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Home  »  The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century  »  Richard Massie (1800–1887)

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

By Critical and Biographical Essay by Alfred H. Miles

Richard Massie (1800–1887)

RICHARD MASSIE (1800–1887) did good service to English hymnody by translating hymns from the German. He published translations of Martin Luther’s “Spiritual Songs” (1854); “Lyra Domestica” (first series, 1860), in which he included translations of the first series of Spitta’s “Psalter and Harfe”; and vol. ii. (1864), containing translations of Spitta’s second series, with an appendix of translations from other German authors; besides which he contributed translations to various hymnals. Of his original hymns, one of the most popular is the one commencing,—

  • O Lord, who taught to us on earth
  • This lesson from above,
  • That all our works are nothing worth,
  • Unless they spring from love.
  • The following is a favourable specimen of his translations.