The New International Encyclopædia/Shirley, Walter

SHIRLEY, Walter (1725-1786). An English revivalist and hymn-writer. In 1746 he graduated B. A. from New College, Oxford, and became rector of Loughrea, in Galway. Through his cousin the Countess of Huntingdon (q.v.) he became acquainted with Whitefield (q.v.) and the Wesleys (qq.v.), whose opinions he strenuously advocated within the Established Church. Though retaining his living, he made frequent preaching tours through England and Ireland. The revivalist phase of his labors is represented by Gospel Repentance (1760) and Twelve Sermons (1761). He is now best known for several hymns in common use, as “Source of light and power divine.” and “Go, destined vessel, heavenly freighted, go!” (composed on the departure of missionaries to America, 1772).