Washington Gladden, distinguished Congregational minister and author, was reared on a farm near Oswego, N. Y., attending country school and Oswego Academy and later entering Williams College, from which he graduated in 1859. He was licensed to preach in 1860; then held pastorates in Congregational churches in New York and Massachusetts, and finally in 1882 began his widely known and influential work as pastor of the First Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio, which was to last for 28 years. His lectures and writings on social questions were prophetic messages of the time. After 50 years in the ministry, he wrote: “If the church would dare to preach and practice the things which Jesus Christ has commanded, she would soon regain her lost power.” He is the author of thirty or more volumes but is remembered best by this poem which has come into such wide use in the worship services of all the churches. _MUSIC._ MARYTON was written for the words, “Sun of my soul, Thou Savior dear,” in _Church Hymns and Tunes_, 1874; but it has become inseparably associated with Gladden’s hymn. Permission to use this hymn was granted by the author only on condition that it be used with this tune. The composer, Henry Percy Smith, 1825-98, was a minister in the Church of England, deeply interested in church music. After graduating from Balliol College, Oxford, he served various churches as curate and vicar and finally became chaplain at Cannes and Canon of Gibraltar. 224. O Thou great Friend to all the sons of men _Theodore Parker_, 1810-60 Based on the Scriptural passages, John 15:14: “Ye are my friends if ye do the things which I command you” and John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The author, Rev. Theodore Parker, an outstanding abolitionist and a leader in New England Unitarianism, was educated at Harvard and spent most of his ministry in Boston. While travelling abroad in the hope of restoring his health, he became ill and died at Florence, Italy, where he was buried. _MUSIC._ FFIGYSBREN. For comments on this tune see Hymn 183. 225. Onward, Christian soldiers _S. Baring-Gould_, 1834-1924 A hymn of the Christian warfare, written by a Church of England clergyman for a children’s processional, but now having a much wider use. The author gave the following account of the writing of the hymn: Whitmonday is a great day for school festivals in Yorkshire. One Whitmonday, thirty years ago, it was arranged that our school should join forces with a neighboring village. I wanted the children to sing when marching from one village to another; so I sat up at night, resolved that I would write something myself. “Onward, Christian soldiers” was the result. It was written in great haste, and I am afraid some of the rhymes are faulty. Certainly nothing has surprised me more than its popularity. An omitted stanza reads: