Rankin at­tende­d Mid­dle­bury Coll­ege, Ver­mont, and the An­do­ver The­o­log­i­cal Sem­in­ary. Af­ter or­din­a­tion in 1855, he pas­tored at church­es in New York; St. Al­bans, Ver­mont; Charles­town, Mas­sa­chu­setts; at the First Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church in Wash­ing­ton, DC, for 15 years; and at the Val­ley Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church, Orange, New Jer­sey. In 1889, he be­came pres­i­dent of How­ard Un­i­vers­i­ty. His works in­clude:

• Gospel Tem­per­ance Hymn­al, 1878
• Gospel Bells (with Otis Pres­brey), 1883
• German-Eng­lish Lyrics, Sac­red and Se­cu­lar, 1897

Sources

Hymns

1. God Be with You till We Meet Again
2. Keep Your Col­ors Fly­ing
3. Laboring and Hea­vy La­den
4. More Than Con­quer­ors
5. Rest, Rest, Rest, Bro­ther, Rest
6. Take a Stand for Jesus
7. Tell It to Je­sus