Fanny Crosby

[Maxmya]

I love all the songs by Fanny Crosby, the blind Christian song writer. I also love the songs of John and Charles Wesley.

[LindaR]

Fanny Crosby is one of my favorites too. I thought that of the Wesley brothers, Charles was the hymnwriter and John was the preacher...but I could be wrong.

Frances Jane Crosby
Fanny Crosby
1820-1915

Born: March 24, 1820, Putnam County, New York.

Died: February 12, 1915, Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Buried: Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Fanny Crosby was probably the most prolific hymnist in history. Though blinded by an incompetent doctor at six weeks of age, she wrote over 8,000 hymns. About her blindness, she said:

It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.

In her lifetime, Fanny Crosby was one of the best known women in the United States. To this day, the vast majority of American hymnals contain her work.

When Fanny died, her tombstone carried the words, ?Aunt Fanny? and ?Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine.? Eliza Hewitt memorialized Fanny?s passing in a poem which was read at her funeral:

Away to the country of sunshine and song,
Our songbird has taken her flight,
And she who has sung in the darkness so long
Now sings in the beautiful light;
The harp-strings here broken are sweetly restrung
To ring in a chorus sublime;
The hymns that on earth she so trustfully sung
Keep tune with eternity?s chime!

What heart can conceive of the rapture she knows
Awakened to glories so bright,
Where radiant splendor unceasingly glows,
Where cometh no shadows of night!
Her ?life-work is ended,? and over the tide,
?Redeemed? in His presence to stand,
She knows her Redeemer, for her crucified,
?By the print of the nails in His hand.?

?Blessed Assurance??the lamp in her soul
That made earthly midnight as naught!
A ?New Song? of joy shall unceasingly roll
To Him who her ransom had bought.
To ?Rescue the Perishing,? her greatest delight,
What bliss, in the Homeland, to meet
With those she has told of the Lord?s saving might,
Together, to bow at His feet.

Good-bye, dearest Fanny, goodbye for a while,
You walk in the shadows no more;
Around you, the sunbeams of glory will smile;
The Lamb is the Light of that Shore!
Someday we will meet in the City above;
Together, we?ll look on His face;
Safe, ?Safe in the Arms? of the Jesus we love;
Together we?ll sing, ?Saved by Grace!?

Rothwell, p. 47

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/c/r/o/crosby_fj.htm

[HappyChristian]

Linda - you are right, John was the preacher (although I do believe Charles preached some) and Charle the hymn writer. But John also translated many hymns from German and Latin into English.

I love Fanny Crosby's hymns, too. One that always moves me is "And I shall see Him face to face..." Imagine her joy when she was finally able to see and look upon Him!!!

[JerryNumbers]

No doubt, she was a great song writer. I think we could have some good ones today. To many of them try to put modern twist on their songs, and them don't put enough Jesus and God in them.

Many of the modern songs seems inspired by the world and not the love of Jesus.