ORDINATION HYMN. Written for the ordination of Mr. George Whitney as pastor of the Second Church and society in Roxbury, June 15, 1831. JEHOVAH! at thine awful throne, Earth and earth's suppliants lowly bow; We bow to thee, in humble prayer, That now thy servant thou would'st bless; Long may this vine, Almighty One! And watered with the evening dews. Here may thy church find rich increase; Be peaceful, as thy word is peace, And pure as thou, O God, art pure. Here may the wandering child of sense Seek not a Father's face in vain. Here may earth's restless tumults cease; Say to the angry spirit, " Peace," To Passion's stormy wave, "Be still." Jehovah at thine awful throne, Earth and earth's mighty suppliants bow; A well-deserved tribute to the character and memory of Dr. Gray appeared soon after his decease in the "Christian Register," and was written by Rev. Frederick T. Gray, who, in reference to his hymns, said that a "few of them, breathing the true spirit of lyric poetry, have passed into some of our best Collections," and added: "One of them, 'Good-Night,' so felicitously is it expressed, will long be remembered by the children of many Sunday schools, over whom a shade of sadness will come when they shall hear of the death of him who wrote, 'Pure as the dew ascends."" Go GOOD-NIGHT. A closing hymn, written for a Juvenile Concert. OOD-NIGHT! good-night! our song is said: May spirits bright around your bed And may you wake, with bosoms light, Unclouded by a sorrow, From dreams of all you love, to-night, In the moon-beam, From hope her rainbow borrow. Good-night! good-night! we humbly pray, So purely there, Oh, let our prayer Rise to the same Good Power! Good-night! good-night! to all, a kind good-night. WILLIAM NEWELL. (1804.) REV. WILLIAM NEWELL, D.D., was born in Littleton, Mass., Feb. 25, 1804. When he was at a very early age, his parents removed to Boston, where the son received his first school instruction. Having entered the Latin School of that city, he was the first to carry off the prize for a Latin poem awarded by that institution. He graduated with high honor, reading on the occasion a poem on "Youth," which evinced his unmistakable genius for this kind of literary composition. He graduated at Harvard College in 1824, and at the Cambridge Divinity School in 1829, maintaining here, as in earlier relations, his superior rank as a student. He was ordained pastor of the First Church in Cambridge, May 19, 1830, and was its devoted and faithful minister for nearly thirty-eight years, resigning his charge and ceasing from active parochial labors March 31, 1868. At the close of this long term of service, his people, among whom he still lives and with whom he continues to worship, presented him with a munificent gift in token of their grateful appreciation of his worth and usefulness. Dr. Newell has had a high reputation for scholarly attainments, and for the purity and finish of his style as a writer. His published productions consist chiefly of religious discourses, biographical and historical addresses, and literary articles, printed in pamphlet form or in magazines. Of his occasional or anniversary discourses, two were delivered on leaving the old church in Cambridge, Dec. 1, 1833, and on entering the new, Dec. 12, 1833; others on "Our National Legislature," preached on Fast Day, April 7, 1842; on the Cambridge Church Gathering in 1636, February, 1846; on "The Year's Remembrances," Dec. 31, 1848; and on the com. pletion of the twenty-fifth year of the author's settlement, May 27, 1855. Of his funeral or commemorative sermons are those which he gave on Judge Story, 1845; on Andrews Norton, entitled "The Christian Scholar," 1853; on "The Changes of Life," delivered after the death of Mrs. Professor Webster, 1853; on Jared Sparks, 1866; and on Professor Charles Beck, 1866. Two others, one on Rev. William Ware and one on William Wells, were published in the "Christian Register" of Feb. 29, 1852, and April 29, 1860. "Corrupt Gifts" was the title of a sermon which he preached on Jan. 22, 1854, the anniversary of Lord Bacon's birthday. He gave to the "Christian Examiner," May, 1848, an article on the Early Fathers of New England, with a memoir of Thomas Shepard; and to the same periodical, November, 1853, a memoir of Andrews Norton. A memoir of Rev. Convers Francis, D.D., was published in the "Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society" for 1865. Dr. Newell is a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and received the degree of D.D. from Harvard College in 1853. He has from time to time written for his friends, or contributed to the papers and magazines, or composed for public occasions, hymns and poems of rare merit, distinguished alike for their beauty and power of thought, their refined Christian spirit and sentiment, and their chaste and graceful expression. As in the case of similar productions of other gifted bards whose names appear in this volume, we take peculiar pleasure in giving here to some of Dr. Newell's verses their first collected form. CONSECRATION OF CAMBRIDGE CEMETERY. CHANGING, fading, falling, flying From the homes that gave them birth, Autumn leaves in beauty dying Seek the mother-breast of earth. Soon shall all the songless wood Like some Rachel in her woe. Slowly sinks yon evening sun, Softly wanes the cheerful light, So on many a home of gladness Falls, O Death, thy winter gloom; But the genial spring returning So shall God, his promise keeping Light from darkness! Life from death! Dies the body, not the soul; These are the last lines of a beautiful poem with which Dr. Newell closed his sermon on the completion of the twenty-fifth year of his ministry, and which may be found in the pamphlet containing the printed discourse, and entitled "The Pastor's Remembrances." O the two voices, to the dreamer's thought, Forgive the fears that struggle with his faith, The sister-band of graces, one and three, Sweet Hope, that heavenward soars, and soaring sings, |