Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-06-11
HISTORY OF II WOULD NOT LIVE
ALWAYS"

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A reporter of the New York 'sSun" has
just interviewed the author OF this faIuil
lar hymn with the following interesting
result which everybody will read:
DR.. Muhlenberg's full name is William
Augustus. He was born in Philadelphia,
in 1896, and is the great grandson of the
Rev. Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, the
founder of the German Lutheran Church
in America. He is the grandson, too, of
Gen. Peter Muhlenberg, the patriotic
clergyman who one hundred ago was set:
tied in Woodstock, Va, and who, mount-
ing his pulpit one Sunday morning early
in the revolution, preached his last sermon
upon the duties which men owe to their
country, saying in conclusion, ''There Is a
time for all thingS-a time to preach and
time to fght-and now is the time to
fight" with which words he stripped off
his clerical gown, appeared in full uniform,
read his commission as colonel in the
American army, and straightway formed
regiment among his parishioners. From
this grandsire down, DIR. Muhlenberg
inherits the remarkable energy that has
made his life so useful. He was Or
dained clergyman Of the Episcopal
Church about 1920. He preached for some
time in Lancaster, Pa, from which place
he removed to Flushing, L. L., and thence
| to New York, where he became rector of
the Church of the Holy Communion,
memorial church built by his sister. But
L: otocf 16o5o Fol
which he projected and built, increasing
| fund of thirty dollars in 1916 to over $780,
900 in 1857, and since it's completion he has
presided over it as superintendent and
chaplain, occupying a suite Of mod eStly
furnished rooms in the first story, and
worshipped by all officers and the patients.
There he was found on Thursday, a man
of nearly eighty years, of medium height
and slender figure, with long, strongly
marked face. firm. square mouth. and
prominent nose, His white hair escaped
from the confines of a small black velvet
cap that he always wears in his room, and
his clothes were black, of clerical fashion.
In manner he was dignifed and courteous,
protesting vehemently, though, against
any publication that might seem to indi-
cate that he felt it necessary to defend his
long-established claim to the beautiful
hymn, but finally furnishing as historical
matter, the following facts:
THE FIRST PUBLICATION.
81 did not write the hymn" SAID he, Gas
it is now sung. 1t was longer, much long
er and was first published more than fifty
years ago. revised it three or four years
ago, and published it through Whitaker &
Co.. ~ it'll some "reminiscences, which will
give you all the details you may want. :"
According to the notes referred to by DR..
Muhlenberg, the original hymn first ap-
peared in the episcopal Recorder" in
Philadelphia, in 1924. That it was written
on an occasion Of private grief is fancy.
In 1926 the General Convention of the
Episcopal church appointed a committee
to prepare a collection of hymns to be adj
ded to the fifty-six, then the whole num-
Der attached to the prayer-book. This
measure was in consequence OF an awak-
ened interest in hymnology, owing to ar
ticles on sChurch Poetry" and GA Plea
for Christian Hymns" addressed to the
magnates of the church by DR.. Mullen
} berg, through the religious press. Hewas
chosen by the convention as one OF the
committee, and the Rev. DIR. FL. Onder-
donk, the rector of st. AIMS, in Brooklyn,
as another. DR.. Muhlenberg was further
appointed on subcommittee to pass pre-
liminary judgment upon all hymns sub
: mitted. Two years before he had publish