469. Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole
James Nicholson, 19th cent.
A hymn that has brought joy and release to many sin-burdened souls, especially encouraging with its promise in stanza 4:
“To those who have sought Thee
Thou never saidst, No.”
It is built around the verse
“Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7).
The hymn appeared in Sankey’s Songs and Solos.
The author, James Nicholson, was an American Methodist minister of the 19th century.
MUSIC. FISCHER. The composer, William Gustavus Fischer, 1835-1912, was born in Baltimore, Md. Moving to Philadelphia in early life, he received a good musical education and became a teacher of piano and singing, and conductor of choral groups and Welsh singing societies in that city. For ten years he was Professor of Music at Girard College, and at the same time became associated with J. E. Gould in a flourishing piano business, under the firm name of Gould and Fischer. In 1876, he led the Moody and Sankey choir in the great building at Thirteenth and Market Streets in Philadelphia.