Sewall grad­u­at­ed from Bow­doin Coll­ege in 1858, and served as pas­tor of the Glen­view Swe­den­borg­i­an Church in Glen­view, Ohio. He went on to be­come pres­i­dent of Ur­bana Coll­ege (now Ur­ba­na Un­i­ver­si­ty) in Ur­ba­na, Ohio (1870-1886), and lat­er pas­tor of the Swe­den­borg­i­an Na­tion­al Church in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. Sewall trans­lat­ed sev­er­al of the the­o­log­ic­al works of Eman­u­el Swe­den­borg into Eng­lish, as well as Im­man­u­el Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. He wrote words or mu­sic for over 20 hymns, and chaired the Swe­den­bor­gi­an Com­mit­tee of Wor­ship which com­piled The Mag­nif­i­cat. He a­lso wrote sev­er­al child­ren’s books, in­clud­ing Moo­dy Mike (a Christ­mas sto­ry).

Hymns

1. Child and the Shepherd, The
2. How the Lord from Heaven Came
3. Jerusalem, Thou City Bright
4. Morn of Joy
5. O Wonder Amazing
6. Roll Out, O Song, to God!

Music

1. Arise, All Souls, Arise
2. Blessed City
3. Charles
4. Come Children, with Singing
5. O Jesus, Lord and Savior
6. Rec­tor Potens
7. Savior and Regenerator
8. Sewall
9. Skara
10. St. Cecilia
11. Sursum Corda