MUSIC. The tune is by Robert Lowry, 1826-99, a Baptist minister who held a pastorate in Brooklyn, N. Y., and did much to promote the gospel song movement. He edited a series of eight books for Bigelow and Main, with such titles as Bright Jewels and Pure Gold, to which he added a large number of tunes of his own composition. The public bought these books by the hundreds of thousands. Lowry had no serious training in music and did not take up composition until middle life. He was concerned mostly with the production of music which was popularly effective.
Watts’ hymn appears in many hymn books with the more dignified tune, “St. Thomas,” by Williams ([No. 269]).
444. I lay my sins on Jesus
Horatius Bonar, 1808-89
The hymn, entitled “The Fulness of Jesus,” was written for children in a desire to provide something which children could sing and appreciate in divine worship. It is generally supposed to be the first hymn Bonar wrote. He used to say of this hymn that it might be good gospel but that it was not good poetry. Bonar loved children and for them his first hymns were written.
For further comments on Horatius Bonar see [Hymn 129].
MUSIC. PRYSGOL, composed by W. Owen, 1814-93, was taken from the Hymnary of the United Church of Canada. No information regarding the composer or the origin of the hymn has been traced.
445. I’ve found a Friend, O such a Friend
James G. Small, 1817-88
This hymn was written by a minister of the Free Church of Scotland and appeared in The Revival Hymn Book, 2d series, 1863, and later in the author’s Psalms and Sacred Songs, 1866.