COMMUNION.
“BREAD OF HEAVEN, ON THEE WE FEED.”
This hymn of Josiah Conder, copying the physical metaphors of the 6th of John, is still occasionally used at the Lord's Supper.
Vine of Heaven, Thy blood supplies
This blest cup of sacrifice,
Lord, Thy wounds our healing give,
To Thy Cross we look and live.
The hymn is notable for the felicity with which it combines imagery and reality. Figure and fact are always in sight of each other.
Josiah Conder was born in London, September 17, 1789. He edited the Eclectic Review, and was the author of numerous prose works on historic and religious subjects. Rev. Garrett Horder says that more of his hymns are in common use now than those of any other except Watts and Doddridge. More in proportion to the relative number may be nearer the truth. In his lifetime Conder wrote about sixty hymns. He died Dec. 27, 1855.