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Robert Hill (1868-1962) almost lived to be a hundred. Born of French Huguenot descent on April 9, 1868 in Conlig, near Belfast, (Northern) Ireland, he emigrated to America at the age of 16, and eventually trained for the ministry and settled in Texas. He served the Southern Presbyterian Church for many years, and passed away on July 25, 1962 in Tyler, Texas.
He evidently cherished the Christian Sabbath, as indicated by a pamphlet he published which is in this writer’s possession (which we hope to upload to Log College Press in the future). He was well-respected and indeed beloved as a faithful under-shepherd of his several flocks. His children collaborated to posthumously publish a volume of his poems, which is titled the Collected Poems of Robert Hill. From this work we may learn a great deal about his life and his loves. One of these loves was the sea. His daughter, Elizabeth Hill Haynes, writes:
The sea fascinated him. He used to say that if there were no sea in heaven he doubted if he could be happy there.
He made only one trip abroad after coming to America to live fifty-one years earlier. It was in 1935 when the congregation of First Presbyterian Church, and some other close friends, gave him a trip to the British Isles to visit his old home in Ireland. He took a freighter for the trip over so he could spend many days on the water. Coming home, since he was homesick and anxious to rejoin his family, he books passage on a large passenger liner which encountered a fierce Atlantic storm; so fierce, in fact, that after the ship docked in New York, the Captain admitted that he thought more than once, that the ship would go down. This seemed to end his desire for further voyaging.
Yet, despite the effects of such violent weather, the sea represents a prominent theme in his poems. These poems were written, we are told, for his flocks, to comfort them and inspire them.
These verses and poems are products of the writer’s heart, his convictions, and his philosophy of life, and stem from a deep and firm belief in the triune God. In addition they have a purity of style probably due to the fact that the author was acclaimed as a grammarian. Simple as they are, many of them contain profound lessons, beneficial for daily Christian living. He wrote them for people he truly loved, his congregations of the First Presbyterian Church, and Moore Memorial Presbyterian Church, Tyler, Texas. Some of them were written to suit a situation or condition which existed when that particular one was composed, and was often instrumental in smoothing a potentially rough road for someone in distress.
THE WATERS OF GALILEE
It was a dark and stormy night.
Upon a raging sea
A little ship fought for her life,
On the waters of Galilee.The frightened sailors, hardened men,
Had seen many a storm at sea;
But never before had heard such a roar
On the waters of Galilee.And through it all the Savior slept,
Undisturbed by wind or sea.
Although He sleeps, in His hand He keeps
The waters of Galilee.When your little boat seems unable to float
On life’s wild, stormy sea,
You are safe, if on board is the Master and Lord
Of the waters of Galilee.
Another poem reminds us who it is that created and governs the wild and wondrous sea, even the sea of life.
WISDOM, POWER, LOVE
Great God of Wisdom, Power and Love,
Who rulest land and sea,
Send us the wisdom from above
That guides infallibly.Send us the power to help us stand
Against determined foes
Whose forces cover sea and land,
And every good oppose.And grant that these dull hearts may glow
With radiance of that love
That led the Christ to die below,
That we might live above.
These poems are indeed often simple, but profound. His love of the sea was deep, but his love of the One who made the sea was deeper. This is the reflection that the reader finds within the volume of poems that his family published, a noble tribute to Robert Hill, a leader of the Southern Presbyterian Church with an Ulster accent.
