Loyalty and Consecration — 416. Hushed Was the Evening Hymn
James D. Burns, 1823-64
Based on the incident of the call of Samuel in I Samuel 3. The verses were published in The Evening Hymn, 1857, a small volume consisting of an original hymn and an original prayer for every evening of the month, by Burns when he was minister of the Hampstead Presbyterian Church, London. The hymn lends itself well to dramatization.
James Drummond Burns received his training for the ministry at the University of Edinburgh. When the Disruption took place in the Scottish Church, he followed his teacher, Dr. Chalmers, into the Free Church in 1843. For reasons of health he went to France and some years later, his health improved, he returned to London and built up a strong congregation at Hampstead where a church had been newly organized. His winsome character and broadmindedness, together with an especially beautiful voice, made his work unusually effective. He published several books and is the author of an article on “Hymns” in the eighth edition of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica.
MUSIC. SAMUEL was composed for this hymn, the original arrangement, made in 1874, being for treble voices in unison, with organ accompaniment. The composer later made the present four-part arrangement in which form it has come into many church hymnals.
For comments on Arthur Sullivan see Hymn 113.