Page:Our Hymns.djvu/407

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THEIR AUTHORS AND ORIGIN. 387

FEEDEKICK WILLIAM FABEE, D.D.

18151863.

THE hymns and poems of this eminent sacred poet are second to none in sentiment and beauty. Many of his verses express the best thoughts and feelings of Christians of all denominations ; but Protestants will regret to meet with lines such as these

" For Mary s smiles each day convert The hardest hearts on earth."

F. W. Faber, who is a nephew of the Rev. George Stanley Faber, the well-known writer on prophecy, was born in 1815. He was educated at Harrow, graduated B. A. at Oxford in 1836, and became a college tutor and fellow. Subsequently, in 1843, he entered upon the living of Elton, Huntingdonshire ; but in 1846, he became a Roman Catholic, and went to reside at St. Wilfrid s, Staffordshire. In 1849 he came to London, and estab lished the brotherhood of the London " Oratorians," or Priests of the Congregation of St. Philip Neri," in King William- street, Strand. The Oratory removed in 1854 to Brompton. To it Dr. Faber gave his energies till his death on Sept. 26th, 1863.

In 1840 he gained a reputation as a poet by his work, " The Cherwell Water-lily, and other poems." He is also the author of a work entitled, " Scenes in Foreign Churches," dedicated to his friend Wordsworth. In this, and in an earlier work, " The Ancient Things of the Church of England," 1838, he had vindi cated the Protestant Church. Just before his change of religion he wrote his poems, " Lives of the Saints," and after that change, he sent forth several theological works in favour of his new views. His mind seems to have been influenced in favour of his new course by the persuasion of Pope Gregory, with whom he had an interview in 1843 ; but his secession was a sudden act arising from a feeling that he lacked priestly efficacy in the community to which he belonged. In his preface to his hymns, published in 1862, Dr. Faber explains that they were first

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