Samuel Longfellow

We already marked the birthday of Samuel Longfellow last year, but there's plenty of good material yet to be seen.

Today's hymn was written when Longfellow was living in Brooklyn NY, leading the Second Unitarian Church there. He preached for the newly formed congregation in early 1853, but felt that his close friend Samuel Johnson would be better suited for the job. Johnson, however, told the group that they should hire Longfellow, which they did. He began as their first full-time minister in April. The New York Times noted that the congregation was already using the Book of Hymns (1846) that Longfellow and Johnson had compiled while they were at Harvard Divinity School.

Longfellow was successful in Brooklyn, and by 1858 the church was able to build a new building that would seat six hundred. He began holding evening vesper services, a first for Unitarians, and in 1859 brought out a book called Vespers, According to the Use at the New Chapel, Brooklyn, which contained an order of service, and hymns and other service selections he had written. This hymn was Number III, titled Creator alme siderum, though it is not a translation of that older Latin hymn.

Now, on land and sea descending,
Brings the night its peace profound;
Let our vesper hymn be blending
With the holy calm around.
Jubilate! Jubilate! Jubilate! Amen!
Let our vesper hymn be blending
With the holy calm around.

Soon as dies the sunset glory,
Stars of heav'n shine out above,
Telling still the ancient story,
Their Creator's changeless love.
Jubilate! Jubilate! Jubilate! Amen!
Telling still the ancient story,
Their Creator's changeless love.

Now, our wants and burdens leaving
To God's care who cares for all,
Cease we fearing, cease we grieving;
Touched by God our burdens fall.
Jubilate! Jubilate! Jubilate! Amen!
Cease we fearing, cease we grieving;
Touched by God our burdens fall.

As the darkness deepens o'er us,
Lo! eternal stars arise;
Hope and faith and love rise glorious,
Shining in the Spirit's skies.
Jubilate! Jubilate! Jubilate! Amen!
Hope and faith and love rise glorious,
Shining in the Spirit's skies.

Samuel Longfellow, 1859; alt.
Tune: VESPER HYMN (8.7.8.7.D.)
Russian melody; arr. John Stevenson, 1818

This hymn was originally in two verses of eight lines, which included only the first four lines of each verse as seen here. On the same page of Longfellow's Vespers was another evening hymn which included the "Jubilate! Amen!" phrase, so it looks as if the later, unknown editor who matched this text to this tune noticed that and added it to this hymn, with a repeat of the last two lines of each verse, so that it would fit this tune.

The tune is often attributed to Russian composer Dmitri Bortnianski, but apparently without much, if any, verification. What's definite is that it appeared in a collection edited by John Stevenson, A Selection of Popular National Airs (1818). I was surprised recently to hear the tune while listening to an opera by Virgil Thomson, Lord Byron, where it is sung to the words of a different hymn, Savior, breathe an evening blessing.

Longfellow left the Second Unitarian Church in 1860 (his final sermon used a text from Deuteronomy 15:1 "At the end of seven years there shall be a release."), and the congregation lasted for nearly a hundred years more. The "New Chapel" (or, the "Church of the Holy Turtle" as it was sometimes called because of its unusual domed roof) was demolished in 1962, replaced a few years later by Cobble Hill Park.