Enchiridion: Michael Bruce and John Logan

The Enchiridion

Michael Bruce and John Logan

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Michael Bruce and John Logan: Summary of the arguments for and against the attribution of some of John Logan's poems and hymns to Michael Bruce: transcribed from Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, pp.187-8.

[ For a riposte in defence of Logan's authorship by Wm Tidd Matson, click here > > > ]

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1. Bruce is known to have written hymns for a singing class in Kinnesswood as early as 1764.

1. Logan then 16 years of age, and not known to have written anything to that date.

2. Bruce died 1767, and his father handed his MSS to Logan, at Logan's request, for publication.

2. Logan acknowledged this by publishing, in 1770, Poems on Several Occasions, by M.Bruce, containing 17 poems. Some of these (not distinctly marked as such) he said were by others.

3. Bruce's father on receiving the volume, and not finding the "Gospel Sonnnets," as he called his son's hymns, wrote to Logan for an explanation.

3. Logan did not reply.

4. The father visited Logan, and demanded his son's MS. back.

4. Logan replied, first that he could not find it, and then that he feared "that the servants had singed fowls with it."

5. Immediately on the publication of Logan's Poems the three hymns following were identified by educated personal friends of Bruce as his, such identification being by actual quotations of stanzas:

1. "Few are thy days and full of woe."

2. "O happy is the man who hears."

3. "Behold the mountain of the Lord."

5. About 11 years after, i.e. in 1781, Logan published his Poems, in which were given eleven hymns as his own.

6. In addition, these claims were corroborated by the members of the singing class at Kinnesswood, his family, and his neighbours, to whom they were familiar, before seen in print.

6. Logan knew his authorship was thus disputed, but took no pains to vindicate his honesty.

These three hymns we [sc. Julian] therefore assign without reservation to M.Bruce.

ii. A second series of hymns which are claimed, on the one hand for M.Bruce and on the other for J.Logan, have caused, from the somewhat indefinite character of the evidence brought forward on both sides, some angry comments on the part of editors and controversialists. The sum of the argument is this:

1. Bruce is known to have written hymns, other than the three given above, for the singing class at Kinneswood.

1. This is not denied by Logan or his friends.

2. These, in common with all his Poetical Pieces, were written in the same MS. volume as the three above, and with them were handed to J.Logan for publication by Bruce's father.

2. This also is not denied.

3. In common with the three hymns they were omitted from the volume of Bruce's Poetical Works, but included with them by Logan in his Poems, 1781, as his own.

3. Admitted by Logan's friends.

4. These on their publication were claimed by Bruce's brother James as hymns known to him for years as the lost hymns of his brother Michael, and this was supported by the common consent of the Kinnesswood singing class, and many other intimate friends of M.Bruce.

4. Admitted; but for Logan it must be pointed out that from the beginning of the controversy none of these witnesses are brought forward as giving one single line of any one of those hymns (as was done with the three before noted) as evidence that they had known the hymns before they were in print. The statements are thus general, and not particular, and consist more of personal impressions than of definite and positive statements of facts.

5. Notwithstanding this indefinite- ness, there is no positive evidence on the other side save that the hymns were printed in a volume of poetry which Logan claimed as his own.

6. Failing to find any evidence other than this on behalf of Logan, we must give the following hymns to M.Bruce, although his claims lack the clear and definite character of the three given before:-

4. "When Jesus by the Virgin brought."

known as - "Just and devout old Simeon lived."

5. "Almighty Father of Mankind."

6. "Behold th'Ambassador divine."

known as - "Behold my Servant, see Him rise."

7. "Messiah! At Thy glad approach."

8. "Where high the heavenly temple stands."

iii. A third series of hymns, the Bruce or Logan authorship of which has been a matter of much dispute, appeared for the first time in the Translations and Paraphrases of 1781, and are not found in Logan's Poems of the same year. These, in common with the other Translations and Paraphrases, were given anonymously. Those which had previously appeared in Logan's Poems, and, in some cases, in another and better form, were at once recognised as the hymns of the singing class at Kinnesswood; but those which, in addition, are given in W.Cameron's list to Logan were not so claimed at the time by friend or enemy. The claim upon these hymns as the work of Bruce was only made when it was found that Logan had given them to the Committee of the 1781 Translations and Paraphrases, and this apparently on the ground that a man who had confessedly stolen so much must necessarily have stolen all. This we cannot allow. On the evidence, therefore, that no claim was made by Bruce's family and friends to the Bruce authorship of anything outside of Logan's Poems; that the following were first published in the Translations and Paraphrases of 1781; that at first their authorship was unknown to the general public and unclaimed by anyone; and that it was only when Logan's claims to the authorship was made known that the counter-claim for Bruce was set up: we hold that, until clearer evidence is brought forward on behalf of Bruce, the hymns, or paraphrases, following must be ascribed to J.Logan: -

9. "Who can resist th' Almighty arm."

