Joel Barlow

Barlow, Joel, born at Reading, Connecticut, 1755 [sic], graduated at Yale 1778, and died near Cracow, Poland, 1812, He was well known as an author and politician during and after the American Revolution. His publications include Hasty Pudding; Columbia, &c. In 1785, at the request of the (Congregational) General Association of Connecticut, he corrected and enlarged Dr. Watts's Psalms, supplying those omitted by Watts, and adapting the whole to American thought and circumstances. This work, published in 1786, went through various editions, and, although officially superseded by Dwight in 1800, it continued to be issued for many years after. Its title is somewhat curious as setting forth its design. It reads:— Psalms carefully suited to the Christian Worship in the United States of America, being Dr. Watts’ Imitation of the Psalms of David, as improved by Mr. Barlow. Of his renderings of the Psalms, there are still in common use:—
1. Awake, my soul, to sound His praise. Ps. cviii. This is No. 233 in Hatfield's Church Hymn Book, 1872, and other collections.
2. Lord,Thou hast scourged our guilty land. Ps. lx. Altered from Watts. Also in Hatfield's Church Hymn Book, No. 1312.
3. Our land, O Lord, with songs of praise. Ps. xxxi . In the Philadelphia Presbyterian Hymnal, 1874.
4. In Thee, great God, with songs of praise. National Hymn. This is No. 3 in a slightly different form. It is No. 962 in N. Adams's Church Pastorals, Boston, 1804. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.]

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)