A. B. (George Burder)

In the late eighteenth century, the influential English Congregationalist minister George Burder contributed several pieces of sacred poetry to the Gospel Magazine. While some historical indexers and compilations have occasionally associated his early pseudonymous work with the initials "A. B.," Burder actually adopted the signature initials "A. R." for his contributions to this specific periodical.

The most famous example of this signature is his popular hymn of Christian fellowship, "Sweet the time, exceeding sweet." This lyric made its first appearance in the Gospel Magazine in April 1779 under the title "An Hymn for Christian Company" and was signed with his chosen initials, "A. R."

Burder was a central figure in the development of late eighteenth-century evangelical literature, serving as one of the founders of the Religious Tract Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society. He eventually reclaimed his early anonymous and pseudonymous works, publishing them under his full name in his widely used compilation, A Collection of Hymns from Various Authors, in 1784.