Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/325

Rh the blood of Christ.' Strange that I, who had so long been under the means of grace in England, should be brought nigh to God in an obscure part of Ireland, amidst a handful of God's people, met in a barn, and under the preaching of a man who could scarcely write his name." This was Augustus Montague Toplady, whose father fell in the battle of Carthagena, Spain, and the son was reared by a pious mother. He became a clergyman and died in 1778, aged 38. The hymn known as "Rock of Ages" was repeated on his dying bed by Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, and a Latin version was written by Hon. W. E. Gladstone. It is one of those productions to the duration of which it is not possible to fix a limit.

is the first line of a hymn that is often sung, but the circumstances under which it was written are perhaps not generally known. Its author was Rev. John Fawcett, of Bradford, England. After a pastorate of seven years at Wainsgate, he was invited to become the successor of Rev. Dr. Gill, in London. The offer was in the highest degree flattering, and he made preparations to move to the great city — his church at Wainsgate being scattered over a large surface, and were not wealthy. His parishioners assembled to witness his departure, but so sad was the meeting — the poor people sorrowing with many tears — that Mr. Fawcett gave way with the remark, "Unpack my goods, and we will live lovingly together." This circumstance caused Mr. Fawcett to write the hymn:

A woman, in very humble condition, wrote a hymn, many years ago, which soon obtained a place in church hymnology which it bids fair to hold into the indefinite future. This position it obtained and will keep, not because of its merit as a metrical composition, but for its devout, humble spirit. This is the first stanza :

The author was Mrs. Phebe H. Brown, of Canaan, N. Y. She was a devout, christian mother, and was in the habit of resorting to a solitary grove, near evening, for secret prayer. For this she was severely censured by a wealthy neighbor, and her feelings deeply wounded. Mrs. Brown, like many others, "builded better than she knew," for a hymn written with no expectation that it would ever appear in print, is found in a multitude of collections of hymnology, and bids fair to remain there forever.

The hymn of which the above is the first stanza is often sung at the Anniversary of the American Board, and other public assemblies for the promotion of missions. Its author was Rev. Timothy Dwight, d. d., President of Yale College in the early part of the present century. It has become a companion piece of the Missionary Hymn, by Heber, and holds a permanent place in the collections of people of Trinitarian belief:

In the year 1730 there lived in Reading, England, a youth fond of cards and stage plays; not of decidedly vicious tendencies, but inclined to ways of folly. One day while walking in London, a mental reaction came upon him. To use his own language, "While walking hastily in Cheapside the hand of the Lord touched me, and I at once felt uncommon fear and dejection. I looked upon the past with regret, and the future afforded me no cheering prospect." In this condition I remained two years. He finally became a clergyman of the Moravian church, and died in 1775. This was John Cennick, author of several choice hymns, and among them: