Tag: Great Hymns of the Faith

Joseph Scriven (1819-1886) lived a life of sorrows. His fiancé died the night before they were to be married. Engaged again, this fiancé also tragically perished. He wrote a poem that he sent to his mother, that was set to music and published, as What a Friend We Have in Jesus. A memorial to him is found in his native Read more...

Port Hope History: It became Joseph’s usual practice to spend the winter months in Bewdley and the summers in Port Hope, where he boarded for 22 years with Margaret, nee Brumfitt, the widow of Patrick Gibson, a milkman, in her house on Thomas Street at the corner of Merritt Street, which later became a part of Strachan Street. Mrs Gibson Read more...

Edith Margaret Clarkson, usually known as Margaret Clarkson, was a Canadian best known for her hymn, “So Send I You.” “Billy Graham has called [it] ‘the finest hymn of our generation.'” (Mennonite Weekly Review). “Later in life, she rejected it as ‘spiritually immature,’ and begged churches to replace it with some newly-written lines.” (Ottawa Citizen). The original version opens: So Read more...

From Wikipedia: All Saints’ Church, commonly referred to as Schlosskirche (Castle Church) to distinguish it from the Stadtkirche (Town Church) of St. Mary’s – and sometimes known as the Reformation Memorial Church – is a Lutheran church in Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the site where, according to Philip Melanchthon, the Ninety-five Theses were posted by Martin Luther in 1517,[1] the act that has been called the start of the Protestant Reformation.[2][3] From 1883 onwards, the church was restored as Read more...

From FindAGrave: Hymn Writer, Religious Figure. He was a successful businessman in Chicago, Illinois in the late 1800s who lost a great deal of real estate in the Chicago Fire. He penned the famous hymn “It Is Well” after receiving word of the death of his four daughters in an accident at sea on November 22, 1873. Eventually having two Read more...

Written on stationary from the Brevoort House in Chicago, Horatio Spafford penned this famous hymn while on a ship as he crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Not that long ago, his daughters had drowned after the Ville du Havre suffered a tragic crash. His wife telegraphed back, “Saved alone.” The manuscript is now found at the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem. Read more...

1819 – Joseph Scriven – 1886 Author of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” Memorial Monument   Featured Image Credit: Albert Bridge / Joseph Scriven memorial, Banbridge Read more...

Sutcliff’s neighbors in Olney included the local minister of the Church of England, John Newton (1725-1807), author of “Amazing Grace.” Hymn writer and poet, William Cowper (1731-1800), was a member of Newton’s parish, and, at the time of Sutcliff’s arrival, Newton and Cowper were composing their popular “Olney Hymns.” Visit John Newton’s church and tombstone, and the Cowper and Newton Museum and Gardens. Read more...

From Wikipedia: Sarah Fuller Flower Adams (or Sally Adams[1]) (1805 – 1848) was an English poet and hymnwriter, best known for writing the words of the hymn “Nearer, My God, to Thee“.[2]   In 1841, she published her longest work, Vivia Perpetua, A Dramatic Poem. In it, a young wife who refuses to submit to male control and renounce her Christian beliefs is put to death. She contributed Read more...

From Wikipedia: Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 June 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of The Reverend Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine. Author of: When All Thy Mercies, O My God 1 When all your mercies, O my God, my rising Read more...

  From Wikipedia: Alexander was born at 25 Eccles Street, Dublin, the third child and second daughter of Major John Humphreys of Norfolk (land-agent to 4th Earl of Wicklow and later to the second Marquess of Abercorn), and Elizabeth (née Reed).[2] She began writing verse in her childhood, being strongly influenced by Dr Walter Hook, Dean of Chichester. Her subsequent religious work was strongly influenced by her contacts Read more...

From Wikipedia: Alford was a talented artist, as his picture-book, The Riviera (1870), shows, and he had abundant musical and mechanical talent. Besides editing the works of John Donne, he published several volumes of his own verse, The School of the Heart (1835), The Abbot of Muchelnaye (1841), The Greek Testament. The Four Gospels (1849), and a number of hymns, the best-known of which are “Forward! be our watchword,” “Come, Read more...

From Wikipedia: Baker was the son of Vice-admiral Sir Henry Loraine Baker, C.B., by his marriage with Louisa Anne, only daughter of William Williams, Esq., of Castle Hall, Dorset. His father served with distinction at Guadeloupe in 1815. His grandfather was Sir Robert Baker of Dunstable House, Surrey, and of Nicholashayne, Culmstock, Devon, on whom a baronetcy was conferred in 1796. Sir Henry Williams Baker was born in London on Sunday, 27 May 1821, at Read more...

From Wikipedia: Montgomery himself expected that his name would live, if at all, in his hymns. Some of these, such as “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed”, “Prayer is the Soul’s Sincere Desire”, “Stand up and Bless the Lord” and the carol “Angels from the Realms of Glory”, are still sung. “The Lord Is My Shepherd” is a popular hymn with Read more...

On July 17, 1854, Frances Ridley Havergal was confirmed at Worcester Cathedral. In the procession to Worcester Cathedral Ellen Wakeman was my companion. On reaching our seat very near the rails, I sunk on my knees, and for the first time to-day the thought of “whose I am” burst upon me, and I prayed “my God, oh, my own Father, Read more...

Hymn History: Just As I Am & Author: Charlotte Elliott “Then followed a period of much seclusion and bodily distress, from the continuance of feeble health. Her views, too, became clouded and confused, through an introduction to religious controversy, and the disturbing influence of various teachers, who held inadequate notions of the efficacy of Divine grace.” (Sister of Charlotte, Eleanor Read more...

Hymn History: The Solid Rock & Author: Edward Mote “My Sabbaths were spent in the streets at play. So ignorant was I that I did not know there was a God.”   If there ever was a person that could hide behind their upbringing and excuse their godlessness, it was Edward Mote. Born to tavern owners on January 21, 1797, Read more...

Way of Life: Samuel Medley (1738-1799) was a Baptist pastor and author of 230 hymns. In his wayward youth, he was seriously wounded in the British navy at the Battle of Lagos. The surgeon told him that amputation was the only thing that would save his life and that a decision would have to be made the next day. Though Medley Read more...

Author of: Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee! E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me; Still all my song shall be nearer, my God, to Thee, Chorus: Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee! From Wikipedia: “Nearer, My God, to Thee” is a 19th-century Christian hymn by Sarah Flower Adams, which retells the story of Jacob’s dream. Genesis 28:11–12 can be translated Read more...

The Doxology is a simple but beautiful hymn of praise, fitting because Doxa (glory), logo (saying) is literally “saying glory.” It calls for universal praise – from those below, and those above, to Him “from Whom all blessings flow.” And finally – it recognizes the Triune nature of Him Who is worthy of Praise. Praise God, from Whom all blessings Read more...