Robinson was ed­u­cat­ed at Will­iams Coll­ege, stu­died the­ol­o­gy for a year at Un­ion Sem­in­a­ry in New York Ci­ty, and fin­ished his course at Prince­ton, New Jer­sey. He was or­dained to the min­i­stry Ap­ril 19, 1855, and be­came pas­tor of the Park Pres­by­ter­i­an Church in Troy, New York. In 1860 he was called to the First Pres­by­ter­i­an Church in Brook­lyn, New York, where he stayed un­til 1868. At that time he be­came min­is­ter of the Amer­i­can Cha­pel in Par­is, France. Re­turn­ing to Amer­i­ca in 1870, he be­came pas­tor at the Mad­i­son Av­e­nue Pres­by­ter­i­an Church in New York Ci­ty. He stayed there 17 years, re­sign­ing in 1887 go to in­to lit­er­a­ry work. He be­came ed­it­or of The Christ­ian Week­ly in 1877, and of Ev­ery Thurs­day in 1890. He then re­turned to pas­tor­al work at the Thir­teenth Street Pres­by­ter­ian Church in New York Ci­ty, where he re­mained un­til 1892, when he moved to the New York Pres­by­ter­i­an Church.

Robinson re­ceived his DD de­gree from Ham­il­ton Coll­ege in 1867, and an LLD deg­ree from La­fay­ette in 1885. His works in­clude:

• Songs of the Church (New York: 1862)
• Songs for the Sanctuary, 1865
• Short Studies for Sun­day-School Teach­ers, 1868
• Bethel and Penuel, 1873
• Calvary Songs (with The­o­dore Per­kins) (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Amer­i­can Sun­day School Un­ion, 1875)
• Psalms and Hymns, 1875
• Spiritual Songs for Church and Choir, 1878
• Studies in the New Tes­ta­ment, 1880
• Spiritual Songs for So­cial Meet­ings, 1881
• Spiritual Songs for So­cial Meet­ings, 1881
• Studies of Neglected Texts, 1883
• Laudes Domini, 1884
• The Pharaohs of the Bond­age and the Ex­o­dus, 1887
• Sabbath Evening Ser­mons, 1887
• Simon Peter, His Life and Times, 1888 (two volumes)
• New Laudes Domini, 1893
• Annota­tions upon Pop­u­lar Hymns (New York: Hunt & Ea­ton, 1893)

Sources

Hymns

1. Isles of the South, Your Redemption Is Nearing
   • Lands Long Benight­ed
2. Savior! I Follow On