Edward Wilton Eddis

Edward Wilton Eddis was a poet and prophet in the Catholic Apostolic Church at Westminster, London and co-author of the Hymns for the Use of the Churches, the hymnal of the Catholic Apostolic Church.

Life

Edward Wilton Eddis was born on 10 May 1825 in Islington as the last of the five children of Eden Eddis and Clementia Parker. His eldest brother was the portrait artist Eden Upton Eddis. The other three were: Clementia Esther Eddis, Arthur Shelly Eddis and Henry William Eddis. Edward Wilton Eddis married Ellen Sheppard in the late 1840s or the beginning of the 1850s and they had four children:
Ellen M. Eddis, Wilton Clement Eddis, Marion Elizabeth Eddis and Ethel Shearman Eddis. Given the places of birth of his children and the places of death of his wife, he married Ellen Sheppard before 1854 and the family must have moved to Australia in the late 1860s or the 1870s. Edward Wilton Eddis survived three of his children.
E.W. Eddis was a member of the Catholic Apostolic Church and he was appointed as a prophet by its Westminster congregation. He probably became a member of the church before 1850 as he wrote in 1851 his collection of poetry entitled The Time of the End and Other Poems, a collection that was in line with catholic apostolic church thought. Around 1860, Edward Wilton Eddis and John George Francis had a theological dispute with John Ross Dix when the latter published The New Apostles; or, Irvingism, its history, doctrines, and practices in 1860, an attack on the Catholic Apostolic Church.
In his activities for the Catholic and Apostolic Church Eddis edited together with John Bate Cardale the Hymns for the Use of the Churches, the first Catholic Apostolic Hymnal:. After moving to Australia, Edward Wilton Eddis was one of the 11 clergy operating for the Catholic Apostolic Church in Melbourne in the 1880s and 1890s. To this group of clergy also belonged Robert Appleton, George Clark, William Hinscliff, John Kirkhope, William Miller, William Patten, R G Suter, Edward Tucker, Percy Whitestone, and William Wilson. On 18 October 1905, E.W. Eddis died in Toronto.

Hymns for the Use of the Churches

A committee consisting of at least Edward Wilton Eddis and John Bate Cardale, Apostle for England in the Catholic Apostolic Church, compiled the first and only official hymn-book of the Catholic Apostolic Church for the use of their congregations, and published it in 1864 with the title Hymns for the Use of the Churches.
This hymnal was intended for use in public worship of the Church and in private devotional exercises. However, the hymns with respect to the holy communion and the eucharist, were to be used in the Communion exclusively. The 1864 edition contained 205 hymns, of which nineteen were his original poems, and two translations. The was a revised and enlarged edition with 320 hymns and 44 doxologies. It was published in 1871. To this E.W. Eddis contributed forty new hymns and one translation, thus making 62 hymns by E.W. Eddis. The third edition of the Hymns for the Use of the Churches appeared in 1875 and also contains 320 hymns and 44 doxologies; it is a reprint of that of 1871 with a few verbal alterations. Most of the hymntexts were taken from other hymnals and sometimes slightly altered:

, 1861 edition compiled by William Henry Monk
1870 edition compiled by John Mason Neale
, 1862 edition compiled by John Mason Neale
, 1855 edition compiled by Catherine Winkworth
, 1854 edition compiled by Jane Laurie Borthwick
, 1879 edition compiled by Robert Hall Baynes
written by Gerard Moultrie
the People's Hymnal
John Henry Newman
Laurence Tuttiett

Compared to the Hymns Ancient and Modern, which first appeared in 1861, a comparable set of hymn-books and individual hymns was used to compile the Hymns for the Use of the Churches. A difference lays in the alterations towards premillennialism and the contribution of original hymns phrasing catholic apostolic thought, mainly provided by Edward Wilton Eddis. Four of Eddis' hymns were taken from and appeared in the Hymns for the Use of the Churches in an abbreviated and/or altered form:

Thou givest us the Bread of Life
Tis not by power or might
Thou know’st our sorrows
It is not yet the glory-day

Only some of Eddis' hymns are found in other hymnbooks such as
, and
Besides Edward Wilton Eddis, also other writers provided hymn texts. Some of them only appended their initials to their newly written hymns and translations, as they declined to give their name to the public. The initials of those contributors were: C., C.E., C.E.E., E., E.E., E.H., E.S., E.O., F.R., F.F., F.W., H., J.E.L., L., L.E.L., L.W., M.E.A., M.S., R.F.L. and S.A. For some it is known to which persons these initials correspond:

