Andrew Reed

Born:  November 27, 1787, St. Clement Danes, Middlesex, England.

Died:  February 25, 1862, Cambridge Heath, Middlesex, England.

Buried:  Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, London.
He wrote his own epitaph:

I was born yesterday,
I shall die tomorrow,
And I must not spend today
In telling what I have done,
But in doing what I may for HIM
Who has done all for me.
I sprang from the people, I have lived for the people–
The most for the most unhappy; and the people when
They know it will not suffer me to die out of loving remembrance.

    Husband of hymnist Elizabeth Holmes Reed, Andrew attended Hackney College, London, and became a Congregational minister. He was pastor at the New Road Chapel, St. George’s-in-the-East, then at Wycliffe Chapel, which he helped build in 1830. He also earned a degree from Yale College, and founded the London Orphan Asylum and Reed’s School in Cobham, Surrey. He wrote 21 total hymns.

His works in­clude:

• Hymn Book, Prepared from Dr. Watts’ Psalms and Hymns and Other Hymns, with Some Originals, 1824
• Wycliffe Supplement, 1872

Hymns

1. Ah, Jesus, Let Me Hear Thy Voice
2. Come, Let Us Strike Our Harps Afresh
3. Come, My Redeemer, Come
4. Gentle Savior, Look on Me
5. Gracious Lord, as Thou Hast Taught Us
6. Hark! Hark! The Notes of Joy
7. Holy Ghost, with Light Divine
8. Listen, Sinner, Mercy Hails You
9. Rich Are the Joys of Solitude
10. Spirit Divine, Attend Our Prayer
11. There [Comes] Is an Hour When I Must Part
12. Ye Saints Your Music Bring