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1815, where he
practised until 1825 when he removed to New York. There he
devoted himself to journalism as editor of The New York Review and
of the New York Evening Post, reserving part of his time, especially
in later years, to literary pursuits at his retreat at Roslyn, Long
Island, where he wrote addresses, essays and reviews as well as
poems. In point of time he was the first of the famous group of New
England poets of the nineteenth century. He began writing verses
when a child and composed his noblest poem, Thanatopsis, when
only eighteen years of age. His first volume of poems, containing
one entitled The Ages delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at
Harvard, and some others, was published in 1821. In 1832 a volume
entitled Poems, complete to that date, was published, for which
Washington Irving secured republication in England, where it
brought him wide recognition. Many successive editions of Poems,
each with some additional items, were published in later years, and
after his death a complete edition of the Poetical Works of William
Cullen Bryant appeared in 1879. He also had privately printed a little
volume of his Hymns, 1869.
The following pieces by him have been included in various
collections of hymns, some of them having considerable use in Great
Britain as well as in this country.

1. All praise to him of Nazareth (Communion)

Dated 1864. Included in Hatfield’s (British) Church Hymn Book, 1874, in 3

stanzas, and in Songs of the Sanctuary and in Putnam’s Singers and Songs,
etc. in 5 stanzas.

2. All that in this wide world we see (Omnipresence)

64
Dated 1836, but Beard, in his Collection, (British) 1837, gives it as an
original contribution, thus fixing the date of first publication. Putnam, Singers
and Songs, etc., notes that it was “Written, probably, for some church in
England,” information which sounds like the aged poet’s vague recollection
many years after he had responded to Beard’s request. Included in Lunt’s
Christian Psalter, 1841.

3. All things that are on earth, (Love of God)

Included in Beard’s Collection, 1837.

4. Almighty! hear thy children raise, (Praise)

One of five hymns written by Bryant at the request of Miss Sedgwick for
inclusion (without the author’s name) in Sewall’s Collection, 1820, compiled
for use in the First Congregational Society of New York (Unitarian), now All
Souls Church. In Beard’s Collection, 1837, the first line is altered to read

Almighty, listen while we praise,

and in the Unitarian Hymn and Tune Book, Boston, 1868, it is altered to

Almighty, hear us while we praise,

5. As shadows cast by cloud and sun,

Written for the Semi-Centennial of the Church of the Messiah, Boston, March
19, 1875. Included in the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, New York, 1878.

6. Close softly, fondly, while ye weep (Death)

Included in H. W. Beecher’s Plymouth Collection, 1855.

7. Dear ties of mutual succor bind (Charity)

Putnam, Singers and Songs, 1874, p. 130, says, “Mr. Bryant has kindly
65
sent us, as an additional contribution to this volume, the following
exquisite lines, which were written about forty years since, for some
charitable occasion, and which he lately found among some old papers. They
are not among his published poems.” Included in the Methodist Episcopal
Hymnal, 1878.

8. Deem not that they are blest alone (Mourning)

Written for Sewall’s Collection, 1820, vide supra. Included in Beard’s

Collection, 1837, and, the first line altered to read,

O deem not they are blest alone,

in Martineau’s Hymns of Prayer and Praise, 1873, and in Songs for the
Sanctuary, New York, 1865-1872.

9. Father, to thy kind love we owe, (God’s Loving Kindness)

One of the five hymns, written by Bryant for inclusion in Sewall’s Collection,
New York, 1820. Included in the Hymn and Tune Book, Boston, 1868, and in
Martineau’s Hymns, 1873. In Putnam’s Singers and Songs, etc. the first line
reads,

Our Father, to thy love we owe.

10. How shall I know thee in the sphere which keeps? (Future life)

A memorial poem in 9 stanzas rather than a hymn, but included in part in the
supplement of devotional readings in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns for the
Church of Christ, 1853. Complete text in Putnam’s Singers and Songs, etc.,
pp. 125-126.

