James Vila Blake

Short Name: James Vila Blake
Full Name: Blake, James Vila, 1842-1925
Birth Year: 1842
Death Year: 1925

Blake, James Vila. (Brooklyn, New York, January 21, 1842--April 28, 1925, Chicago, Illinois). He graduated from Harvard College in 1862 and from Harvard Divinity School in 1866, and served Unitarian churches in Massachusetts and Illinois, his last and longest pastorate being at Evanston, Illinois, 1892-1916.

Author of a number of books. He shared with W.G. Gannett and F.L. Hosmer in the compilation of the first edition of Unity Hymns and Chorals, (1880), which included his hymn, "Father, Thou art calling, calling to us plainly," included also in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937. the latter book also includes his hymn of the church universal, "O sing with loud and joyful song."

--Henry Wilder Foote, DNAH Archives

Wikipedia Biography

James Vila Blake (1842–1925) was an American Unitarian minister, essayist, playwright and hymn writer and poet. Blake was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 21, 1842. He graduated from Harvard College in 1862, and from Harvard Divinity School in 1866. He served as pastor in several Unitarian churches in Massachusetts and Illinois. He died in Chicago on April 28, 1925. Different sources give different, and inconsistent, dates for his pastorates: While pastor at Evanston, he penned a Covenant which has been adopted by many Unitarian Congregations:

Texts by James Vila Blake (10)sort descendingAsAuthority LanguagesInstances
As I kept watch beside my sheepJames V. Blake (Translator)English5
Father, Thou art calling, calling to us plainlyJames Vila Blake (Author)English6
Lord, the word is spoken nowJames Vila Blake (Author)English3
O never despair at the troubles of lifeJames Vila Blake (Author)English5
O sing with loud and joyful songJames Vila Blake (Author)English6
Praise ye the Lord, who is King of all power and gloryJames Vila Blake (Translator)English2
Standing on the shore at morningJames Vila Blake (Author)English5
The softened mold is brown and warmJ. V. Blake (Author)English6
To thee, O fatherlandJames Vila Blake (Author)English4
Welcome, welcome is the greetingJames Vila Blake (Author)English4

Data Sources

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