life was closely paralleled in many respects by another great
hymn-writer who lived in the same period. His name was Sir Robert Grant.
He was born two years later than the gifted missionary bishop and, like
Heber, died in India. Although he did not enter the service of the Church
but engaged in secular pursuits, he was a deeply spiritual man and his
hymns bear testimony of an earnest, confiding faith in Christ. Between
his hymns and those of Heber there is a striking similarity. The language
is chaste and exalted. The rhythm is faultless. The lines are chiseled as
perfectly as a cameo. The imagery is almost startling in its grandeur.
Take, for example, a stanza from his magnificent hymn, "O worship the
King":

O tell of His might, and sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space;
His chariots of wrath the deep thunder-clouds form,
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.

There is something beautifully tender in that other hymn of Grant's in
which he reveals childlike trust in Christ:

When gathering clouds around I view,
And days are dark, and friends are few,
On Him I lean, who, not in vain,
Experienced every human pain;
He sees my wants, allays my fears,
And counts and treasures up my tears.

Nor would we forget his other famous hymn, "Saviour, when in dust to
Thee," based on the Litany. When we learn that the man who wrote these
hymns was never engaged in religious pursuits, but that his whole life
was crowded with arduous tasks and great responsibilities in filling high
government positions, we have reason to marvel.

Sir Robert Grant was born in the county of Inverness, Scotland, in 1785.
His father was a member of Parliament and a director of the East India
Company. The son also was trained for political life, and, after
graduating from Cambridge University in 1806, he began the practice of
law. In 1826 he was elected to Parliament, five years later became privy
counselor, and in 1834 he was named governor of Bombay. He died at
Dapoorie, in western India, in 1838.

While a member of Parliament, Sir Robert introduced a bill to remove the
restrictions imposed upon the Jews. The historian Macaulay made his
maiden speech in Parliament in support of this measure.

Brief mention should also be made here of another of Bishop Heber's
contemporaries who gained undying fame by a great hymn. He was John
Marriott, a minister of the Church of England,