11. Look from Thy sphere of endless day (Home missions)

Dated 1840. Included in Songs for the Sanctuary, New York, 1865; in
66
Horder’s (British) Congregational Hymns, 1884, and in the Pilgrim
Hymnal, 1935.

12. Lord, who ordainest for mankind (Thanks for Mother Love)

Written at the request of Rev. Samuel Osgood of New York for inclusion in his
Christian Worship, 1862, and included in Martineau’s Hymns, etc., 1873.
13. Mighty One, before whose face (Ordination)

Dated c. 1820. It was included in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns, etc. 1853,
H. W. Beecher’s Plymouth Collection, 1855, and elsewhere.

14. Not in the solitude, (God in the city)

Dated 1836. Included in Martineau’s Hymns, 1873.

15. O God, whose dread and dazzling brow (God’s compassion)

Included in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns, etc. 1853, and in the Hymn and
Tune Book, Boston, 1868.

16. O North, with all thy vales of green! (Reign of Christ)

Included in the author’s privately printed Hymns, 1869, undated. It passed

into several British collections, e.g., the Scotch Church Hymnary, 1898;
Worship Song, 1905; The English Hymnal, 1906; and is included in the
American Episcopal Hymnal, 1940.

17. O Thou, whose love can ne’er forget (Ordination)

One of Bryant’s early hymns, perhaps written for the ordination of Rev.
William Ware, December, 1821, as minister of the First Congregational Society
of New York, (now All Souls Church). Included in Beard’s English Collection,
1837.

18. O Thou Whose own vast temple stands (Opening of a house of

worship)

Written in 1835 for the dedication of a Chapel in Prince Street, New York. The
building was soon afterwards destroyed by fire. This hymn is the most
67
widely used of all those written by Bryant. It was included in Beard’s
English Collection in 1837, and in Martineau’s Hymns, 1873. In
Putnam’s Singers and Songs, etc., the opening line reads,

Thou, whose unmeasured temple stands,

and in this form it was included in Lunt’s Christian Psalter, 1861, and in the
American Presbyterian Psalms and Hymns, Richmond, 1867; in Horder’s
Congregational Hymns, London, 1884; and elsewhere.

19. Standing forth in life’s rough way (On behalf of children)

 Included in Dr. Allon’s (British) Children’s Worship, 1878; in Horder’s
Congregational Hymns, 1884; and elsewhere.

20. Thou unrelenting past (The Past)

Dated 1836. A poem of 14 stanzas, a few of which were included in

Martineau’s Hymns, 1873.

21. When doomed to death the Apostle lay (On behalf of Drunkards)

Included in the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, 1878.

22. When he who from the scourge of wrong (Hope of Resurrection)

Written for Sewall’s Collection, 1820. Included in Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868.

23. When this song of praise shall cease (Anticipation of Death)

Written for a collection of hymns printed at the end of a Sunday School

Liturgy, prepared by James Lombard, of Utica, New York, in 1859. Included in
Bryant’s privately printed Hymns, 1869, and in Stevenson’s (British) School
Hymnal, 1889.

24. When the blind suppliant in the way (Opening the eyes of the blind)

Dated 1874. Included in the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, New York,

68
1878.

25. Whither, midst falling dew, (Divine Guidance)

This is one of Bryant’s best known poems, entitled “To a Waterfowl,” and
dated 1836, and is in no sense a hymn, although included in Martineau’s
Hymns, 1873.

26. Wild was the day, the wintry sea, (The Pilgrim Fathers)

Included in Longfellow and Johnson’s Hymns of the Spirit, 1864.

Putnam, Singers and Songs, etc., p. 123 reports a hymn beginning

Ancient of Days! except Thou deign,

“written for the dedication of Rev. R. C. Waterston’s church in

Boston,” and another hymn beginning
 Lord, from whose glorious presence came,

written “at the request of a friend, Mr. Hiram Barney, for the opening
of an Orthodox Congregational Church,” but does not print the text
of either, and neither appears to have been included in any
Collection.

