THE STORY OF THE HYMNS AND THEIR WRITERS III
Toplady s, 1776. The words Lover of my soul have seemed to many too familiar, and Refuge has been substituted in some collections. The Wisdom of Solomon, x. 126, reads, But Thou sparest all ; for they are Thine, O Lord, Thou Lover of souls. No lines have been more twisted about than the opening lines of this hymn. Dr. Julian says, As an editorial curiosity these four lines are in their trans formation unique. Mr. C. D. Hardcastle gives an interest ing account of the attempts at revision, of which he has noted 154 (Proceedings of Wesley Historical Society, II. i. 15)- Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe says the last indication of life which her father, Dr. Lyman Beecher, showed was a mute response to his wife, who was repeating the first two lines of Jesu, Lover of my soul. Henry Ward Beecher declared, I would rather have written that hymn of Wesley s, "Jesus, Lover of my soul," than to have the fame of all the kings that ever sat on the earth. It is more glorious. It has more power in it. That hymn will go on singing until the last trump brings forth the angel band ; and then, I think, it will mount up on some lip to the very presence of God.
Mr. G. J. Stevenson gives many illustrations of the benedic tion which this hymn has brought. Hugh Price Hughes, whose sudden death on November 17, 1902, caused a wave of sorrow to pass over the whole Christian Church, loved it much, and left instructions in his will that on his tombstone should be inscribed Thou, O Christ, art all I want. His daughter says, He was wiser than any biographer, and in a single sentence revealed the secret of a life which had found sustainment neither in the praise of good men, nor in the understanding of the wise. " Thou, O Christ, art all I want." Mr. Spurgeon said that an ungodly man stepped into one of his services at Exeter Hall, and was brought to Christ by the singing of this hymn. Does Christ love me ? he said. Then why should I live in enmity to Him ? Dr. Duffield, the author of Stand up, stand up for Jesus, writes, One of the most blessed days of my life was when I found, after my harp had hung on the willows, that I could sing again ; that a new song was put into my mouth ; and when, ere ever I was aware, I was singing " Jesu, Lover of my soul." If there is anything in Christian experience of joy and sorrow, of affliction and prosperity, of life and death that hymn is the hymn of the ages !
In 1872 Mr. C. T. White visited a dying English sailor in
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