His hymn, like the two preceding, antedates the great Missionary Movement by many years.
O'er the gloomy hills of darkness Look my soul! be still, and gaze! See the promises advancing To a glorious Day of grace! Blessed Jubilee, Let thy glorious morning dawn!
Let the dark, benighted pagan, Let the rude barbarian see That divine and glorious conquest Once obtained on Calvary. Let the Gospel Loud resound from pole to pole.
This song of anticipation has dropped out of the modern hymnals, but the last stanza lingers in many memories.
Fly abroad, thou mighty Gospel! Win and conquer, never cease; May thy lasting wide dominion Multiply and still increase. Sway Thy scepter, Saviour, all the world around!
Oftener than any other the music of "Zion" has been the expression of William Williams' Missionary Hymn. It was composed by Thomas Hastings, in Washington, Ct., 1830.
Hasten, Lord, the glorious time When beneath Messiah's sway Every nation, every clime Shall the Gospel call obey. Mightiest kings its power shall own, Heathen tribes His name adore, Satan and his host o'erthrown Bound in chains shall hurt no more.
Miss Harriet Auber, the author of this melodious hymn, was a daughter of James Auber of London, and was born in that city, Oct. 4, 1773. After leaving London she led a secluded life at Broxbourne and Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire, writing devotional poetry and sacred songs and paraphrases.
Her _Spirit of the Psalms_, published in 1829, was a collection of lyrics founded on the Biblical Psalms. "Hasten Lord," etc., is from Ps. 72, known for centuries to Christendom as one of the Messianic Psalms. Her best-known hymns have the same inspiration, as--
Miss Auber died in Hoddesdon, Jan. 20, 1862. She lived to witness and sympathise with the pioneer missionary enterprise of the 19th century, and, although she could not stand among the leaders of the battle-line in extending the conquest of the world for Christ, she was happy in having written a campaign hymn which they loved to sing. (It is curious that so pains-taking a work as Julian's _Dictionary of Hymns and Hymn-writers_ credits "With joy we hail the sacred day" to both Miss Auber and Henry Francis Lyte. Coincidences are known where different hymns by different authors begin with the same line; and in this case one writer was dead before the other's works were published. Possibly the collector may have seen a forgotten hymn of Lyte's, with that first line.)