HYMNS YOU LOVE-------------- By Phil Kerr
O L ove That W i l t Not Let 3Me Go
The Communist blueprint for world revolution, recently inserted in the Congressional Record by Senator Knowland, names I960 as the deadline for Communist domination of South east Asia. The step-up of Communist efforts in Asia means that our time for preaching the Gospel in Japan, Formosa and Korea may be tragically snort. While the Communists are advancing, serious shortage of funds threatens to stow up the Pocket Testament League campaigns of Scripture distribution and evangelization in the Far East. Your help is desperately needed af this critical time. Write tor
Words by George Matheson Music by Albert L. Peace
T he story has often been told that the author, a blind min ister, wrote this song because his fiancee “refused to go through life with a blind man.” A thor ough check of all available sources fails to substantiate this story, ex cept for the testimony of two not ed hymnographers: “ It was writ ten when the lady to whom he was engaged felt that his blind ness prevented their marriage” (John Telford, in The New M e thodist Hymn-book, Illustrated, London, 1934). And, “When Dr. Matheson wrote a letter to his fi ancee offering to release her from her covenant of love on account of his certain blindness, the young poet-preacher went to his desk and there, in the Gethsemane of his life, wrote the immortal song” {H istory and Message of Hymns, by Garrett and Beery). However, all other hymnog raphers deny the story, and point to the fact that the song was not written until more than twenty years after he became blind! Matheson’s own story of the song indicates that a Gethsemane ex perience played an important part in its inspiration, but does not reveal the cause. “My hymn was composed in the manse of Innel- lan . . . I was at that time alone. It was the day of my sister’s marriage . . . Something had hap pened to me, which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffer ing. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression rather of having it dictated to me by some inward voice than of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction.” It was written on the evening of June 6, 1882. Several tunes have been applied to Matheson’s famous song. The best-known is called St. Margaret, composed in 1884 by a famous Scotch organist, Albert L. Peace.
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