As indicated in the foregoing list, the text of several of Bryant’s

hymns is found with the opening line altered from the original, either
by the author himself, or, presumably, with his consent, so that it is
impossible to say which is the correct or authorized form, and
frequently no more than approximate date of composition can be
given.

The early flowering of Bryant’s gifts as a poet, promoted by a

fortunate combination of circumstances, quickly brought him
widespread recognition in both Great Britain and America, which
deepened into respect for his fine character as he advanced in 69
age. The writings of no other American poet of his period were
so eagerly searched by compilers of hymn books, who sometimes
included verses which were meditative, poems rather than hymns,
e.g., nos. 8, 10, 20 and 25 in the above list. Bryant’s mind was cool
and meditative, and his hymns are correct and smoothly flowing, but
seldom touched with lyric fire, and none of them quite reach the
highest level. They express an attitude towards religion characteristic
of the intellectual life of his time but now largely passed away. No.
th
16 is still included in several leading hymn collections of the 20
century; nos. 11 and 18 are in the Unitarian New Hymn and Tune
Book, 1914; and nos. 12 and 18 are in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

J. 189-190, 1682
H.W.F.
70

Bulfinch, Rev. Stephen Greenleaf, D.D., Boston, Massachusetts,

June 18, 1809—October 12, 1870, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He
was son of Charles Bulfinch, a leading architect, and received his
early education in Washington, D.C., returning to Cambridge to enter
the Harvard Divinity School, from which he graduated in 1830. He
was ordained in January, 1831, as assistant to Rev. Samuel Gilman,
q.v., of Charleston, South Carolina, and later served Unitarian
churches in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; Nashua,
New Hampshire; Dorchester, Massachusetts and East Cambridge,
Massachusetts. He was a voluminous writer in both prose and verse.
Most of his hymns first appeared in his books Contemplations of the
Saviour, Boston, 1832; Poems, Charleston, 1834; and Lays of the
Gospel, 1845. The first of these was reprinted in England, where 19
of his hymns were included in Beard’s Collection, 1837, and where
they had widespread use.

His best known hymns are as follows:

1. Benignant Saviour: ’twas not thine, (Compassion of Christ)

From his “Contemplations of the Saviour,” altered in Horder’s Congregational

Hymns, 1884, to read

Most gracious Saviour: ’twas not thine.

2. Burden of shame and woe, (The Crucifixion)

3. Hail to the Sabbath day, (Sunday)
4. Hath not thy heart within thee burned, (Evening)
5. Holy Son of God most high, (Christ)
6. How glorious is the hour, (The New Life)
7. In the Saviour’s hour of death, (Good Friday)
8. It is finished! Glorious word, (Good Friday)
9. Lord, in this sacred hour, (Worship)
10. O suffering friend of all mankind, (Passiontide)
11. There is a strife we all must wage, (Life’s Duty)
12. Toiling through the livelong night, (Miracle of fishes) 71
13. What power unseen by mortal eye, (Miracle)

These hymns are well written contemplations of gospel episodes, as

viewed by the conservative piety of the author’s period. Several were
included in Longfellow and Johnson’s Book of Hymns, 1846-1848;
nos. 6 and 10 are in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns for the Church
 th
of Christ, 1853; and most of them in one and another 19 century
collection. Only No. 4 has survived in present-day use, being found
in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and Hymns of the Spirit,
1937.

