Son of Meth­od­ist min­is­ter Will­iam H. Gil­der, Hen­ry at­tend­ed his fa­ther’s sem­in­ary in Flush­ing, New York, and lat­er stu­died Greek and He­brew un­der Dr. James Strong. He served as a pri­vate in the Amer­i­can ci­vil war, and worked on the rail­road (1864-5). He lat­er worked for news­pa­pers in New­ark, New Jer­sey, and on the New York month­ly mag­a­zine Hours at Home. He be­came as­so­ci­ate ed­it­or of Scrib­ner’s Month­ly in 1870, and ed­it­or-in-chief in 1881. He re­ceived hon­o­ra­ry Doc­tor of Laws de­gree­ from sev­er­al un­i­ver­si­ties. His po­et­ic­al works in­clude:

• The New Day, 1875
• Lyrics, 1885
• Two Worlds, 1891
• Po­ems and Inscriptions, 1901
• In the Heights, 1905

Sources

Hymns

1. God of the Strong, God of the Weak
2. In Myriad Forms, by Myriad Names
3. To Thee, Eternal Soul, Be Praise!
4. Through Love to Light