E.E.: Ellen Eddis-Shepherd, E.W. Eddis' wife
E.H.: Eliza Heath, probably member of the Catholic Apostolic Church as she was the sister of, apostles' coadjutor, and Herbert Heath, angel in the Catholic Apostolic Church
E., C.E. and C.E.E. seem to indicate members of his family; given the initials C.E. and C.E.E. probably refer to Clementia Esther Eddis
E.O.: ; Edward Osler contributed another hymn
F.F.:, member of the Catholic Apostolic Church
J.E.L.: Jane Eliza Leeson, member of the Catholic Church later in life. For many years, she was active in the Catholic Apostolic Church and she contributed nine hymns and translations to the Hymns for the Use of the Churches.
L.: Richard Frederick Littledale
L.E.L.: Letitia Elizabeth Landon
R.F.L.: Richard Frederick Littledale, a close friend to John Mason Neale

The Hymns for the Use of the Churches contained a series of hymns translated from Greek and Latin. As such, this was a custom that was practiced in the Oxford Movement as well. From John Mason Neale, who was affected by the Oxford Movement, 16 translations were included in the second edition of the Hymns for the Use of the Churches. Much Catholic Apostolic teaching reflects the revival of catholic tradition within the Anglican Church, largely initiated by the parallel Oxford Movement, though it is difficult to determine the precise extent of direct influence of one upon the other – Columba Graham Flegg suggests that this was slighter than often supposed.
The Hymns for the Use of the Churches, however, only provided hymntexts, no music. In 1872, Edmund Hart Turpin, organist of the central church on Gordon Square, helped to bridge this gap by publishing the Hymn Tunes. For each of the 320 hymns in the 1871 edition of the Hymns for the Use of the Churches it contains a tune without the lyrics. Furthermore, it provides four metrical chants, one of which was written by Edmund Hart Turpin. Most of the hymn tunes were taken from other hymnbooks such as the Hymns Ancient and Modern. In total 39 tunes were newly written by Edmund Hart Turpin. The musical style of the Hymn Tunes is comparable to that of the Hymns Ancient and Modern, the famous hymnal which resulted out of the Oxford Movement in 1861. A comparison of the Hymn tunes with the Hymns for the Use of the Churches shows that most of these new tunes were to support the hymns of Edward Wilton Eddis.

Books

The True Revival of the Church of Christ, and her hope in the last days. A letter, addressed to a Clergyman, with reference to a book entitled "The New Apostles", Bosworth & Harrison Hymns for the Use of the Churches: first edition in 1864 published by Bosworth & Harrison in London,, third edition published by Chiswick Press, London in 1875, fourth edition published by T. Bosworth in 1883, a fifth edition in 1884, the 9th edition in 1898 and the 17th edition by Chiswick Press in 1900. The edition of 1900 was numbered differently than the earlier editions.

''The Log of Yorkshire: a narrative poem, covering the voyage from England to Australia of the Yorkshire from 4 December 1873 to 23 February 1874''

Hymns and translations

In the as well as the third edition of 1875, the following hymns and translations of E.W. Eddis were published:
Hymns

Almighty Father, let Thy love
Angel of God, true Numberer, great High Priest
Be present, O our Saviour, in this shrine
Blessed are they that wait for Him
Come, ever-blessed Lord: Thy hand is sealing
Eye hath not seen Thy glory; Thou alone
Father of lights, Almighty! Thine alone
Father, Thy Holy Name be blest
First-born of all creation
First must Thy Name be 'Jesus'
Fountain of life and honour, oh! Inspire
From Thine eternal temple
Grant unto us, O Lamb of God, to be
High Priest of God, whose blessing
It is nog yet the glory-day
Jesu! Eternal Shepherd, by Thy rod
Jeus, our Prince and Saviour
Lord Jesu Christ, Thou standest
Lord of the bounteous harvest!
O fill us, Lord of life and love
O God of God, our Saviour
O Infinite Creator
O Jesu! Rock of Zion
O King of peace, who standest
O merciful High Priest! Thine almond rod
O merciful Redeemer, Thou hast worn
O Saviour, Thine elect and early sheaf
O Saviour! Though the darkness
Once from the throne Thou camest forth
Shepherd of Israel, still dost Thou abide
Six month with myrrh for cleansing
Spirit of Christ, Thou speakest
Still in the days of famine
Still in Thy quiet garden
Strangers and pilgrims, O ascended Lord
Suffer the little ones to come
The doors are shut: from earthly fear and strife
The Dove from heaven went forth alone
The Lamb is slain! And on the holy door
The silent veil was o’er Thee: thirty years
The voices of the morning!
There is a fire in Zion
Thine angels sang rejoicing at Thy birth
Thine is the living shield, the sword of light
Thine is the vein for silver
Thou givest us the Bread of Life
Thou in Thy holy mountain
Thou know’st our sorrows
Thou wast the Morning Lamb, Lord Jesu Christ
Thou wentest forth with weeping
Thy grave, Almighty Father
Thy hand alone can write
Thy throne is set in heaven
Thye work was sorrow: Thou hast borne alone
Tis not by power or might
Write Thy Father’s Name upon us

Translations

O Blest Creator of the stars : translation of Creator alme siderum
O holy, holy, Feast of life Divine : translation of ''O sacrum, sacrum convivium''