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Memories Of Eighty Years

Creator: Fanny J. Crosby (author)
Date: 1906
Publisher: James H. Earle & Company, Boston
Source: Available at selected libraries
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 2  Figure 3  Figure 4  Figure 5  Figure 6  Figure 7  Figure 8  Figure 9

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"No, I cannot go in today; for I am not dressed well enough." He finally promised to enter on the condition that the children should sing "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Saviour." For more than fifty years he had not darkened the church door; but the old memories began to come back again; and he could not resist their appeal. Two years later he attended a convention at which Dr. Doane was present, and related the story, concluding with the words, "God bless William H. Doane and Fanny Crosby."

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"Rescue the Perishing," as I have intimated, was written after a meeting at one of the New York missions. Sometime after the hymn became known I was at a service one evening and a young man told the story of his conversion. Poor and hungry, he had walked the streets for want of something better to do. He heard the singing at a mission; he went in; and before the service was concluded his heart broke in contrition.

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"I was just ready to perish" he said to me, "but that hymn, by the grace of God saved me."

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As I stood there face to face with that young man, the audience was thrilled with the pathos of our meeting for the first time; and tears were shed in every part of the room.

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"Only a Little Way," said a dear old lady, who had been suffering acute pain, as she looked up into the clear blue sky just as the sun was setting; "'tis only a little way on to my home," and from this I wrote the hymn bearing that title. "Jesus, Dear, I Come to Thee," was a children's song, which I wrote, both words and music, for the book called "Fresh Laurels," in 1867. "Lord, I Am Weary" was written during the winter of 1867, while Mr. Bradbury was in St. Paul, to music which he sent to Sylvester Main. One day, before he went to Minnesota for his health, Mr. Bradbury asked me to write a hymn to the title, "Let the Good Angels Come In"; and when it was finished he said,

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"Fanny, I am more pleased with this than I can tell you, and if there is anything I can do for you, let me know."

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One afternoon Sylvester Main was humming a melody and I said to him,

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"Oh, Mr. Main that is beautiful; and if you will let me, I am going to write a hymn for it."

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"Well" he said in his gentle way, "if you think it is worth it, you may do so." I composed "I Come to Thee," and it was very often sung to Mr. Main's music.

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William F. Sherwin once asked me to write the words to a melody that he had composed for the May Annual, for which several Sunday schools united to sing various hymns and hold public exercises. He asked me to write a piece so smooth that the air would sing itself; and I wrote

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"Sing with a tuneful spirit,
Sing with a cheerful lay,
Praise to thy great Creator,
While on the pilgrim way."

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Within the last five or six years I have written a number of hymns for I. Allan Sankey, among them "O Look and Live," "There's Work to Do," "Never Give Up," "Show Me Thy Way," "Bring Them In" and a "Rallying Song," for the recent Christian Endeavor Convention, the music for which was pronounced by a friend of mine "unusually sweet and beautiful." From childhood Mr. Allan Sankey has been noted for a bright, sunny disposition; and an intense love for the arts, especially that of music, in which he has so eminently distinguished himself in later years. I used to be so fond of his playing that, on several occasions, I have neglected to write hymns, when expected to do so.

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I have already told the incident concerning the first time that "Saved by Grace" was recited in public. That occurred in the summer of 1894; but the words had beep) written and sent to the publishers more than two years previous, although they had not yet been set to music. The hymn itself was called into being through a little incident in a sermon preached by Dr. Howard Crosby who was a distant relative and a dear friend of mine. He said that no Christian should fear death, for if each of us was faithful to the grace given us by Christ, the same grace that teaches us ho in a newspaper; and they were read to me by Mr. Biglow. Not many hours after I heard them I began to write the hymn,

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"Some day the silver chord will break,
And I as now no more shall sing,
But, oh, the joy when I shall wake
Within the palace of the King."

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A friend sends the following story relative to "Saved by Grace." She and a companion were attending one of the auditorium meetings at Northfield; and that hymn was sung. My friend made some remark concerning her acquaintance with me; and a lady, who was sitting directly in front of her, happened to catch it. Turning around she asked eagerly,

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"Did I understand you to say that you know the author of 'Saved by Grace?'" On being assured that she heard correctly, she continued,

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"Will you kindly tell her what this hymn has done for me? Twelve years ago I was assailed by a great temptation at an important crisis in my life; and, although I had been a professing Christian, I was on the point of deciding for the wrong course. In this state of mind I entered a little chapel, not so much to hear the sermon as to listen to the sweet singing, and most of all to think out my own problem. Of the sermon I did not hear one word; but when the soloist began to sing, 'I Shall see Him face to face,' my heart melted. It seemed that God had spoken to me through the voice of that song; I at once decided to take the right path; and ever w to live would also teach us how to die. His remarks were afterward published since I have felt that the hymn saved me. I have longed to see Fanny Crosby; and if you ever meet her, please tell her the story for me."

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