J. 191, 1555 revised

H.W.F.
72

Burleigh, William Henry, Woodstock, Connecticut, February 12,

1812—March 18, 1871, Brooklyn, New York. He was an editor and
publisher working successively in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1837-
1843; in Hartford, Connecticut, 1843-1849; in Syracuse, New York,
1849-1854. From 1855-1870 he was Harbor Master of New York. He
was a member of the Second Unitarian Church in Brooklyn and an
ardent advocate of anti-slavery and temperance reforms. Early in life
he began writing hymns and other poems which were printed in
various periodicals, but for many of which the date and occasion are
impossible to determine. They were collected for publication in a
volume entitled Poems, Philadelphia, 1841, and this book, enlarged
with his later poems, was republished in 1871 after his death, with a
biographical notice by his wife. Some of the best were included in
the British collection Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868, the editor of
which, Dr. Cleveland, said, “Most of these beautiful hymns of Mr.
Burleigh’s were given to me in ms. by the author.” From this
publication they were taken for extensive use in British hymn books.

1. Abide not in the realm of dreams, (The Harvest Call)

Included in Putnam, Singers and Songs, etc., is a poem of 10 stanzas from

which a cento consisting of the first two lines of stanza 1 combined with the
second two lines of stanza 2, followed by stanzas 3, 6, 7 and 10 are taken to
form a hymn in the New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the
Spirit, 1937.

2. Fades from the west the farewell light (Night)

This poem, entitled “A Psalm of Night,” is given in his Poems, New York, 1871.
Although not in the first edition of Poems, 1841, stanzas selected from
73
it came into use as early as 1844. The original is in 5 stanzas of 8
lines. From it the following centos have come into use.

(a) Day unto day uttereth speech,

This consists of stanzas III-V, and is given in the Christian Hymns of the
Cheshire Pastoral Association, 1844, as an “Evening Hymn.”

(b) O Holy Father, mid the calm

This cento consists of stanzas IV-V, and is given in Longfellow and Johnson’s
Book of Hymns, 1846, and in their Hymns of the Spirit, 1864.

(c) Not only doth the voiceful day,

Composed of stanzas II-III, in Longfellow and Johnson’s Hymns of the Spirit,

1864. Another arrangement beginning with the same stanza is in Lyra Sacra
Americana.

(d) The brightening dawn and voiceful day,

In the British Hymnary, London, 1872, an altered form of (c), with the
addition of a doxology.

In these various forms the use of this hymn was very extensive.

3. Father, beneath thy sheltering wing, (Trust and Peace)

74
Printed in Longfellow and Johnson’s Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, in 4
stanzas of 4 lines. Included in the British Baptist Hymnal, 1879; in Horder’s
Congregational Hymns, 1884; and others; and in many American collections.

4. Father, thy servant waits to do thy will (Ordination)

“Written for the ordination of Mr. J. W. Chadwick, as pastor of the Second

Unitarian Church, in Brooklyn, New York, 1864.” Included in Putnam, Singers
and Songs, etc.

5. For the dear love that kept us through the night (Morning)

Taken from the author’s Poems, 1871, for inclusion in Horder’s Congregational
Hymns, 1884.
6. From the profoundest depths of tribulation (Lent)

A meditative poem rather than a hymn, included in the Supplement to Hedge

and Huntington’s Hymns of the Church of Christ, 1853.

7. Lead us, O Father, in the paths of peace (Divine Guidance)

In Lyra Sacra Americana headed “A Prayer for Guidance.” This is one of the
author’s best known and most widely used hymns. Included in Hymns of the
Spirit, 1937.

8. Not in vain I poured my supplication (Lent)

A continuation of the same thought as no. 6, preceding, which it follows in the

Supplement to Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns, etc.

9. O deem not that earth’s crowning bliss, (Morning)

In his Poems, 1871; in Lyra Sacra Americana from which it passed into
75
the British Baptist Hymnal, 1879, and Horder’s Congregational Hymns,
1884, and others. In the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, New York, 1878,
the hymn beginning

From lips divine the healing balm

is a cento from this poem.

10. Still will we trust though earth seems dark and dreary, (Faith)

From Lyra Sacra Americana this passed into many non-conformist collections
in Great Britain where it was the most widely used of all of Burleigh’s hymns.
It had a much more limited use in this country. Included in Putnam’s Singers
& Songs, etc.

