Fanny Crosby

A Great Hymnwriter

Fanny Crosby is recognised as one of the most popular hymn writers of all time. Who is not familiar with “Blessed Assurance,” “Safe in the Arms of Jesus,” “Rescue the Perishing,” “Saved By Grace” and others of her compositions? It is said she wrote over 9,000 hymns, “More than eight thousand of them appearing in print”. I find that Charles Wesley, the great British hymn writer, is reported to have published 4,100 hymns and to have left 2,000 in manuscript. E.K. Emurian is authority for the statement that Fanny Crosby has “written more hymns, songs and poems than anyone else since the beginning of the Christian era”!

Yet Fanny Crosby (Mrs Alexander Van Alstyne) did not begin writing hymns until the age of forty-four. Even more remarkable is the fact that she was totally blind, having lost her sight through a tragic doctor’s error at the age of six weeks. And her father died before she was one year old. In spite of blindness, she often referred in her hymns to the sight which she was denied but which she anticipated when she would be released from mortal ties. How many of us when singing “Blessed Assurance” recall that it was one blind who exclaimed, “Visions of rapture now burst on my sight”? And looking forward by faith she could say,“Oh, the soul-thrilling rapture when I view His blessed face, and luster of His kindly beaming eye; ...” Or, “I know I shall see in His beauty the King in whose law I delight;...” And we cannot leave out, “And I shall see Him face to face, And tell the story — Saved by grace.”

Some of her most appreciated hymns were written within the time of an hour or less. One day William H. Doane from Ohio came to her door and, when admitted, hurried over to her and said, “Fanny, in forty minutes I must catch the train to Cincinnati, and I need a new song for a great Sunday school convention there.” After discussing it he said, “Thirty minutes left.” She turned to her desk and after a bit handed him a paper, telling him to read it on the train. It turned out to be what many regard as her greatest hymn, “Safe in the Arms of Jesus.” It was played by the band at the funeral of General U.S. Grant.

On a number of occasions, as with “Safe in the Arms of Jesus,” Fanny was asked to listen to a tune by such composers as Doane or Ira D. Sankey and frame words to fit the music, which she did most acceptably.

Her poetic gift manifests itself in early published volumes of verse before she wrote hymns. She soon became widely recognised, meeting President James K. Polk in the White House, and speaking before the U.S. Congress in words that glorified her Saviour. She travelled in many parts of the country, lecturing or giving Chautauqua talks and ministering at Christian conferences, as she did for D.L. Moody and others. She lived to be ninety-five. After her testimony became appreciated, she visited slum missions where her words were eagerly received. Sensing the need in such places, she often frequented the missions and on one occasion after a young man was converted wrote “Rescue the Perishing.”

The Story of her Conversion

The following story of her conversion is taken from her Memories of Eighty Years (Hodder & Stoughton edition, London, 1908): “Turn to the class meeting at the Eighteenth Street Methodist Church. Some of us used to go down there regularly, and on Thursday evening of each week a leader came from that church to conduct a class in the Blind Institution. In those days I was timid and never spoke in public when I could possible avoid it. I attended meetings and played for them on the condition that they should not call on me to speak.”

“One evening the leader brought a young man with him who was destined to have an important influence in my life. He was a Mr Camp, a teacher in the city schools and a man noted for his generous public spirit. I found him a true friend. We used to attend the class meetings together, but he never urged me in religious matters. And yet I owe my conversion to that same friend, in so far as I owe it to any mortal. By a strange dream I was aroused—not that the dream had any particular effect in itself except as a means of setting me to thinking. It seemed that the sky had been cloudy for a number of days, and finally (in the dream) someone came to me and said that Mr Camp desired to see me at once. Then I thought I entered the room and found him very ill.

“‘Fanny,’ he asked, ‘will you meet me in Heaven?’

“‘Yes, I will, God helping me,’ I replied; and I thought his last words were, ‘Remember you promise a dying man!’ Then the clouds seemed to roll from my spirit, and I awoke. I could not forget those words, ‘Will you meet me in Heaven?’ and although my friend was perfectly well, I began to consider whether I could really meet him or any other acquaintance in the Better Land, if called to do so.

“The weeks sped on until revival meetings were being held in the Thirtieth Street Methodist Church. Some of us went down every evening. On two occasions I sought peace but did not find the joy I craved until one evening it seemed to me that light must indeed come then or never; and so I arose and went forward alone. After prayer, the congregation began to sing the grand old hymn:

My very world was flooded with celestial light. I sprang to my feet, shouting “Hallelujah!” and then for the first time I realised that I had been trying to hold the world in one hand and the Lord in the other.

