William P. Merrill
William Merrill was born on January 10, 1867, in Orange, New Jersey. He died June 19, 1954 in New York City. He was converted at the age of eleven. He went to Rutgers College and earned a BA in 1887, and a M.A. in 1890. He got a B.D. in 1890 at Union Theological Seminary. He was a Presbyterian Pastor at several churches.
Books he wrote are:
- Footings for Faith
- Christian Internationalism
- The Common Creed of Christians
- The Way We See Jesus
Hymns He wrote include:
- Not Alone for Mighty Empire
- We knelt before Kings
William H. Walter was born on July 1, 1825 in Newark, N.J., and died in 1893, in New York City. He was organist at a Presbyterian church, then later an organist for an Episcopal church. At the age of seventeen, he studied music under Edward Hodges and was a successive organist and several churches. He received a doctorate of Music from Columbia University in 1864. There, he was appointed organist a year later. His compositions include anthems and hymn tunes, plus edited collections of church music.
The words for this hymn were brought to Merrill’s mind when Nolan R. Best suggested that a hymn on brotherhood was needed for the Presbyterian Brotherhood Movement. Around that time, Merrill read an article entitled “The Church of the Strong Men”. The text was written while he was sailing on a steamer, with hardly any effort.
Sources:
Due to the several revisions and editors of this site, the sources and author of this article is unknown.