11. There is a beautiful land by the spoiler untrod, (Heaven)

Dr. Cleveland, editor of Lyra Sacra Americana says “This piece was first
published in the Independent, Jan. 18, 1866.”

12. They who have kept their virgin whiteness, (Purity)

In Lyra Sacra Americana.

13. Thou who look’st with pitying eye (Lent)

In Lyra Sacra Americana.

 14. Through the changes of the day (Evening)

From his Poems, 1841. In Lyra Sacra Americana; in S.P.C.K.’s Psalms and
Hymns, 1852; in Thring’s Collection, and other British books.

15. We ask not that our path be always bright, (Trust in God)

From Lyra Sacra Americana this passed into Horder’s Congregational

76
Hymns, 1884.

16. When gladness gilds our prosperous day (Good in all)

From Lyra Sacra Americana this passed into Horder’s Congregational Hymns,
1884.

The above hymns have had much less use in this country than in
Great Britain. Nos. 7 and 10 are in the Universalist Church
Harmonies, 1895; nos. 1 and 7 in Hymns of the Spirit. 1937, no. 7 in
The Hymnal, 1940; and no. 3 in the Isles of Shoals Hymn Book. The
others, though very acceptable expressions of the religious thought
and feeling in the era in which the author lived, have now dropped
out of use.

J. 195-6
Revised H.W.F
Chadwick, Rev. John White, Marblehead, Massachusetts, 77
October 19, 1840—December 11, 1904, Brooklyn, New York.
After two years of study at the Bridgewater Normal School, and a
shorter period at Phillips Exeter Academy, he entered the Harvard
Divinity School, from which he graduated in 1864. He received the
degree of A.M. 1888. In December, 1864, he was ordained minister
of the Second Unitarian Church, Brooklyn, where he remained until
his death. He was an influential preacher and a prolific author in
both prose and verse, his principal publications being a Book of
Poems, 1876, Nazareth Town, 1883 (poems), the two being later
combined and republished in 1888 with the earlier title; The Bible
Today, 1879: Old and New Unitarian Belief, 1894; and first-rate
biographies of Theodore Parker, 1901, and William Ellery Channing,
1903. After his death a small volume was published entitled Later
Poems, 1905, and his printed sermons have been collected in 14
volumes. As a young man he became a close friend of W. C.
Gannett, q.v., and F. L. Hosmer, q.v., both of whom were also born in
1840, though not his classmates in the Divinity School, and his
hymns are expressions of a theological outlook similar to theirs,
notably in his endeavor to give a religious interpretation to the then
disputed doctrine of evolution. Although several of his hymns are of
exceptionally fine quality, he often wrote in haste, lacking the
patience with which his two friends sought for the precise word to
convey their meaning, but he often abbreviated or re-wrote his
verses at the request of hymn-book editors, or willingly accepted
their proposed alterations. The result is that some of his hymns now
appear in forms which depart considerably from their original texts.
His secular poems, mostly the utterances of a nature lover, are 78
often the too hastily written verse of a minor poet.

His Book of Poems, 1888, and Later Poems, 1905, include all his
hymns, three of which had little use, viz:

1. A gentle tumult in the earth, (Easter) 1876

 2. Everlasting Holy One, (Invocation) 1875

3. O God, we come not as of old, (Worship) 1874

His best known hymn was written for the Visitation Day exercises at
the Harvard Divinity School, 1864,

4. Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round,

It has been widely used in Great Britain and in this country. Other
hymns by him have had considerable use, as follows:

5. Another year of setting suns, (New Year’s) 1873

This was written in ten stanzas beginning

“That this shall be a better year,”

but in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937, only stas. 5, 6, 7, and 10 are given,
beginning as above.

6. It singeth low in every heart, (Commemoration) 1876

th
Written for the 25 anniversary of the dedication of his church in Brooklyn,
and widely used.

