The SQ in the cache name above signifies Spirit Quest, a project
to distinguish those caches that are set in cemeteries or memorial
gardens. This is a good distinction to put on this type of cache
and would like to see it used here in Michigan. Please be
respectful of the area, and observe their rules and posted hours,
Only visit cemeteries dawn to dusk through out the state unless
other hours are posted, so that we do not end up like other states
that do not allow any caches placed in any cemeteries!
This cemetery hours are from dawn to dusk daily.
Palmer, Ray, D.D., son of the Hon. Thomas Palmer, a Judge
in Rhode Island, was born at Little Compton, Rhode Island, Nov. 12,
1808. His early life was spent at Boston, where he was for some
time clerk in a dry-goods store. At Boston he joined the Park
Street Congregational Church, then under the pastoral care of Dr.
S. E. Dwight. After spending three years at Phillips Academy,
Andover, he entered Yale College, New Haven, where he graduated in
1830. In 1835 he became pastor of the Central Congregational
Church, Bath, Maine. During his pastorate there he visited Europe
in 1847. In 1850 he was appointed to the First Congregational
Church, at Albany, New York, and in 1865 Corresponding Secretary to
the American Congregational Union, New York. He resigned in 1878,
and retired to Newark, New Jersey. He died at Newark, Mar. 29,
1887.
Most of Dr. Palmer's hymns have passed into congregational use,
and have won great acceptance. The best of them by their
combination of thought, poetry, and devotion, are superior to
almost all others of American origin. The first which he wrote has
become the most widely known of all. It is:—
My faith looks up to Thee. Faith in Christ. This hymn was
written by the author when fresh from College, and during an
engagement in teaching in New York. This was in 1830. The author
says concerning its composition, "I gave form to what I felt, by
writing, with little effort, the stanzas. I recollect I wrote them
with very tender emotion, and ended the last line with tears." A
short time afterwards the hymn was given to Dr. Lowell Mason for
use, if thought good, in a work then being compiled by him and Dr.
T. Hastings. In 1831 that work was published as Spiritual Songs for
Social Worship: adapted to the use of Families, &c. Words and
Music arranged by Thomas Hastings, of New York, and Lowell Mason of
Boston. It is No. 141 in 4 st. of 8 1., entitled "Self
Consecration," and accompanied with the tune by Dr. L. Mason, there
given as "My faith looks up to Thee, "but subsequently known as
Olivet. (Orig. text of hymn in Thring's Collection, 1882.) It has
passed into most modern collections in all English-speaking
countries, and has been rendered into numerous languages. That in
Latin, by H. M. Macgill (p. 708, ii.), begins "Fides Te mea
spectat."
While the nearby memorial for Rev. Ray Palmer only shows stanzas
1 & 3, it is actually four in total as follows:
My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Saviour divine!
Now hear me while I pray; Take all my guilt away; O let me from
this day Be wholly Thine.
May Thy rich grace impart Strength to my fainting heart, My zeal
inspire; As Thou hast died for me, O may my love to Thee Pure,
warm, and changeless be, A living fire.
While life's dark maze I tread, And griefs around me spread, Be
Thou my Guide; Bid darkness turn to day; Wipe sorrow's tears away;
Nor let me ever stray From Thee aside.
When ends life's transient dream, When death's cold, sullen
stream Shall o'er me roll, Blest Saviour, then, in love, Fear and
distrust remove; Oh, bear me save above, A ransom'd soul.
Ray Palmer wrote these words while employed as a teacher at a
private girls' school in New York. He had experienced a difficult
year of illness and loneliness and was inspired to write this verse
one night after meditating on a German poem that depicted a sinner
kneeling before the cross of Christ. He later stated, "The words
for these stanzas were born out of my own soul with very little
effort. I recall that 1 wrote the verses with tender emotion. . . .
When writing the last line, "O bear me safe above, a ransomed
soul!" the thought that the whole work of redemption and salvation
was involved in those words. . . brought me to a degree of emotion
that brought abundant tears."
Palmer jotted the text into a notebook, which he shared two
years later while visiting with the composer Lowell Mason (PHH 96)
in Boston. Mason's prophecy that Palmer "will be best known to
posterity as the author of 'My Faith Looks Up to Thee' " has
certainly come true. A hymn of prayer, this song asks for
forgiveness (st. 1), for purity of love (st. 2), for divine
guidance (st. 3), and for safe homecoming into glory (st. 4).
Stanzas 1 and 2 are popularly judged the best and the most useful.
The gloom of stanza 3 is similar to some Old Testament laments. The
Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee altered stanza 4 to capture a
more Reformed theology.
Palmer is often considered to be one of America's best
nineteenth-century hymn writers. After completing grammar school he
worked in a Boston dry goods store, but a religious awakening
prodded him to study for the ministry. He attended Yale College
(supporting himself by teaching) and was ordained in 1835. A pastor
in Congregational churches in Bath, Maine (1835-1850), and Albany,
New York (1850-1865), he also served as secretary of the American
Congregational Union (1865-1878). Palmer was a popular preacher and
author, writing original poetry as well as translating hymns. He
published several volumes of poetry and hymns, including Sabbath
Hymn BookHymns and Sacred Pieces (1865), and Hymns of My Holy Hours
(1868). His complete poetical works were published in 1876.
Liturgical Use:
Stanzas 1 and 2 are most useful in the service of confession and
forgiveness–stanza 1 can initiate the confession; stanza 2
can be a response to words of forgiveness and assurance. Stanzas 3
and 4 are prayers for guidance as the Christian continues the
pilgrimage toward glory.
Congratulations to the following:
FTF:
The Frito Bandito
STF:
Tonybrost (AKA TEAM "B")
TTF:
BubbaM &
Ol' Thunder