10. "In streets and op'nings of the gates."

11. "Thus speaks the heathen. How shall man."

12. "Take comfor, Christians, when your friends."

13. "The hour of my departure's come."

We feel some reluctance in giving the last of these hymns to Logan, but with the evidence before us we cannot do otherwise. Internal evidence is in favour of Bruce, and the sentiments are natural to one who knew he was about to die. Beyond this, for Bruce, there is no evidence; and to Logan, as the defendant, we must give the benefit of the doubt.

iv. The following, which are found only in the Translations and Paraphrases of 1781, are claimed by W.Cameron for Logan, and have never ben seriously disputed by the friends of Bruce, the second being original, the first a revise from the Translations and Paraphrases of 1745; and the third a revise of Doddridge and Dr Hugh Blair: -

14. "Let Christian faith and hope dispel."

15. "Thus speaks the high and lofty one."

16. "What though no flowers the fig-tree clothe."

In addition, we see no cause to deny to Logan the few changes, and new stanza, which are found in Doddridge's -

17. "O God of Bethel, by Whose hand."

v. Of the above hymns 5 are recasts of hymns in the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases of 1745. Those are: "Behold the mountain of the Lord" (see "In latter days the mount of God"); "When Jesus by the Virgin brought" (see "Now let Thy servant die in peace"); "Behold the Ambassador divine" (see "Behold my Servant, see Him rise"; "Let Christian faith and hope dispel" (see "Now let our souls ascend above"; and "What though no flowers the fig-tree clothe" (see "So firm the saints' foundation stands").

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(The Rejoice & Sing Enchiridion:edited by David Goodall; last amended 5/8/02)

1. Bruce is known to have written hymns for a singing class in Kinnesswood as early as 1764.	1. Logan then 16 years of age, and not known to have written anything to that date.
2. Bruce died 1767, and his father handed his MSS to Logan, at Logan's request, for publication.	2. Logan acknowledged this by publishing, in 1770, Poems on Several Occasions, by M.Bruce, containing 17 poems. Some of these (not distinctly marked as such) he said were by others.
3. Bruce's father on receiving the volume, and not finding the "Gospel Sonnnets," as he called his son's hymns, wrote to Logan for an explanation.	3. Logan did not reply.
4. The father visited Logan, and demanded his son's MS. back.	4. Logan replied, first that he could not find it, and then that he feared "that the servants had singed fowls with it."
5. Immediately on the publication of Logan's Poems the three hymns following were identified by educated personal friends of Bruce as his, such identification being by actual quotations of stanzas: 1. "Few are thy days and full of woe." 2. "O happy is the man who hears." 3. "Behold the mountain of the Lord."	5. About 11 years after, i.e. in 1781, Logan published his Poems, in which were given eleven hymns as his own.
6. In addition, these claims were corroborated by the members of the singing class at Kinnesswood, his family, and his neighbours, to whom they were familiar, before seen in print.	6. Logan knew his authorship was thus disputed, but took no pains to vindicate his honesty.

1. Bruce is known to have written hymns, other than the three given above, for the singing class at Kinneswood.	1. This is not denied by Logan or his friends.
2. These, in common with all his Poetical Pieces, were written in the same MS. volume as the three above, and with them were handed to J.Logan for publication by Bruce's father.	2. This also is not denied.
3. In common with the three hymns they were omitted from the volume of Bruce's Poetical Works, but included with them by Logan in his Poems, 1781, as his own.	3. Admitted by Logan's friends.
4. These on their publication were claimed by Bruce's brother James as hymns known to him for years as the lost hymns of his brother Michael, and this was supported by the common consent of the Kinnesswood singing class, and many other intimate friends of M.Bruce.	4. Admitted; but for Logan it must be pointed out that from the beginning of the controversy none of these witnesses are brought forward as giving one single line of any one of those hymns (as was done with the three before noted) as evidence that they had known the hymns before they were in print. The statements are thus general, and not particular, and consist more of personal impressions than of definite and positive statements of facts.
5. Notwithstanding this indefinite- ness, there is no positive evidence on the other side save that the hymns were printed in a volume of poetry which Logan claimed as his own.
6. Failing to find any evidence other than this on behalf of Logan, we must give the following hymns to M.Bruce, although his claims lack the clear and definite character of the three given before:- 4. "When Jesus by the Virgin brought." known as - "Just and devout old Simeon lived." 5. "Almighty Father of Mankind." 6. "Behold th'Ambassador divine." known as - "Behold my Servant, see Him rise." 7. "Messiah! At Thy glad approach." 8. "Where high the heavenly temple stands."