Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-07-27

wrath. but the idea OF saving from ain Is
especially sweet TO me.
1T is a sad thing TO think that the man
who wrote. that triumphant song died in
| religious dependency. He was not q
sceptic but inherited from his mother .
tendency to periods OF dependency.
amounting almost to insanity. But there
was a sun behind the cloud"
WHAT DIR. TIcHENoR SAYS.
DIR. 1. T. Tichenor. secretary Of ths
Baptist home mission board. and one Of
the most prominent Baptist dlvines In thd
South said when his attention was called
to the effort 10 discard the hymn:
1T was written by tho poet, William
Cowper, who was a very religious man
and orthodox. but not a Baptist"
Dr. Tichenor opened a Bible at Zachas
riah. 18th chapter and first verse, aid
read:
In that day there shall be a fountain
| opened to the house OF David and TO tho
| inhabitants OF Jerusalem for sin and un-
cleanness."
That" said he. sis the figure of speech
from which the poet probably drew the in-
| spiration Of the hymn.
"As to the objection that the hymn
favors immersion. all l have to say Is that
as immersion was the mode OF baptism
usually practiced by all parties for 1900
years. there is no special objection TO
saying a word In its favor.
I'VE are very much obliged to our
Presbyterian brother for calling attention
to the connection between that stanza OF
the hymn and immersion as a method or
baptism, for It will serve TO populariz9
immersion"
ABOUT THE OLD HYMN.
This grand old hymn was one Of those
| written by Cowper, for use In the Olney
prayer meeting. 1t was written at tho
| request OF John Newton. who first gave
Il out TO thai little audience.
II was written In 1779, and the original
has seven verses, but the last two are
| generally omitted In the hymnals. It has
been adopted by the Presbyterians. Con-
gregationalists. Methodists. Baptists, and
the Dutch Reformed church. Besides
these formal adoptions II is generally APP
proved and used by all Christian demons
nations. Probably this and Rock II
| Ages" and Nearer My God to Tnee'' al
the most popular hymns in the Englis
language.
THE FINE OLD Hymns
There is fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuels veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that foot
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to SEQ
That fountain In his day;
And there may /, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose It's power.
TIL all the Iansomed church OF God
Be saved 10 sin no more.
Fer since. by faith. I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply.
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And / shall be till i die.
Then IN a r.obler. sweeter song.
I'll sing thy power TO save,
When this poor lisping, stammern9
tongue,
Ties silent in the grave.
Lord. I believe thou hast prepared
Unworthy though I be.
For me a blood-bought. free reward
A golden harp for me.
TITS strung and tuned for endless yearA
And formed by power divine,
To sound In God the fathers cara.
No other name. but Thine.
TIL man who wrote these lines passed
two years OF his life In an irslns asyiums
but afterwards recovered. William cowpet
was the son Of an Episcopal minister or .
peculiarly sombre type OF min Wfiliam'a
mother died when he was s years old
and his father made the child miserable
when the boy was II years old his father
made him read a discourse on suicide, and
afterward lectured him on il. 1t is not
surprising TO read that as a result, the
poet In later years. made several attempts
az self-destruction. Happily, he lived u
write this hymn.