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

Lyrics

1. Drifting Away from Jesus
2. Far Up the Heights of Glory
3. God Be the Nation’s Guide
4. God Be with You till We Meet Again
5. Heralds of Jesus
6. Keep Your Col­ors Fly­ing
7. Laboring and Hea­vy La­den
8. More Than Con­quer­ors
9. O Prodigal, Don’t Stay Away
10. Out of Zion May God Bless Thee
11. Rest, Rest, Rest, Bro­ther, Rest
12. Soldier of Christ
13. Take a Stand for Jesus
14. Tell It to Je­sus
15. Who’ll Take the Ranks?