Jesus, Lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly;
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high!
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
Till the storm of life is past,
Safe into the haven guide;
O receive my soul at last!
The date of its composition—the year 1739—indicates that this was one of Charles Wesley's first hymns, it having been written soon after his
thirtieth birthday. The original has five verses,
the third being now omitted. This hymn delineates
so faithfully the desires and aspirations of every
true believer in the Lord Jesus, that it has become
a special favourite among Christians of all denominations.
Though the figure of speech may vary as the hymn proceeds, yet the grand thought of the writer is maintained throughout. Thus in one line is depicted a storm-tossed voyager on the sea of life crying out for shelter until the tempest is past, while in another we can picture the timid, tearful child of God nestling closer and still closer to the tender Lover of souls, as come the faltering words:
Other refuge have I none;
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee!
Leave, ah, leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me!
Many pretty stories still linger around the origin of this hymn. One is that as Wesley sat in his study, a little bird, pursued by a hawk, flew into the open window, and sought refuge in the breast of his coat, where the baffled hawk did not dare to follow. This and other stories, charming and romantic though they may appear, have no foundation of fact, and the most that can be said is that "Jesus, Lover of my soul" was written shortly after the conversion of the author.
Charles Wesley, the youngest of nineteen children, was born at Epworth Rectory, Lincolnshire, in the year 1708. He is credited with having published more than six thousand hymns, and left behind him at his death two thousand in manuscript. In this vast number it is not to be wondered at that, owing, doubtless, to the trend of the times, a large percentage of Wesley's hymns have fallen into disuse; nevertheless, there are a considerable number of outstanding merit which are still amongst our best loved hymns.
His strenuous advocacy of the use of hymns in public worship, in conjunction with his illustrious brother, John, powerfully influenced the course of English hymnody. He died on March 29th, 1788, in his eighty-first year.
Pages might be filled with incidents associated with Charles Wesley's most famous hymn. Years ago, a vessel, while approaching the English coast in a terrific gale, met with disaster, and all on board perished. After the catastrophe, a huge wave carried the shattered wreck up among the rocks, where the ebbing tide left it high and dry. In the captain's cabin a hymn book was found lying on the table. It was opened at a particular page, and in it still lay the pencil which had marked the favourite lines of the Christian sailor. While the storm raged outside, the captain had drawn a pencil line beneath these words of cheer:
Jesus, Lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high.
From Stories and Sketches of Our Hymns and Their Writers by David J. Beattie. Kilmarnock, Scotland: John Ritchie, [1934].
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