RAY

See also:

• PALMER
• PALMER, EDWARD HENRY (1840-1882)
• PALMER, ERASTUS DOW (1817-1904)
• PALMER, GEORGE (1818-1897)
• PALMER, JOHN
• RAY PALMER (1808-1887)
• PALMER, SAMUEL (1805-1881)
• PALMER, SIR CHARLES MARK, BART

PALMER (1808-1887)  , American clergyman and hymn-writer, was born in Little Compton, Rhode Island,on the 12th of November 1808 . He graduated at Yale College in 1830, and in 1832 was licensed to preach by the New Haven West Association of Congregational Ministers . In 1835-1850 he was pastor of the Central Congregational Church of Bath, Maine, and in 1850-1866 of the First Congregational Church of Albany, New York; and from 1866 to 1878 was corresponding secretary of the American Congregational Union . He died on the 29th of March 1887 in Newark, New Jersey, where, from 1881 to 1884 he had been assistant pastor of the Belleville Avenue Congregational Church . His most widely known hymn, beginning " My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary," was written in 1830, was set to the tune " Olivet " by Lowell Mason, and has been translated into many languages; his hymn beginning " Jesus, these eyes have never seen " (1858) is also well-known . Among the hymns translated by him are those beginning: " O Christ, our King, Creator, Lord " (by Gregory the Great); " Come Holy Ghost in love " (by Robert II. of France) ; " Jesus, thou Joy of loving hearts " (by Bernard of Clairvaux) ; and " 0, Bread to pilgrims given " (from the Latin) . Other hymns(someof them translations from Latin) and poems were collected in his Complete Poetical Works (1876), followed in 188o by Voices of Hope and Gladness . He also wrote Spiritual Improvement (1839), republished in 1851 as Closet Hours; Hints on the Formation of Religious Opinions (1860), and Earnest Words on True Success in Life (1873) .