6 June
1882 A.D. The
Blind George Mattheson Pens Immortal Hymn—“O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go”
Mr. Graves tells the story.
Following the story, a few renditions are posted. One thinks of the gripping
power of Romans 8.
Graves, Dan. “Blind Matheson Penned
Immortal Hymn.” Christianity.com. May 2007.
http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/blind-matheson-penned-immortal-hymn-11630603.html. Accessed Apr 28, 2014.
George Matheson was hurting. It
was not physical pain that cut him, or regret for the blindness that had robbed
him of sight by the time he was eighteen. Rather, it was anguish of spirit.
It was on this day, June 6, 1882,
the day of his sister's marriage. His family was staying overnight in Glasgow,
Scotland, leaving him alone in the Manse (a parsonage). Something happened to
forty-year old George as he sat alone there in the darkness of his blindness,
something known only to himself, something which caused him severe mental suffering.
He never confided to anyone what the problem was, and yet his heart cried out
to Christ.
As his heart moaned, words welled
up in his mind, words of comfort. "I had the impression of having it
dictated to me by some inward voice rather than of working it out myself,"
he said later. He jotted the lines down.
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O light that followest all my
way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine's blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine's blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O Joy that seekest me through
pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I climb the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I climb the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life's glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life's glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
In less than five minutes, the
poem was complete. The only revision he made was in line three, where he
changed "I climb" to "I trace." The ease with which the
stanzas came surprised him, because he had never before written verses without
great difficulty. These verses written in pain became one of the great hymns of
the church.
Bibliography:
1. "George Matheson."
http://www.cyberhymnal.org
2. Haeussler, Armin. The Story of
Our Hymns: the handbook to the Hymnal of the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
Saint Louis: Published by the authority of the General Synod of the Evangelical
and Reformed Church by Eden Pub. House, 1954, 1952.
3. Hustad, Don. "Make Me a
Captive, Lord." Crusader Hymns and Hymn Stories. Chicago, Illinois: Billy
Graham Evangelistic Association, 1967, p.39ff.
4. Ryden, Ernest Edwin. The Story of
Christian Hymnody. Rock Island, Ill. : Augustana Press, 1959.
5. Wells, Amos R. A Treasure of
Hymns; Brief biographies of 120 leading hymn- writers and Their best hymns.
Boston: W. A. Wilde company, 1945.
6. Various books of hymn stories and
internet articles.
Last updated May, 2007.
A few renditions:
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