FANNY JANE CROSBY

FANNY JANE CROSBY

             Some info from:  http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/c/r/o/crosby_fj.htm

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

Died: February 12, 1915, 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.  Her se­cu­lar works in­clude:

• The Blind Girl, 1844
• Monterey and Other Po­ems, 1851
• A Wreath of Co­lum­bia’s Flow­ers, 1858
• Bells at Ev­en­ing and Other Vers­es (New York: Big­low & Main, 1897)

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:  [See the hymntime site for the text of the poem.]

Sources

• Anderson, Ro­bert and Gail North. Gos­pel Mu­sic En­cy­clo­pe­dia.  [PG 201] New York: Ster­ling Pub­lish­ing Co., Inc., 1979.
• Crosby, Fran­ces Jane. Mem­o­ries of Eighty Years. Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: James H. Earle & Com­pa­ny, 1906.
• Hall, Ja­cob Henry. Bi­o­gra­phy of Gos­pel Song and Hymn Writ­ers. New York: Flem­ing H. Re­vell Com­pa­ny, 1914. , pp. 37-42
• Ju­li­an, John. Dic­tion­ary of Hymn­ol­o­gy, se­cond edi­tion. Lon­don: J. Mur­ray, 1907, pp. 1203-1205, 1720
• McCutchan, Ro­bert Guy. Our Hymn­o­dy. New York: Meth­od­ist Book Concern, 1937, p. 273-4, 277, 279, 287-90
• Miller, Ba­sil. Fan­ny Cros­by: God’s Sing­ing An­gel. Pas­a­de­na, Cal­i­for­nia: World-Wide Miss­ions, 1950.
• Rothwell, p. 47

Pseudonyms (see Crosby, p. 627)        When publishers began using a lot of Fanny’s poems for hymns, they soon began to worry that people would not sing them if the words were written by only a few people.  As a result of this idea, Fanny used pseudonyms when signing her poems.  The list of 229 different names is listed on the “HymnTime” website.

  Hymns  The “HymnTime” website lists 557 titles of her songs now.  We are all blessed by the efforts of those who operate this website.

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I think the success and popularity of her hymns was not only the words and the rhyming, but also because of the blessings of the Lord on the minds of the musicians who composed music for her songs.

It is hard for me to choose just one song to put with Fanny Crosby’s information, but I think I will use “TO GOD BE THE GLORY” because of a story that goes along with this song.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY            (1873)    Key:  Ab    3/4

      Words:   Fanny J Crosby, in Bright­est and Best, by W H Doane & Ro­bert Low­ry   (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Big­low & Main, 1875), num­ber 118.       Music:   William H Doane

1.  To God be the glory -great things He hath done

So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,

Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,

And opened the life-gate that all may go in.

CHORUS:

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice!

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice!

O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,

And give Him the glory great things He hath done.

2.  O perfect redemption the purchase of blood,

To every believer the promise of God;

The vilest offender who truly believes,

That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

3.  Great things He hath taught us, Great things He hath done,

And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;

But purer and higher, and greater will be,

Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see.

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TO GOD BE THE GLORY

                        A Hymn story by Cliff Barrows[1]

    Can a hymn die, can it live again?  The life story of “To God Be The Glory” proves that the answer is “yes”!  Originally composed in America sometime before 1875, it was almost immediately forgotten in it’s native land.  In 1954, however, “To God Be The Glory” was rediscovered and acclaimed as a new favorite

    In Great Britain this same hymn never faded into oblivion as it did in the United States.  I had heard it sung there in 1952 during one of our early visits.  Later, it was suggested for inclusion in the songbook we were compiling for the London Crusade of 1954.  Because of its strong text of praise and its attractive melody, I agreed.   We introduced the hymn in the early days of those meetings in Harringay Arena.  As a result, Billy Graham asked that we repeat it often because he was impressed by the enthusiastic presentation of the audience.  In the closing weeks of the crusade it became our theme hymn, repeated almost every night.  The words expressed our praise to God, who was doing wondrous things in Britain

    Returning to America we brought the hymn with us and used it in the Nashville, Tennessee Crusade in August, 1954.  It was quickly adopted by many church groups and has recently been included in several new hymnals, including the Baptist Hymnal (Southern Baptist) and the Trinity Hymnal (Orthodox Presbyterian).

    Why “To God Be The Glory” was so late in receiving recognition in its homeland may always remain a mystery.  It is not mentioned in the writings of either Fanny Crosby, author of the words, or W H Doane, composer of the music.  Evidently the songleader, Ira D Sankey, took it to Great Britain when he went there with evangelist D L Moody in 1873.  Sankey included it in his Sacred Songs and Solos, a hymnbook first published in England in 1874 and still used today. 

    For some unknown reason, the song did not appear in the important Gospel Hymns series of [song]books which Sankey published in America after his return from Britain in 1875.  Through the years “To God Be The Glory” has been included in several American Hymnals.  But until 1954 it failed to find its rightful place in the singing of our congregations.

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I will be posting the words to several more of Fanny Crosby hymns as time goes by.   In the mean time, if you don’t happen to know this one, here is a link to a good presentation of this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV6z3TcYOBQ

            [posted by “TheHymnsOfPraise” website]

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[1] Crusader Hymns and Hymn Stories; by The Billy Graham Team,  Special Crusade Edition, Hope Publishing Company, Chicago, IL  60644, pg 93