Philip Doddridge was born in London, the youngest of a family of twenty, most of whom died in childhood. His father was an oil merchant. Before he could read, he had learned from his mother the stories of the Bible by the aid of Bible pictures on the Dutch tiles that covered a portion of the living room. Doddridge became a minister in the Congregational Church and devoted his life not only to preaching, but to writing books and teaching young men for the ministry. In 1751, he went to Lisbon to seek relief from tuberculosis but died there. He is the author of over 400 hymns, a few of which have survived, and are found in most hymn books. The _Hymnary_ contains six of his compositions. _MUSIC._ DENNIS. For comments on this tune see Hymn 41. 57. Thou Grace Divine, encircling all _Eliza Scudder_, 1821-96 The hymn was written by Eliza Scudder, an American hymn writer of the middle nineteenth century. She was born in Boston, and died in Weston, Massachusetts. She was a niece of Edmund H. Sears, author of “It came upon a midnight clear” (No. 75). Miss Scudder was a person of deep religious insight and lived a quiet, retiring life. She published a book of religious verse, _Hymns and Sonnets_, in 1880. During most of her active life she was a Unitarian, but in later life joined the Episcopal Church. _MUSIC._ BALLERMA (misspelled Balerma in some editions of the _Hymnary_) is a very simple tune, the second pair of lines varying only slightly from the first pair. The origin of the tune is uncertain. It is thought to be an old Spanish melody, arranged by F. H. Barthélémon. For comments on Barthélémon see Hymn 2. 58. There’s a wideness in God’s mercy _F. W. Faber_, 1814-63 The original of this poem has thirteen stanzas, the first of which reads: Souls of men! why will ye scatter Like a crowd of frightened sheep? Foolish hearts! why will ye wander From a love so true and deep? The five stanzas selected for use here make an impressive and coherent hymn with no trace of the author’s strong Roman Catholic bias which characterizes nearly all of his hymns. For comments on F. W. Faber see Hymn 44. _MUSIC._ WELLESLEY was written, by request, for the graduation hymn of the Newton (Mass.) high school class of which Miss Tourjee was then a member. The original tune had a slight fault in voice leading which was corrected, with her permission, by Dr. Hamilton C. Macdougall, then Professor of Music at Wellesley College. Lizzie S. Tourjee, 1858-1913, was a student at Wellesley College during the year 1877-78. In 1883, she married Frank Estabrook. Her father, Dr. Eben Tourjee, encouraged her in the writing of the tune, and named it for the new college nearby where she became a student for one year. 59. Father Almighty, bless us with Thy blessing _Anonymous_ A prayer of invocation seeking the blessing and guidance of Almighty God. The authorship is anonymous.