Lowry at­tend­ed the Un­i­ver­si­ty at Lew­isb­urg (later re­named Buck­nell Un­i­ver­si­ty), where he be­came a pro­fess­or of lit­er­a­ture. He was or­dained as a Bap­tist min­is­ter and pas­tored at West Ches­ter, Penn­syl­van­ia; Bloom­ing­dale Bap­tist Church, New York Ci­ty; Han­son Place Bap­tist Church, Brook­lyn, New York; First Bap­tist Church, Lew­is­burg, Penn­syl­vania; and Park Ave­nue Bap­tist Church, Plain­field, New Jer­sey. He al­so worked as a mu­sic ed­i­tor at the Big­low Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, and helped found the Sixth Av­e­nue Bap­tist Church in New York Ci­ty. He wrote about 500 Gos­pel tunes, and join­tly ed­ited the fol­low­ing vol­umes:

• Happy Voic­es, 1865
• Gospel Mel­o­dies, 1868
• Bright Jew­els (New York: Big­low & Main, 1869)
• Pure Gold, 1871
• Royal Di­a­dem, 1873
• Temple An­thems, 1873
• Hymn Ser­vice, 1871, 1872 & 1873
• Royal Diadem for the Sun­day School, with How­ard Doane (New York: Big­low & Main: 1873)
• Tidal Wave, 1874
• Brightest and Best, with How­ard Doane (New York: Big­low & Main: 1875)
• Welcome Tid­ings: A New Col­lect­ion of Sac­red Songs for the Sun­day School (with How­ard Doane & Ira Sank­ey) (New York: Big­low & Main, 1877)
• Chautauqua Car­ols, 1878
• Gospel Hymn and Tune Book, with How­ard Doane (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: 1879)
• Hymn Ser­vice for the Sun­day School, with How­ard Doane, D. A. Whe­don & John H. Vin­cent (New York: Big­low & Main: 1879)
• Good as Gold, with How­ard Doane (New York: Big­low & Main: 1880)
• Our Glad Ho­san­nas, 1882
• Joyful Lays (with How­ard Doane) (New York: Big­low & Main,1884)
• The Glad Re­frain (with How­ard Doane) (New York: Big­low & Main, 1886)
• Select Gems (with How­ard Doane) (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Amer­i­can Bap­tist Pub­li­ca­tion So­ci­et­y, 1889)

Sources

Hymns

1. Angel’s Song, The
2. Chorus of Fire
3. How Can I Keep from Singing?
4. Lead Them to Thee
5. Low in the Grave He Lay
6. Nothing but the Blood
7. Only One Name
8. Shall We Gather at the River?
9. We Are Pilgrims of a Day
10. Where Is My Boy Tonight?

Music

1. All the Way
2. At the Cross There’s Room
3. Entreat Me Not to Leave Thee
4. Follow On
5. Glad Tidings
6. Heavenly Father
7. Here Is Love
8. Hide Thou Me
9. Home at Last
10. It Is I
11. Marching to Zion
12. Mistakes of My Life, The
13. Need
14. Never Shone a Light So Fair!
15. No Hope in Jesus
16. Oh, How Sweet When We Mingle
17. One More Day’s Work
18. Paxtang
19. Resting By and By
20. River of Life
21. Room for the Penitent
22. So Near to the Kingdom
23. Something for Jesus
24. Stevenson
25. Taylor
26. Wake Every Tuneful String
27. When the Comforter Came
28. Wholly Thine