“The next Thursday evening I gave a public testimony at our class meeting. I promised to do my duty whenever the dear Lord should make it plain to me.

“Not many weeks later, Mr Stephen Merrit asked me to close one of our class meetings with a brief prayer. My first thought was, ‘I cannot’; then the voice of conscience said, ‘But your promise!’ and from that hour I believe I have never refused to pray or speak in a public service, with the result that I have been richly blessed.”

A Talented Hymnwriter

Of all the American hymn writers, there never has been one more thoroughly lovable than Mrs. Van Alstyne, or Fanny Crosby, as she is familiarly known. None would claim that she was a poetess in any large sense. Her hymns (which might, perhaps, be more appropriately discussed under the head of "Gospel Songs") have been severely criticised. Dr. Julian, the editor of the Dictionary of Hymnology, says that "they are, with few exceptions, very weak and poor," and others insist that they are "crudely sentimental." Some hymn books will give them no place whatever. And yet, on the other hand, Dr. Duffield, author of English Hymns, wrote to his publishers shortly before his death, "I rather think her talent will stand beside that of Watts or Wesley, especially if we take into consideration the number of hymns she has written."

If the worth of a hymn is to be determined solely by certain canons of excellence laid down by hymn-critics, probably few of Fanny Crosby's would meet the test. But if other considerations also enter in, the verdict may be different. Her productions, in her own and in the various languages into which they have been translated, are probably sung by more voices than those of any other writer, save Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley. At least seventy are in common use in England, a far greater number than by any other American.

How many souls have been led to Christ through her hymns, God only knows, but undoubtedly there has been a host. She prayed that she might be instrumental in saving a million men; may it not be that the prayer has been or will be answered? Her total production was prodigious, numbering scarcely less than eight thousand songs and hymns. For years she was under engagement with Biglow and Main to furnish them regularly three songs a week. No doubt if she had written far less and written better, it would have been a gain, but her habit of throwing her thoughts into rhyme was spontaneous, as natural as breathing. The astonishing fact is not that she gave forth so much of small value, but that so many of her hymns have found lodgment in the affections of vast multitudes of Christians of various faiths, and are sung today with joy and blessing the world around.

Family Background

Fanny Crosby was born of humble parents, in Southeast, Putnam County, New York, on March 24, 1820. Through an ignorant application of a poultice to her eyes when she was six weeks old, her sight was forever destroyed. And yet during all her life she was amazingly independent in finding her way about. Indeed, she would scarcely have realized that she was blind had not people constantly reminded her of the fact. Her affliction never made her gloomy. When she was eight years old she wrote the cheerful ditty:

At the age of fifteen she entered the Institution for the Blind in New York City, remaining there as pupil and afterward as teacher for twenty three years. It was soon recognized that the girl was unusually gifted, especially in the use of her pen. It became quite the custom on state occasions to put her forward to recite one of her poems. In 1843 several of the pupils went to Washington seeking to enlist the sympathy of Congress on behalf of the blind. At the insistent request of the members, Fanny recited a number of her poems, moving many to tears by her simple eloquence.

Though she had grown up with a strong religious bent, she entered into a more definite experience in 1851, and at that time united with the old John Street Methodist Episcopal Church of New York. Seven years later she was married to Mr. Alexander Van Alstyne. He was a teacher in the same school, and like herself he was blind. As the author of hymns, however, she always retained her maiden name.

The Beginnings of Hymnwriting

While at the institution she wrote a number of secular songs, especially for the popular tunes composed by George F. Root, who for a time was an instructor at the school. In this way she contributed the title and the words for the well-known "There's Music in the Air." But she was not contented, for she had not yet found her life work. She left the institution which for so long had been her home in 1858. It was about this time that she met Mr. W. B. Bradbury, and at his request she wrote a sacred song — her first:

She afterward said, "I had found my mission, and was the happiest creature in all the land." To the close of her long life she was devoted to the one task of hymn-writing. As we would naturally expect with one who was shut away from much that was passing in the outside world, her hymns are the outgrowth of her own experience, and to an unusual extent reflect the changing phases of that experience. Indeed, it would not be difficult from a simple study of these hymns to write her spiritual biography. Her unfailing cheerfulness, her childlike trust in the divine watch care over her own life, enabled her to say to others:

Such hymns as: "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine," "Jesus, keep me near the Cross," "Saviour, more than life to me," and many others equally well known, were born in her own heart life.

