Born: Cir­ca 1680, Shep­ton Mall­et, Som­er­set­shire, Eng­land.

Died: 1732, Shep­ton Mall­et, Som­er­set­shire, Eng­land.

Buried: Meeting house, Shep­ton Mall­et, Som­er­set­shire, Eng­land.

After stu­dy­ing for the min­is­try un­der John Moore of Bridge­wa­ter, Browne be­came pas­tor of an In­de­pen­dent church in Ports­mouth, then, in 1716, of the In­de­pen­dent Cha­pel in Old Jew­ry, Lon­don. His la­ter years were cloud­ed by a peculiar de­lu­sion in which “he imag­ined that God had in a grad­u­al man­ner an­ni­hil­at­ed in him the think­ing sub­stance, and ut­ter­ly di­vest­ed him of con­scious­ness.” How­ev­er, he was still a pro­di­gious writ­er, pro­duc­ing 20 pub­li­ca­tions, in­clud­ing:

• A Sett of Tunes, circa 1720
• Hymns and Spir­it­u­al Songs, in Three Books, De­signed as a Sup­ple­ment to Dr. Watts, 1720, 1741, 1760

Sources

Hymns

1. Come, Ho­ly Spirit, Heavenly Dove
2. Eternal God, Almighty Cause
3. Eternal God, of Beings First
4. Frequent the Day of God Returns
5. Great God, My Joyful Thanks to Thee
6. Great God, Thy Peerless Excellence
7. Great Lord of Earth and Seas and Skies
8. Great Ruler of the Earth and Sky
9. Hail, Happy Day, the Day of Ho­ly Rest
10. Hail, Ho­ly Spirit, Bright, Immortal Dove
11. I Cannot Shun the Stroke of Death
12. Lord, at Thy Feet We Sinners Lie
13. Lord, Thou Art Good; All Nature Shows
14. Lord, What a Feeble Frame Is Ours
15. O God, on Thee We All Depend
16. Shine Forth, O Sun of Boundless Love
17. Yes, Lord, My Joyful Thanks to Thee

Music

1. Dorchester
2. Isle of Wight