hymn

WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS

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Isaac Watts is considered the father of English hymnody. He was born in Southampton, England in 1674. He was a precocious child who learned to read almost as soon as he could speak and wrote verses while still a young boy. He was firmly attached to the principles of the Nonconformists, for which his father had suffered imprisonment, and was therefore compelled to decline the advantages of the great English universities, which at that time received only Church of England students.

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ROCK OF AGES

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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.

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I HEARD A SOUND OF VOICES

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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.

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ALL GLORY, LAUD AND HONOR

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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.

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THOU HIDDEN LOVE OF GOD

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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.

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‘TIS MIDNIGHT, AND ON OLIVE’S BROW

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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.

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