A POPULAR HYMN
♦ ■ - "Prom Greenland's Icy Mountains," the justly celebrated and .famous hymn, was first sung on Whitsunday, 1819, in "Wrexhain Parish Church. Dr. Shipley (dean of St. Asaph and vicar of Wrexham) preached the sermon in aid of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. On the Saturday preceding Whitsunday the vicar and his son-in-law, Heber (afterwards Bishop of Calcutta, who was then rector of the parish of Hodnet), were together in the study when the dean asked Heber to write something for them to sing in the morning. Heber retired from the family gathering to a more distant part of the room, where lie remained engrossed in the task for some time. Dr. Shipley then asked, "What have you written?" Heber then read over the first three versos of the hymn, and received the warmth of praise from Dr. ■Shipley. Heber, however, expressed the opinion that the "sense" was not complete, and added the fourth verse, thus completing one of the most popular hymns in the Church Hymnal.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 70, 20 September 1927, Page 12
Word Count
174A POPULAR HYMN Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 70, 20 September 1927, Page 12
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