Frederic Mayer Bird was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 clergyman, educator, and hymnologist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 in 1857 and the Union Theological Seminary

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...

 in 1860, and from 1860 to 1867 was a Lutheran

Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

 minister. In 1868 he took orders in the Episcopal Church.

He edited some religious publications, and published The story of our Christianity (1893).

He also wrote A Pessimist; in Theory and Practice (1888) under the pen-name "Robert Timsol".

He also wrote and edited "Heroes and Martyrs of Christianity," published in 1897.