Hymn Writers of the Church

Addison, Joseph, whose fame is coextensive with English literature, was the son of Rev. Lancelot Addison, Dean of Lichfield, England, and was born May 1, 1672. He was educated at Oxford, and early developed poetic talent. His literary contributions were made chiefly to the Tattler, the Guardian and the Spectator. He is the author of five hymns, all of which appeared in the Spectator in 1712. It has been claimed that Andrew Marvell is the author of two of these hymns ("The spacious firmament on high" and "When all thy mercies, O my God"), but this claim is not justified by the historical facts, which are too lengthy to present here. Addison died June 17, 1719, being a devout and consistent member of the Church of England. His last effort at writing was on an article upon the Christian Religion. At the time of his death he was contemplating a poetic version of the Psalms. "The piety of Addison," says Macaulay, "was in truth of a singularly cheerful kind. The feeling which predominates in all his devotional writings is gratitude; and on that goodness to which he ascribed all the happiness of his life he relied in the hour of death with a love which casteth out fear." The three hymns by Addison are among the finest in this collection: