Jesus Lover of My Soul #699

The three greatest hymn-writers of our English tongue are Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, and Fanny Crosby. There are many who think that the hymn we are to study is the greatest hymn ever written; all men agree that it is the best of Wesley's hymns, though he wrote no less than six thousand. Many of these six thousand, too, rise to the highest rank of religious poetry, such as those beginning: "Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim," "Come, Thou long-expected Jesus," "A charge to keep I have," "Arise, my soul, arise," "Love divine, all love excelling," "Depth of mercy! Can there be," "Soldiers of Christ, arise," "Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing," and the noble Christmas hymn, "Hark! the herald angels sing." That is a wonderful list of great hymns to be written by one man.

Charles Wesley, next to the youngest of nineteen children, was born at Epworth, England, on December 18, [1707]. His father was Rev. Samuel Wesley, and his mother, Susannah Wesley, was a very remarkable woman. When he was a lad of fifteen, an Irish member of Parliament, Garret Wesley, a wealthy man, wanted to adopt him. His father left him to decide the matter, and he decided in the negative. The boy that was finally adopted became the father of the Duke of Wellington (Lord "Wellesley," as he spelled "Wesley"), who conquered Napoleon at Waterloo. How history might have been changed if young Charles Wesley had not decided as he did!

In 1735 Wesley became a clergyman of the Church of England, and went with his brother John on a missionary journey to Georgia, becoming secretary to Governor Oglethorpe. Within a year, broken in health and discouraged, he was compelled to return to England.The probable date of the hymn is 1740.

After a long life of nearly eighty years, Charles Wesley died, March 29, 1788.

This was [Charles] Finney's last song, sung by him the day before his death. The hymn has brought comfort to innumerable death-beds.

Just before the battle of Chickamauga a drummer-boy dreamed that he had gone home and was greeted by his dear mother and sister. He awoke very sad, because both mother and sister were dead, and he had no home. He told the little story to the chaplain before he went into the battle. He was left on the field with the dead and dying, and in the quiet of the night his voice was heard singing "Jesus, Lover of my soul." No one dared go to him. When he reached the lines,

"Leave, ah! leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me,"

his voice grew silent; and the next day his body was found leaning against a stump, beside his drum. He had indeed gone home to his mother and sister.

Another beautiful story is told of this hymn in connection with the Civil War. In a company of old soldiers, from the Union and Confederate armies, a former Confederate was telling how he had been detailed one night to shoot a certain exposed sentry of the opposing army. He had crept near and was about to fire with deadly aim when the sentry began to sing, "Jesus, Lover of my soul." He came to the words,

"Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing."

The hidden Confederate lowered his gun and stole away. "I can't kill that man," said he, "though he were ten times my enemy."

In the company was an old Union soldier who asked quickly,

"Was that in the Atlanta campaign of '64?

"Yes."

Then I was the Union sentry!"

And he went on to tell how, on that night, knowing the danger of his post, he had been greatly depressed, and, to keep up his courage, had begun to hum that hymn. By the time he had finished, he was entirely calm and fearless. Through the song God had spoken to two souls.

707 Take My Life and Let it Be

The hymn writer had served The Lord for many years.  One day in 1873, she received a little book entitled "All for Jesus." The challenge in the book was to make Christ the king in every part of your life. It was on December 2, 1873 that Frances Havegal consecrated her life completely to Jesus.  She proclaimed, "There must be full surrender before there can be full blessedness."

Years later she was talking about that night.  She saw the blessedness of true consecration.  She reported seeing it "...as a flash of electric light...which you can never un-see."  Later she was spending time with a group of 10 people, some of them unconverted.  She went to work witnessing to all until they were yielded Christians.  It was after that excitement that she wrote this text. 

After its writing, Frances very often used the verses of this hymn in her own devotion, especially every December 2.  On one occasion, she pondered the words, "Take my voice and let me sing/Always only for my King."  She felt like she needed to give up her secular singing.  She had a beautiful singing voice and was in demand to sing in the Philharmonic.  After that time, she used her voice exclusively to songs devoted to praising the Lord. 

On another occasion she was praying over the words that said, "Take my silver and my gold/Not a might would I withold." She had accumulated a great deal of jewlery but she wanted to donate it to the Church Missionary Society.  She retained only a brooch which was a memorial to her parents. She had more than 50 articles of jewelry and when she prepared them for donations, she told a friend, "...I never packed a box with such pleasure."

Rock of Ages Cleft for Me #685

In 1740, a baby was born with the formidable name of Augustus Montague Toplady.  His father died, his mother spoiled him, and he was thought of as "sick and neurotic" who was not liked by even his family.

However, he loved The Lord and by the age of 11 or 12 he was preaching sermons to whomever would listen. By the age of 14, he began writing hymns and by 16 he was converted to Christ and was ordained as an Anglican priest by the age of 22. 

In 1776, he wrote that John Wesley, the well-known Methodist leader,  was guilty of "satanic shamelessness." Augustus wrote an article about God's forgiveness intending it as a slap at Wesley; the article ended with an original poem that became the first verse of the hymn we know as "Rock of Ages". 

Although Augusutus died at the age of 38, his poem outlived him and has been called "the best known, best loved, and most widely useful" hymn in the English language.  Interestingly enough, Wesley himself wrote a remarkable similar hymn text called "Rock of Salvation, Rock struck and cleft for me, let those two streams of Blood and Water which gushed from thy side bring down Pardon and Holiness into my soul."