ROCK OF AGES
Augustus Montague Toplady was born in Surrey, England in 1740. His father was an officer in the British army. His mother was a woman of great piety. He prepared for the university at Westminster School and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. While on a visit to Ireland at the age of 16 he converted to Christianity at a service held in a barn.
I HEARD A SOUND OF VOICES
Godfrey Thring, an English clergyman, was born in Alford, England in 1823. He graduated from Oxford in 1845 and served different charges as curate and rector until his death in 1903. He wrote many hymns and published several hymn compilations including Hymns Congregational and Others, 1866; Hymns and Verses, 1866; Hymns and Sacred Lyrics, 1874; and Church of England Hymn Book, 1880.
ALL GLORY, LAUD AND HONOR
Theodulph is said to have been a native of Italy. The exact date of his birth is not known. He came to France in the time of Charlemagne, about 781, and was made Bishop of Orleans in 785. He was imprisoned by Louis I at Angers in 818. There are different traditions concerning him after this period.
THOU HIDDEN LOVE OF GOD
Gerhard Tersteegen, a pious mystic of the eighteenth century, was born in Mörs, Germany in 1697. He was apprenticed as a young man to his older brother, a shopkeeper. He purchased a humble cottage near Mühlheim, where he led a life of seclusion and self-denial for many years. At about thirty years of age he began to preach in private and public gatherings.
‘TIS MIDNIGHT, AND ON OLIVE’S BROW
William Brigham Tappan, an influential leader in Sunday school work in the Congregational Church, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1794. As a young man he taught school in Philadelphia. From 1826 until his death he worked for the American Sunday School Union as a manager and superintendent.
LORD OF ALL POWER AND MIGHT
Hugh Stowell, a minister in the Church of England, was born in 1799. He graduated from Oxford in 1822, and took holy orders the following year. He held various offices in his Church and published several ecclesial volumes. He also edited a book of hymns: A Selection of Psalms and Hymns Suited to the Services of the Church of England, 1831. He died in 1865.
STILL, STILL WITH THEE
Harriet Beecher Stowe, the daughter of the famous preacher Lyman Beecher, was born in Litchfield, Connecticut in 1812. Her father became President of Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1832; and in 1833 she was married to Calvin E. Stowe, a professor in the seminary. Her book Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which was first published in 1852 as a serial in the National Era magazine and later in book form, is one of the most widely known and historic volumes in the entire range of American literature.