_MUSIC._ QUEBEC. For comments on this tune see Hymn 171. 173. Immortal Love, forever full _John Greenleaf Whittier_, 1807-92 One of the great hymns on the living presence and sympathy of Christ. It is taken from the poem, “Our Master,” of 38 stanzas, of which this hymn is a selection of stanzas 1, 5, 13, 14, and 16 of the original. John Greenleaf Whittier, the “Quaker Poet,” was born near Haverhill, Mass., where he began life as a farm boy and village shoemaker. At the age of 20, with only a limited education, he entered the profession of journalism, largely as the result of becoming acquainted with William Lloyd Garrison. He became editor of the _American Manufacturer_ in 1828, and of the _New England Review_ in 1830. In 1836 he became the secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society and editor of its official organ, the _Freeman_. Whittier was a staunch advocate of the freedom of slaves, and as a Quaker, he was just as strongly opposed to war. His poems are characterized by wide sympathy and a fervent love for God and man. Though a staunch Quaker, wearing the distinctive garb and using the Quaker mode of speech all his life, there was no narrow sectarianism in his heart. A letter written to friends in Whittier, California, a city named after the poet, for the dedication of the Protestant Episcopal Church at that place, illustrates his large-hearted religious views: I see the good in all denominations, and hope that all will be represented in the settlement; ... diligent in business and serving the Lord, not wasting strength and vitality in spasmodic emotions, not relying on creed and dogma, but upon faithful obedience to the voice of God in the soul. I see your town is spoken of as an orthodox Quaker colony. I hope there will be no sectarian fence about “Whittier,” but that good men, irrespective of their creeds, will find a home there. Nothing would be worse for it than to have the idea get abroad that anything like intolerance and self-righteousness was its foundation. I am gratified to know that the people of the town which bears my name will remember me on my birthday. I watch its growth with great interest. It has the reputation among all who have seen it that it occupies one of the loveliest sites in California, and that in a moral and religious and educational point of view it need Fear not the skeptic’s puny hand While near the school the church will stand; Nor fear the blinded bigot’s rule While near the church shall stand the school.