1783 - 1815 Author of "Turn, Turn to Him" John Bowlder was born in London, in 1783. He was educated at Winchester College, and entered the legal profession. As a barrister, he gave unusual promise of eminence; but died in 1815, at the age of thirty-two. His miscellaneous writings were published in 1816, by his father, under the title of "Select Pieces of Prose and Verse."
--Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A., 1872.
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Bowdler, John, born in London, Feb. 4, 1783, and educated at the Sevenoaks Grammar School, and Winchester. In 1807 he was called to the Bar, but ill-health necessitated his residence abroad for a short time. On his return he resumed the duties of his profession. His weakness, however, increased, and gradually sinking, he died Feb. 1, 1815. He was a person of more than usual parts, and gained the friendship of Macauluy, Wilberforce, and other men of eminence. In 1816 his Select Pieces in Verse and Prose, were published by his father with a brief Memoir, Lond., G. Davidson. The two vols. contain essays, reviews, poetical pieces, versions of 4 Psalms, and 6 hymns. Of his hymns and Psalm versions nearly all are in common use. The best of these are, “As panting in the sultry beam"; “Children of God, who pacing slow;" and "Lord, before Thy throne we bend." The rest include: —
1. Beyond the dark and stormy bound. Heaven. This is a part of his hymn on the Sabbath. The ori¬ginal begins "When God from dust created man," is in 10 stanzas of 6 lines, and dated 1812.
2. Children of God, who pacing [faint and] slow. Encouragement.
3. Lord, before Thy throne we bend. Ps. cxx. 3.
4. 0 fcod, my heart within me faints. Ps. xlii.
5. Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. Praise. Entitled "Thankfulness," and dated "Jan. 1814."
6. To heaven I lift mine eyes. Ps. cxxi.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
John Bowdler
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