Page:The Methodist Hymn-Book Illustrated.djvu/417

 THE STORY OF THE HYMNS AND THEIR WRITERS 405

lecture, gth edition, no date ; nth edition, 1811. The Sunday school was established in 1787. The original reads

Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing,

Bid us all depart in peace ; Still on gospel manna feeding,

Pure seraphic love increase ; Fill each breast with consolation,

Up to Thee our hearts we raise, Till we reach that blissful station,

Where we ll give Thee nobler praise. And sing hallelujah to God and the Lamb,

For ever and ever, for ever and ever, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

Dr. Hawker was born at Exeter, and educated as a doctor, but in 1778 was ordained, and in 1784 became incumbent of Charles the Martyr, Plymouth, where he remained till his death.

The Rev. Robert Stephen Hawker, the eccentric Vicar of Morwenstow, was his grandson, and is said to have ventured to criticize the hymn, not knowing that it was his grandfather s, and to have read over to him an improved version which he proposed to substitute for it. Dr. Hawker was a very popular preacher. H i s Concordance and Dictionary to Sacred Scriptures and The Poor Man s Commentary on the Old and Nciu Testa ment were once in much request.

Hymn 799. Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing. JOHN FAWCETT, D.D.

Dr. Fawcett (1740-1817) was born at Lidget Green, near Bradford, Yorks ; converted under Whitefield s ministry at the age of sixteen, and joined the Methodists, but three years later became a Baptist. In 1765 he became Baptist minister at Wainsgate, near Hebden Bridge. In 1772 he accepted an invi tation to follow Dr. John Gill as pastor at Carter s Lane, London. He preached his farewell sermons, and his goods were packed in vans for the journey to London, when the love and tears of his people made him decide to remain with them. In 1777 a chapel was built for him at Hebden Bridge. He opened a school at Brearlcy Hall, where he lived. He wrote various prose works, and in 1782 published 166 Hymns adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Devotion. They

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