7. Now sing we a song of the harvest, (Thanksgiving Day) 1871

8. O Love Divine, of all that is, (A song of Trust) 1865

9. O Thou, whose perfect goodness crowns, (Anniversary Hymn)

th
Written in 1889 for the 25 anniversary of his ordination.

10. Thou glorious God, before whose face, (Anniversary Hymn)

Undated.

11. Thou whose spirit dwells in all, (Easter)

79
Written in 1890.

12. Thy seamless robe conceals Thee not, (Jesus)

 Written in 1876. Included in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, but not in
later publications.

13. What has drawn us thus apart, (Unity of Spirit)

Written in 1891.

Several of the above hymns, as printed in current hymn-books,

consist of selected stanzas, or have been slightly altered from their
original forms, in most cases by Gannett and Hosmer, for inclusion in
their collection Unity Hymns and Chorals, 1880, 1911. Two others
included in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937, were not written as hymns but
have been quarried out of verses in Later Poems, by permission of
the author’s widow, viz:

14. Spirit of God, in thunder speak, (Summons to Duty)

This arrangement combines stanzas 13 and 16 in the poem entitled “A

Missionary Chant”, used as the first two stanzas of the hymn, with stanzas 8
and 9 of the poem to “William Cullen Bryant” as the third and fourth stanzas
of the hymn, both poems being found in Later Poems, 1905.

15. Thou mighty God, who didst of old, (Communion of Saints)

This is arranged from the same sources. Stanzas 1 and 2 are the first two
stanzas in “William Cullen Bryant,” the last three stanzas are stanzas 11, 7,
and 8 in “A Missionary Chant,” considerably altered. These arrangements were
made by H. W. Foote, with the coöperation of F. L. Hosmer and W. C.
80
Gannett, for inclusion in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914.

Of the hymns listed above Hymns of the Spirit, 1937 includes Nos. 4,
5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, and 15.

J. 216, 1619
Revised by H.W.F.
81

Chapman, Mrs. (No information available).

An anti-slavery hymn beginning

 O God of freedom! Hear us pray,

is attributed to “Mrs. Chapman” in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns

for the Church of Christ, 1853.

H.W.F.

Cheney, Mrs. Ednah D. (Dow) Boston, Massachusetts, June 27,

1824—November 19, 1904, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. She
married Seth Wells Cheney. She was the author of several books,
including The Life and Letters of Louisa May Alcott. She wrote a
hymn on “the larger prayer,” beginning

At first I prayed for Light,

in 4 stanzas of 10 lines each, printed in the Riverside Record and

reprinted in the Boston Gazette, February 4, 1882. Enough lines
have been taken from this hymn to make a much shorter one in 5
stanzas of four lines each, C.M. for inclusion in Unitarian hymn-
books. It has also been considerably rewritten, but since this revised
form is not marked as “altered” it is probable that the changes were
made by the author or at least with her permission. It is included in
Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

H.W.F.

82
Church, Edward Alonzo, Boston, Massachusetts, —— 1844
—January 29, 1929, Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was a business
man who wrote in 1904, for the laying of the cornerstone of a new
edifice for the Church of the Disciples (Unitarian), Boston, of which
he was a member, a hymn beginning,

Almighty Builder, bless, we pray,

The cornerstone that here we lay,
The next year, for the final service in the old edifice which the
congregation was leaving, he wrote one beginning,

O Thou to whom in prayer and praise

We here have turned with constant heart.

Both hymns were included in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914,
and the first is also in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937.

H.W.F.

Clapp, Eliza Thayer, 1811-1888. She was a resident of Dorchester,

Massachusetts. She was author of Words in a Sunday School, of
Studies in Religion, New York, 1845, and of later essays on religion
and of poems posthumously collected in a volume entitled Essays,
Letters and Poems, privately printed in Boston, 1888. At the request
of her friend R. W. Emerson she contributed three hymns and two
poems to The Dial, 1841. From one of the hymns in 9 stanzas of 4
lines, published in The Dial, July, 1841, and entitled “The future is
better than the past,” is taken the hymn beginning

All before us is the way, (Onward with confidence)

included in Hedge and Huntington’s Hymns for the Church of Christ,

1853, where it was erroneously attributed to Emerson, an error
which was repeated in several other collections which included it.

