Stories Behind the Hymns: April 16, 2008

April 29, 2008 05:08 pm

— John Fawcett had been left an orphan at the age of 12. He worked 14 hours a day in a sweatshop for a meager existence.
He had a deep desire to learn and stayed up late at night learning to read by candlelight. He studied schoolbooks to hone his academic skills, but also studied the Bible.
He made it a habit to attend church and was converted at age 16 under the ministry of George Whitefield.
He attended the Methodist Church for three years, but at the age of 19 he started attending the Baptist church in Bradford, England.
After six years, he felt the call to go into the ministry. At the age of 25 he was ordained and was called as pastor at the small Baptist church at Wainsgate.
The church had about 100 members and was very poor. They paid Fawcett $100 a year, partly in potatoes and wools. Fawcett served there for seven years.
He received an invitation to preach a trial sermon at a large church in London in 1772. The name of the church was Carter’s Lane Baptist Church. He was to succeed Dr. J. Gill as pastor.
After the trial sermon, he was called to this large church, and would have received a large parsonage to live in with a large increase in salary and other amenities.
He announced his departure from the Wainsgate church and preached his farewell sermon on Sunday morning.
After the service, the moving wagons were loaded with his books and furniture, and as they were ready to pull out his congregation gathered around him, and with tears in their eyes begged him to stay.
His wife said, “Oh, John, John, I cannot bear this. We cannot leave these people in need.”
“Neither can I,” exclaimed Fawcett, “and we will not.”
Fawcett ordered the movers to unload the wagons and put everything back in the house as it was before. He was so moved by the sincerity of these common people, the young that he had married, the children he had held upon his knee and the older folks whose sorrows and joys he had shared, that he promised he would stay a little longer.
Although it meant giving up a large congregation, a large salary and all the benefits that he could have had.
Fawcett wrote “Bless Be the Tie” to commemorate this happy day. Fawcett never left Wainsgate. He pastored there for another 54 years until his death in 1817.
During his pastorate at Wainsgate Church, he became renowned for his writing and received the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
He wrote a total of 17 hymns, none as well known as “Bless Be the Tie.” He also started a school for young preachers.
He published an entire volume of hymns and wrote a book titled “Essay on Anger.”
The King of England, King George III, was so impressed after reading it that the Monarch was to offer him “any benefit a King could confer.”
As for the King’s offer, Fawcett called on the Monarch only once and that was to plead for the life of a church member’s son who had received the death sentence and was to be hanged. King George granted the request.
As for himself, the humble minister said that he needed nothing a king could supply, so long as he was permitted to live among the people he loved, the simple people of Wainsgate, whose devotion had inspired him to write our most beloved farewell hymn.
The music for this hymn was composed by Hans George Nageli, who was born May 26, 1773, in Wetzikon, Switzerland.
He was a son of a clergyman and has been called the man “who taught Switzerland to sing.” He helped found several choral societies.

Stories Behind the Hymns is written by Warren Shiver of Biscoe. He can be reached by e-mail at wshiver99@embarqmail.com or by snail mail at P.O. Box 775, Biscoe, NC 27209. Shiver also has self-published a book of 104 hymn stories. Contact him at the address above for more information.