I am Thine, O Lord! I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith,
And be closer drawn to Thee.
No other lady writer in the whole realm of hymnody has given to the world so many gems of sacred song, which have attained such a high degree of usefulness and popularity, as Frances Jane Crosby.
Fanny was born in the town of Southeast, Putnam County, New York, on March 24th, 1820. When six weeks old she suffered the loss of her sight through what appeared to be an unfortunate mistake perpetrated by their family physician, in his treatment of a slight cold which had caused inflammation of the eyes. "But," says the blind hymn writer when speaking of the calamity in later years, "I have not for a moment, in more than eighty-five years, felt a spark of resentment against him; for I have always believed that the good Lord, in His infinite mercy, by this means consecrated me to the work which I am still permitted to do. When I remember how I have been blessed, how can I repine? Darkness may throw a shadow over my outer vision, but there is no cloud that can keep the sunlight of hope from a trustful soul." What a beautiful testimony! Can we wonder why God has so signally used the hymns of this saintly woman?
When Fanny was fifteen she made the journey to the New York Institution for the Blind [New York City], where she remained for twenty-three years, first as a pupil and later as a teacher. It was here that she met Alexander Van Alstyne, whom she married in 1858. After her marriage it was her husband's wish that her literary name, Fanny J. Crosby, should still be used, as it had already become known to the public, through her poems.
At an early age the faculty of verse-making manifested itself in the life of the little blind girl who, being endowed with a keen poetic mind, soon began to write in earnest, and her first volume of poems was published when she was quite a young woman, receiving the high approbation of no less a literary critic than William Cullen Bryant, the celebrated American poet.
It was not, however, till she had reached the age of forty-three that Fanny Crosby commenced writing hymns. This came about by her introduction to William B. Bradbury (known as the Father of Sacred Song), who invited her to write words to some melodies he had composed. The first she wrote for him was the missionary hymn, "There's a cry from Macedonia." Thus began Fanny Crosby's work as a writer of Gospel hymns.
The words of many of her hymns were composed to suit the tunes supplied to her, as in the well-known instance of "Safe in the arms of Jesus," which was written in less than half-an-hour, after hearing the melody played on a small organ by her friend Dr. W. H. Doane the composer. On another occasion Dr. Doane came to the blind hymn writer with a tune, requesting her to write a hymn about "Every day and hour." She responded with the words of that beautiful hymn:
Saviour, more than life to me,
I am clinging, clinging close to Thee;
Let Thy precious blood applied,
Keep me ever, ever near Thy side.
Every day, every hour,
Let me know Thy cleansing power;
May Thy tender love to me
Bind me closer, closer, Lord, to Thee.
The hymn "I shall know Him," had its origin under similar circumstances. Mr. John R. Sweney, the composer of many of Sankey's favourite hymns, sent a melody to Fanny with the request that she might write something "tender and sympathetic." "I prayed that appropriate words might be given me for the music," she wrote when recalling the story; "and the train of thought led me to the sweet consciousness that I shall know my Saviour 'by the print of the nails in His hand.'" Thus came the words:
When my life work is ended and I cross the swelling tide,
When the bright and glorious morning I shall see;
I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side,
And His smile will be the first to welcome me.
I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
When redeemed by His side I shall stand;
I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
By the print of the nails in His hand.
Among Fanny Crosby's hymns, "Saved by Grace," which was written when she was in her seventy-second year, takes a high place in the affections of Christians the world over. It had its origin in a little prayer meeting, at the close of which she was asked to write a hymn on "Grace," this having been the theme of the meeting. The same night, before retiring to rest, she found expression in the words of the hymn so much beloved:
Some day the silver cord will break,
And I no more, as now shall sing!
But oh, the joy when I shall wake
Within the palace of the King!
And I shall see Him face to face
And tell the story saved by grace.
The circumstances of its introduction to the public are interesting. A year or two after the hymn was written Fanny happened to attend a conference at Northfield, at which Mr. Ira D. Sankey was present. Seeing the blind hymn writer in the audience, a request was sent in by some of those present that they wished to hear her speak. At first she begged to be excused, but Mr. Sankey prevailed upon her to make a few remarks, at the close of which she recited, for the first time in public, "Saved by Grace. George C. Stebbins soon after set the words to the beautiful tune to which it has since been sung.
Fanny Crosby was both a prolific and rapid writer, many of her hymns being composed in a few minutes, with very little effort. Endowed with a singularly retentive memory, the blind poetess rarely repeated herself in the wide range of her 8,000 hymns.
Frances Jane Crosby laid down her pen on February 12th, 1915, and entered into the presence of the King, at the advanced age of ninety-five. Besides the hymns "I am Thine, O Lord, and "Saviour more than life to me," already quoted, assembly hymnal compilers have been happy in their choice of several others equally well-known including: "Praise Him! Praise Him!" "Safe in the arms of Jesus," "Thou my everlasting portion," "Take the world but give me Jesus," and that sweetest of all prayer-meeting hymns:
'Tis the blessed hour of prayer, when our hearts lowly bend,
And we gather to Jesus, our Saviour and Friend;
If we come to Him in faith, His protection to share,
What a balm for the weary! O how sweet to be there!
From Stories and Sketches of Our Hymns and Their Writers by David J. Beattie. Kilmarnock, Scotland: John Ritchie, [1934].
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