CHURCH PRAISE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 120, 23 May 1930, Page 13

CHURCH PRAISE

INTERESTING HYMN-WRITERS

It is remarkable hew few of the famous hymns that have found a place in the literature of tho Church have been written by women, says an English exchange. It has been computed, indeed, that in all only sonic fortysix women have ever composed and published hymns, and of the 070 hymns in tlio Church of England hymnal only ninety-three have been contributed by women writers.

The first woman to gain recognition as a writer of hymns was Annie Steel, the daughter of a Baptist minister. She lived in the eighteenth century, from 1716-1778, and little is known of her life, save the tragic fact-that her fiance was drowned on the eve of her wedding day. Thereafter most of her time she devoted to literary work, writing a tremendous number of hymns, many of which are still used by Baptist churches in English-speaking countries. But it was the nineteenth century that proved most prolific of woman hymnwriters. Of these perhaps the most famous is Sarah Flower Adams, the authoress of one of the most beautiful hymns in English literature, "Nearer, My God, To Thee." Sarah Flower Adams was an unusually talented and very beautiful woman, and two of her greatest friends were Harriet Martineau and Robert Browning. The latter would often go to her home to discuss his religious difficulties with her.As a young girl she had been intensely eager to take up a stage career, for :;he idealised the stage as an ally of the pulpit, and believed that the life of an. actress should be as noble as the great thoughts and action she was called upon to express. So when, shortly after her marriage in 1834, she had an opportunity of playing Lady Macbeth in a production at the Richmond Theatre she accepted at once. An engagement at the Bath Theatre immediately followed, but her health broke down, and she was forced to give up all idea of a stage career. She returned to her literary work, and it was at this time that most of her hymns were written. They were for the most part written with no definite intention; they were simply, to quote one of her friends, "a spontaneous expression of some strong impulse of feeling at the moment."

Cecil Frances Alexander is best known as a writer of children's hymns. Her literary career began at an early age, when as a child she edited a. weekly periodical to which she and the other members of the family contributed. Soon after she left school she came under the influence of the Oxford Movement, and with her" greatest friend, Lady Harriet Howard, daughtor of the Earl of Wicklow, she commenced to write tracts. These were circulated in 1842, and later she began to write hymns. Most of these were'written for one particular occasion, to please or comfort a friend, but after her death they were collected by lfer husband, the first Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, and afterwards Primate of All Ireland. Perhaps the best known are: "There is a Green Hill Far Away," and "Once in Royal David's City."

Then , there are Frances Ridl&y Havergal, who, like Mrs. Sarah Adams, believed herself to be inspired, and wrote only when the spirit moved her; Charlotte Elliot, an invalid most of her life, who will be remembered foivher famous hymn, "Just As I Am, Without One Plea," Adelaide Ann Proctor, a close friend of Charles Dickens, for whose weekly paper, "Household Words," she wrote regularly; Harriet Parr and Frances Van Alstyen, to mention but a few of the better-known hymn-writers. Their names have been forgotten perhaps to-day, but many of their hymns still find a -place in the church hymnals.