Robert Lowry

During the following 45 years he held a number of pastorates in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Between 1869 and 1875 he combined his pastoral work with a professorship in rhetoric at his alma mater, and later served as the university's chancellor. From 1868 he acted as hymnals editor to Biglow and Main, the country's leading publisher of gospel and Sunday School music; under his supervision more than 20 hymnals were produced by the firm, many of wide and enduring popularity. Despite his protestations that preaching was his main vocation and that music was merely a sideline, it is as a hymnwriter that Lowry is chiefly remembered, ranking with such as W. Doane and Ira D. Sankey as one of the originators of a musical tradition that has lasted until the modern era of revival.

• Name — Robert Lowry • Born — 12 March 1826 • Birthplace — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. • Died — 25 November 1899 • Place of death — Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S. • Occupation — Baptist minister, hymn writer

Robert Lowry was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 12, 1826. He was the son of Crozier Lowry, who had emigrated from Ulster, in the north of Ireland in the early part of the 19th century. In 1843, when he was 17, Robert underwent an experience of religious conversion. As a result he left the Associate Presbyterian Church of North America, his parents' church, and joined the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, where he worked enthusiastically as a Sunday School teacher and chorister. In 1848 Lowry was encouraged by his pastor, The Rev. Geo. B. Ide, D.D., to prepare for a life's work in the Christian ministry. With this end in view, Lowry began studies at the University at Lewisburg (now Bucknell University). The university was then newly chartered, and its lack of premises meant that classes were held in the basement of the Baptist church. By this time Lowry was building a reputation both as a preacher and hymn-writer, and he displayed his talents by organizing the college choir and teaching music to his fellow-students. In 1854 he graduated with the highest honors, and in the same year was ordained into the Baptist ministry. Also in that year he married Anna Rhees Loxley.

Lowry began his ministry in 1854, at the First Baptist church in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He remained there until 1858, when he moved to the pastorate of the Bloomingdale Baptist church, in New York. After two years there he moved to Brooklyn, where he transferred his ministry to the Hanson Place Baptist church in 1861. Although he considered preaching as his principal vocation, Lowry continued to write hymns and compose music. In 1864, while at Hanson Place, he wrote and composed what became perhaps his best-known hymn, "Shall We Gather at the River". He wrote this during a heatwave which accompanied an epidemic in the city which claimed many lives. Almost overcome by the heat, he suddenly envisaged the passage in the Book of Revelation, chapter 22: "And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb". Despite its popularity, Lowry did not regard the hymn highly: "It is brass band music, has a march movement, and for that reason has become popular, though for myself I do not think much of it." Also while at Hanson Place, in 1867, Lowry composed the tune to Isaac Watts's hymn "Marching to Zion". He had produced his first hymn anthology, Happy Voices (in which "Shall We Gather" first appeared) in 1865, and followed this in 1868 with Gospel Melodies. In 1868, the New York music publishers Biglow & Main, who had taken over the hymn publishing activities of William Batchelder Bradbury, who had died, approached Lowry with the proposal that he step into Bradbury's role as hymnals editor. Initially Lowry was opposed to the idea, afraid that it might affect his pastoral and preaching work, but was persuaded. During the following 30 years, often in conjunction with hymnwriters such as W. H. Doane and Ira D. Sankey, Lowry oversaw the production of more than 20 hymnals. After eight years at Hanson Place, in 1869 Lowry was persuaded by Dr. Loomis, president of the University at Lewisburg, to return to the town in the dual capacity of Professor of Rhetoric at the university and pastor of the new Lewisburg Baptist church. He lived at the southern end of University Avenue, the building now known as Robert Lowry House. The church was dedicated in June 1870; Lowry's skillful oratory was instrumental in persuading the congregation, by no means a prosperous group, to subscribe $10,000 towards meeting the church's construction debt. Amid his various duties, Lowry continued to write hymns and compose tunes to existing words. In 1872 he wrote the tune to Annie S. Hawks's hymn "I Need Thee Every Hour", and in 1874 wrote the words and music for "Christ Arose!" ("Low In The Grave He Lay"). In 1875 Lowry was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) by Lewisburg. In that year he decided to relinquish his professorship, and take up the pastorate at the Park Avenue Church in Plainfield, New Jersey. On leaving Lewisburg, Lowry accepted the honorary position of chancellor of the university. Also in 1875 he provided the music to Fanny Crosby's hymn "All the Way My Savior Leads Me", one of many co-operations with the prolific Crosby. In 1876 he wrote and composed another of his best-known works: "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus".

In 1880 Lowry took a break from his pastoral duties at Plainfield and visited Europe. His health at this time was deteriorating, and he suffered from increasing deafness. In 1885, feeling the need for a longer rest, he resigned his ministry. After travels in the south and west of the country, and in Mexico, he returned to Plainfield much refreshed, and resumed his pastoral work. Lowry was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, and in 1888 was invested as its national president for a two-year term, in succession to Governor Joseph B. Foraker. In 1890 his wife Anna died; two years later Lowry married Mary Jane Runyon. In 1894 he provided a memorial hymn to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lewisburg Baptist church. Lowry continued to live and work in Plainfield until his death, on November 25, 1899. He was buried at Hillside Cemetery in Plainfield. The eulogist summarized Lowry's life and work thus: "His melodies and songs were but the expression of the man’s heart and his character, and they attracted all to him".