1752–1817

Introduction

portrait

Born: May 14, 1752, North­amp­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

Died: Jan­ua­ry 11, 1817, New Ha­ven, Con­nec­ti­cut.

Buried: Grove Street Ce­me­te­ry, New Haven, Con­nec­ti­cut.

Biography

Dwight was a man for all sea­sons: An or­dained Con­gre­ga­tion­al min­is­ter, grand­son of preach­er Jo­na­than Ed­wards, per­son­al friend of Am­eri­can pre­si­dent George Wash­ington, and Ar­my chap­lain.

He be­gan read­ing the Bible at age four, and se­cret­ly learned La­tin des­pite his fa­ther’s pro­hi­bi­tion.

In 1785, he pub­lished the 11-vol­ume Con­quest of Ca­naan. In 1787, he re­ceived a Doc­tor of Di­vi­ni­ty de­gree from Prince­ton Uni­ver­si­ty.

In 1795, he be­came pre­si­dent of Yale Uni­ver­si­ty (where, like his grand­fa­ther Jon­at­han Ed­wards, he ma­tri­cu­lat­ed at age 13).

He helped found the An­do­ver Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry—the first se­mi­na­ry in New Eng­land—in 1809.

Dwight’s ac­comp­lish­ments are amaz­ing con­sid­er­ing his me­di­cal han­di­cap. A small­pox ino­cu­la­tion ac­tu­al­ly gave him the di­sease, and af­fect­ed his sight. For al­most four de­cades, he could read on­ly 15 min­utes at a time, and was plagued by con­stant, ago­niz­ing pain at the back of his eyes.

He ev­en­tu­al­ly died of can­cer af­ter serv­ing as pre­si­dent of Yale for 22 years.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

  1. Again My Tongue Thy Si­lence
  2. As Down a Lone Val­ley
  3. As Pants the Hart for Cool­ing Streams
  4. Behold, the Judge Des­cends
  5. Bless, O Thou West­ern World, Thy God
  6. Blest Be the Lord, Who Heard My Pray­er
  7. By Ba­bel’s Stream the Cap­tives Sat
  8. Cease, Cease, Ye Vain, Des­pond­ing Fears
  9. Columbia! Col­umb­ia! to Glo­ry Arise
  10. Down at the Cross of Christ
  11. Faith Sees the Bright, Eter­nal Doors
  12. For Her My Tears Shall Fall
  13. Giddy World, with Flat­ter­ing Tongue, The
  14. God Bless Our Na­tive Land
  15. How Bright Thy Glo­ries Beam
  16. How Pleas­ing Is the Voice
  17. I Love Thy Church, O God!
  18. I Love Thy King­dom, Lord
  19. I Love Thy Zi­on, Lord
  20. I Love Your Church, O Lord
  21. I Saw, Be­yond the Tomb
  22. In Bar­ren Wilds Shall Liv­ing Wa­ters Spring
  23. In Zi­on’s Sac­red Gates
  24. Just o’er the Grave I Hung
  25. Lord, in These Dark and Dis­mal Days
  26. Lord of All Worlds
  27. Lord, to Thy Sac­red House
  28. My God De­fend My Cause
  29. My God, Pre­serve My Soul
  30. My God, While Im­pi­ous Men
  31. No War nor Bat­tle’s Sound
  32. Now, to Thy Sac­red House
  33. O God At­tend, While Hosts of Foes
  34. O God of Grace, My Cry At­tend
  35. O God of My Sal­va­tion, Hear
  36. O How Shall I Re­pay the Boun­ties?
  37. O Lord of Hosts, for Je­sus’ Sake
  38. O Lord, Our Lord Most High
  39. O Lord, the God of Hea­ven and Earth
  40. O Save Thy Ser­vants, Lord
  41. O Thou Pres­erv­er of Man­kind
  42. O Thou, the On­ly Good and Great
  43. O Thou Whose Hand the King­dom Sways
  44. O Thou Whose Scep­ter Earth and Seas Obey
  45. Oh Haste, with Ev­ery Gift In­spired
  46. Our Rul­ers, Lord, with Songs of Praise
  47. Save Me from Evil Men
  48. Save Me from My Foes
  49. Serene I Laid Me Down
  50. Shall Man, O God of Love and Light
  51. Sing to the Lord Most High
  52. Stretched on the Bed of Grief
  53. Thou Hear­est, Om­nis­ci­ent Lord
  54. Thy Praise, O Lord, Our Thank­ful Songs Re­new
  55. To Bless the Lord Let Ev­ery Land
  56. To Bless the Lord Our God in Strains Di­vine
  57. To Hea­ven Let All My Sac­red
  58. To Hea­ven’s High King
  59. To Thee, My King, My God of Grace
  60. We Love Your King­dom, Lord
  61. We Love Your Realm, O God
  62. When God in Wrath Shall Rise
  63. When Men of Mis­chief Rise
  64. While God In­vites, How Blest the Day
  65. While Life Pro­longs Its Pre­cious Light
  66. Why Do the Weal­thy Wick­ed Boast of Sin?
  67. Word in Sea­son, Spoke with Pow­er, A
  68. Ye Chiefs and Kings to God
  69. Ye Na­tions Round the North­ern Sea
  70. Ye Sin­ners, Fear the Lord
  71. Ye Sons of Men, in God Re­joice
  72. You Sin­ners, Fear the Lord