J. 234
H.W.F.

83
Clarke, Rev. James Freeman, D.D., Hanover, New
Hampshire, April 4, 1810—June 8, 1888, Boston, Massachusetts. He
was named for his step-grandfather, Rev. James Freeman, q.v. He
graduated from Harvard College in 1829 and from the Harvard
Divinity School in 1833. He served as minister of the Unitarian
Church in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1833 to 1840. In 1841 he
returned to Boston where he gathered a group of persons interested
in the more radical social and religious reforms of the day into a
church which he named the Church of the Disciples (Unitarian) of
which he remained minister until his death. He became one of the
most distinguished ministers of his period in Boston, greatly beloved
and admired for his courage as well as his piety, his wisdom as well
as his wit. He was the author of several books (and many short
printed articles) the best known of which were his Orthodoxy: its
Truths and Errors, and Ten Great Religions. The latter is an
amplification of lectures on Comparative Religion which he gave at
the Harvard Divinity School as early as 1854, and again for several
years in the eighteen-seventies, the earliest course in this field of
study to be given in any American theological school. In 1844 he
published a Service Book for use by his congregation, which included
a small selection of hymns, among them Sarah Flower Adams’
Nearer my, God, to Thee, which had appeared in England only three
years earlier and was now introduced for the first time to an
American congregation, whence it quickly passed into numerous
other collections. In 1852 a revised and enlarged edition of the
Service Book was published entitled the Disciples Hymn Book, which
included five hymns by the compiler. A few of his poems are included
in Putnam’s Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, and the following
hymns by him have come into some use.

1. Brother, hast thou wandered far? (The Prodigal)

84
First printed in the Service Book, 1844. It appeared in abbreviated
form as

Hast thou wasted all the powers?

(beginning with the second stanza) in Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853;
in Beecher’s Plymouth Collection, 1855, and in other American and British
books.

2. Dear Friend, whose presence in the house, (Jesus at Cana)

 Dated 1855. A tender poem rather than a hymn, included in the British Lyra
Sacra Americana.

3. Father, to us Thy children humbly kneeling (Aspiration)

About 1833, after arrival in Louisville, Clarke wrote a poem entitled “Hymn
and Prayer” beginning Infinite Spirit, who art round us ever, which was
published in The Dial for January, 1841. Five stanzas beginning

Unseen, yet not unfelt!—if any thought

were taken from this form of the poem for inclusion in Hedge and
Huntington’s Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853, but already Clarke had
taken from his poem, and largely rewritten, three stanzas to make the hymn
beginning as above. In this later form it was included in his Service Book,
1844, in Longfellow and Johnson’s Book of Hymns, 1846, in the Disciples
Hymn Book, 1852, and in many later collections down to the present day.

4. For all thy gifts we bless Thee, Lord

Written for a Unitarian Convention in New York City, held on October

85
22, 1845, and included in Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853.

5. Hast thou wasted all the powers,

Included in Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853.

6. To him who children blessed (Christening)

7. To Thee, O God in heaven (Christening)

Both of these tender and beautiful hymns for a christening appeared in the
Service Book, 1844, and have passed into a good many other collections,
although hymns are now seldom sung at such a service.

Of the above no. 3 was included in Longfellow and Johnson’s Book

of Hymns, 1846, attributed to Clarke, and nos. 1, 5 and 6 were
included as Anonymous. In their Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, these
hymns were correctly attributed to Clarke. He was the author of a
limited quantity of pleasing religious verse acceptable to his many
friends rather than a hymn writer of distinction, his best ones being
nos. 3, 5 and 6. The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, includes nos.
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