“There is no mistake,” said the great artist. “I did not put a latch on the outside of the door because it can only be opened from within. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself cannot enter an unwilling heart; it must be opened to Him. He must be invited to enter.”
Bishop How’s hymn pictures in language what Holman Hunt put into his celebrated canvass.
“O Jesus, Thou art standing” is not the only famous hymn written by Bishop How. His lovely New Year’s hymn, “Jesus, Name of wondrous love,” and his All Saints’ hymn, “For all the saints who from their labors rest,” have won a place forever in English hymnody. “O Word of God Incarnate,” “We give Thee but Thine own” and “Summer suns are glowing” also have found their way into a large number of the standard hymn-books.
The talented bishop died in the year 1897, mourned not only by those who had learned to love him because of his noble Christian character, but also by those who had come to know him through his beautiful hymns. With the passing of only three decades since his death, there is increasing evidence that Bishop How will be numbered among the great hymn-writers of the Christian Church.
A Blind Man’s Hymn of Faith
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.