Reginald Heber
Overview
Reginald Heber was the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

's Bishop of Calcutta
Bishop of Calcutta
The Bishop of Calcutta exercises episcopal leadership over the Diocese of Calcutta of the Church of North India. The diocese was established in 1813 as part of the Church of England and the first bishop was Thomas Fanshawe Middleton and the second Reginald Heber...

 (a bishopric now part of the Church of North India
Church of North India
The Church of North India , the dominant Protestant denomination in northern India, is a united church established on 29 November 1970 by bringing together the main Protestant churches working in northern India...

) who is now remembered chiefly as a hymn-writer.
Heber was born at Malpas
Malpas, Cheshire
Malpas is a large village which used to be a market town, and it is also a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The parish lies on the border with Shropshire and Wales...

 in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

. His father, who belonged to an old Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 family, held half the living of Malpas.

Reginald Heber showed remarkable promise, and in November 1800 entered Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...

, where he proved a distinguished student, carrying off prizes for a Latin poem entitled Carmen seculare, an English poem on Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

, and a prose essay on The Sense of Honour.

In November 1804, he was elected a fellow of All Souls'
All Souls College, Oxford
The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....

.
Quotations

By cool Siloam's shady rillHow sweet the lily grows!

"First Sunday After Epiphany", no. 2 (1812)

Though every great prospect pleases,And only man is vile.

"Missionary Hymn", st. 2 (1819)

The heathen in his blindnessBows down to wood and stone.

"Missionary Hymn", st. 2 (1819)

Failed the bright promise of your early day.

"Palestine".

No hammers fell, no ponderous axes rung;Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung. Majestic silence!

"Palestine"; this was altered in later editions to: "No workman’s steel, no ponderous axes rung, Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung".

When Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil.

"Seventh Sunday after Trinity"

Beneath our feet and o'er our head Is equal warning given: Beneath us lie the countless dead, Above us is the heaven! Death rides on every passing breeze, And lurks in every flower; Each season has its own disease, Its peril every hour.

"At a Funeral", No. I

 
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