THE Rev. Samuel Francis Smith was born at Boston, Mass., Oct. 21, 1808, and died in 1895. He was a classmate at Harvard of Oliver Wendell Holmes. Afterwards graduating from Andover he entered the Baptist ministry and served therein an honorable career, both as pastor, professor, and editor. He is the author of several popular hymns; but his claim to fame will rest on what is commonly recognized now as the American national hymn. It was written in 1832, during the author's student life at Andover, and was first used in public at a Sunday-school gathering on July 4 at the Park Street Church, Boston. Comparing this hymn with the British national anthem, we must agree that Dr. Smith succeeded in his attempt to give the old tune "the ring of American republican patriotism."

NATIONAL HYMN

My country! 't is of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing;

Land where my fathers died'
Land of the pilgrim's pride!
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring!

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;

I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song:
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break.
The sound prolong.

Our fathers' God, to thee,
Author of liberty,

To thee we sing;

Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;

Protect us by thy might,

Great God, our King.

SAMUEL FRANCIS SMITH

No one knows who wrote this popular church hymn. In the greater number of books it is credited to Charles Wesley. That is because it first appeared in company with some of his hymns; but neither Wesley nor his contemporaries claimed it as his. There are some reasons for thinking that it was the work of the Rev. Martin Maden (1726-1790), an English Methodist clergyman well known both as a vivid orator and an enthusiastic musician.

He practised law for several years before being ordained. Later he was chaplain of the Lock Hospital. The hymn, with its tune " Italian Hymn," has won for itself no uncertain place in the worship of American churches, although its use is by no means so general in other lands.

COME, THOU ALMIGHTY KING

COME,

thou almighty King,

Help us thy name to sing,
Help us to praise;

Father, all glorious,

O'er all victorious,

Come, and reign over us,
Ancient of Days!

Come, thou incarnate Word,
Gird on thy mighty sword;
Our prayer attend;
Come, and thy people bless,
And give thy word success;
Spirit of holiness!

On us descend.

Come, holy Comforter!
Thy sacred witness bear,
In this glad hour;
Thou, who almighty art,
Now rule in every heart,
And ne'er from us depart,
Spirit of power!

To the great One in Three,
The highest praises be,
Hence, evermore!
His sovereign majesty
May we in glory see,
And to eternity

Love and adore.

ANONYMOUS

JOHN MASON NEALE, D. D. (Lon

don, Jan. 24, 1818 — East Grinstead, Aug. 6, 1866), had a troubled career as a minister of the Church of England; his learning and piety gave him a wide celebrity, but his ritualism led to his being inhibited by his bishop. He is now remembered for his sympathetic and spirited translations of the hymns and songs of the early Greek and Latin monks. This hymn first appeared in his " Hymns of the Eastern Church," published in 1862. It is a translation of the song of Stephen, a monk of the monastery of Mar Saba, situated near the Dead Sea. This song was probably first written in the eighth century. To many persons it is the most beautiful, as it certainly is one of the most sympathetic, of all Christian hymns.