Her lifelong mission

Fanny Crosby was deeply interested in gospel work for men, especially among the poor fellows who were down but not out. "You can't save a man by telling him of his sins," she used to say. "He knows them already. Tell him there is pardon and love waiting for him." In his admirable Story of Ninety-Four Years, the Rev. S. Trevena Jackson gives the account of how "Rescue the Perishing" came to be written, as he received it from the lips of Fanny Crosby. "It was written in the year 1869, when I was forty-nine years old. Many of my hymns were written after experiences in New York mission work. This one was thus written. I was addressing a large company of working men one hot summer evening, when the thought kept forcing itself on my mind that some mother's boy must be rescued that night or not at all. So I made a pressing plea that if there was a boy present who had wandered from his mother's home and teaching, he would come to me at the close of the service. A young man of eighteen came forward and said, 'Did you mean me? I promised my mother to meet her in heaven, but as I am now living that will be impossible.' We prayed for him and he finally arose with a new light in his eyes and exclaimed in triumph, 'Now I can meet my mother in heaven, for I have found God!'

"A few days before, Mr. Doane, the musical composer, had sent me the subject, 'Rescue the Perishing,' and while I sat there that evening, the line came to me, 'Rescue the Perishing, care for the dying.' I could think of nothing else that night. When I arrived home I went to work on the hymn at once, and before I retired it was ready for the melody. The next day my song was written out and forwarded to Mr. Doane, who wrote the beautiful and touching music as it now stands to my hymn."

The great meetings held by Moody and Sankey gave wings to Fanny Crosby's hymns both in England and America. On the other side of the sea, in particular, where more conservative tastes had prevailed, these warm-hearted songs with their simple, pleasing melodies, were a revelation, and they awakened a popular enthusiasm which is felt to this day.

Of all her hymns, Fanny Crosby's own favorite was "Safe in the arms of Jesus," and the general verdict agrees with her. One day in 1868, Mr. Doane said to her, "Fanny, I have a tune I would like to have you write words for." He played it over and she exclaimed, "That says 'Safe in the arms of Jesus!"' She went to her room, and in half an hour the hymn was finished. It has gone everywhere; it knows no limitations of race or sect. It is sung in many languages, and at funerals in Roman Catholic as well as in Protestant churches. Multitudes who never heard of Fanny Crosby know and love this song. The Rev. Mr. Jackson was taking her to his home for a visit: "Our hackman listened to his passenger with close attention, and when I informed him that she was Fanny Crosby, who had written 'Safe in the arms of Jesus,' he took off his hat and wept. He called a policeman and said, 'This is Miss Fanny Crosby, who wrote 'Safe in the arms of Jesus.' I want you to help this young man to get her safely to the train.' 'I sure will,' said the policeman. Then, quite sadly, he added, 'We sang that hymn at my little girl's funeral last week.' Aunt Fanny took the policeman's arm and said, 'I call all the policemen and railroad men "my boys." They take such good care of me wherever I go.' The officer assisted her with the greatest care and as she took her seat in the train she said to him, 'God bless your dear heart. You shall have my prayers. Tell your dear wife that your little daughter is safe in the arms of Jesus.' The great strong policeman turned away wiping the tears from his eyes."

It is fortunate that from the first this beautiful hymn has been wedded to a melody of peculiar sweetness and one so perfectly suited to the tender pathos of the words. At many public obsequies, notably at Grant's funeral, the tune has been a favorite with the bands.

Frances Ridley Havergal and Fanny Crosby never met, but each was an ardent admirer of the other, and no message that Miss Crosby ever received was treasured more highly than these lines from Miss Havergal:

One summer Fanny Crosby was visiting at Northfield. At an evening gathering when she with others was on the platform, several had spoken of their Christian experience, and presently Mr. Moody turned to Miss Crosby, "Now we want a word from you." For a moment she hesitated, but when he pressed her she quietly arose and said: "There is one hymn I have written which has never been published. I call it my Soul's poem, and sometimes when I am troubled I repeat it to myself, for it brings comfort to my heart." And she recited the lines which have since become so familiar:

Those who were present and saw Miss Crosby, her uplifted face with those sightless orbs marked by a strange wistfulness, will never forget the pathetic emphasis of the refrain,

It was on Friday morning, February 12, 1915, on the threshold of her ninety-fifth birthday, that the yearning of her heart was gratified and she saw Him face to face.