Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Thursday, August 28, 2014

28 August 1906 A.D. Mr. (Rev.) George Matheson Passes—A Blind Scots Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer.



28 August 1906 A.D.  Mr. (Rev.) George Matheson Passes—A Blind Scots Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer.


A few renditions of his famous hymn “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.” 



A few renditions:








A few notes from Wiki-bio.


George Matheson FRSE (March 27, 1842 – August 28, 1906) was a Scottish minister and hymn writer.


Contents 





Life



Born in Glasgow, to George Matheson, a merchant and Jane Matheson (a second cousin), he was the eldest of eight. He was educated at Glasgow Academy and the University of Glasgow, where he graduated first in classics, logic and philosophy. In his twentieth year he became totally blind, but he held to his resolve to enter the ministry, and gave himself to theological and historical study. In 1879 the University of Edinburgh conferred upon him the honorary degree of D.D.. In 1890, he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, upon the proposal of Sir William Thomson, Robert Flint, Hugh Macmillan and James Lindsay. He died suddenly of apoplexy (stroke) on the 28th of August 1906 in Edinburgh and is buried in the Glasgow Necropolis. He never married.


Service



He started as an assistant pastor in 1866. His first ministry began in 1868 at Innellan, on the Argyll coast between Dunoon and Toward. He stayed 18 years. His books on Aids to the Study of German Theology, Can the Old Faith live with the New?, The Growth of the Spirit of Christianity from the First Century to the Dawn of the Lutheran Era, established his reputation as a liberal and spiritually minded theologian; and Queen Victoria invited him to preach at Balmoral. She had his sermon on Job published.


In 1886 he moved to Edinburgh, where he became minister of St. Bernard's Parish Church for 13 years. Here his chief work as a preacher was done.


In 1879, he declined an invitation to the pastorate of Crown Court, London, in succession to Dr. John Gumming (1807–1881). In 1881 he was chosen as Baird lecturer, and took for his subject Natural Elements of Revealed Theology, and in 1882 he was the St Giles lecturer, his subject being Confucianism. In 1890 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the University of Aberdeen gave him its honorary LL.D., and in 1899 he was appointed Gifford lecturer by that university, but declined on grounds of health. In the same year he severed his active connection with St. Bernard's.


Published works



One of his hymns, "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go," has passed into the popular hymnology of the Christian Church. Matheson himself wrote of the composition:


"I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring from on high." [1]


"O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go" was written on the evening of Matheson’s sister’s marriage. Years before, he had been engaged, until his fiancée learned that he was going blind—that there was nothing the doctors could do—and she told him that she could not go through life with a blind man. He went blind while studying for the ministry, and his sister had been the one to care for him through the years, but now she was gone. He was now 40, and his sister’s marriage brought a fresh reminder of his own heartbreak. It was in the midst of this circumstance and intense sadness that the Lord gave Matheson this hymn, which he said was written in five minutes.


Matheson published only one volume of verse, Sacred Songs.[2] All of which he commented 'I simply followed the impression of the moment' [3] His exegesis owes its interest to his subjective resources rather than to breadth of learning; his power lay in spiritual vision rather than balanced judgment, and in the vivid apprehension of the factors which make the Christian personality, rather than in constructive doctrinal statement. His other writings[4] include :


  • Can the Old Faith Live with the New
  • The Psalmist & The Scientist
  • Spiritual Development of St Paul
  • The Distinctive Message of the Old Religions


References



Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 


Bailey, Albert Edward (1950). The Gospel in Hymns. New York: Charles Scribner's sons. pp. 457–461. 


Julian, John (June 1907). A Dictionary of Hymnology. London: John Murray. 


Cyber Hymnal. "George Matheson". Retrieved 2010-02-18. [dead link]


Brady, Gary. "Bio 05 George Matheson". Retrieved 2007-02-18. 


Notes



  1. Jump up ^ O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go at the Cyber Hymnal
  2. Jump up ^ Matheson , George, Sacred Songs , W M Blackwood & Sons London kindle ebook ASIN B008UC9ER0
  3. Jump up ^ Preface to Matheson , George, Sacred Songs , W M Blackwood & Sons London kindle ebook ASIN B008UC9ER0
  4. Jump up ^ Further reading per index to Sacred Songs , W M Blackwood & Sons London kindle ebook ASIN B008UC9ER0

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