October 2, 2005
Have
faith in God –
Thank Him for mothers;
Have faith in God –
May friends and brothers;
Have faith in God –
Live life for others.
Have faith, dear friend, in God.
Rescue the Perishing
Frances (Fanny) Jane Crosby, 1820-1915
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion — to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. Isaiah 61:1-3.
One of the most tragic words in our vocabulary is the word perishing, yet
it was a word that Jesus Himself often used to describe people who are
spiritually alienated from God.
Fanny Crosby, often called "the queen of gospel
music", recalled how she wrote this challenging hymn:
I remember writing that hymn in the year 1869. Like many of my hymns, it was written following a personal experience at the New York City Bowery Mission. I usually tried to get to the mission at least one night a week to talk to "my boys". I was addressing a large company of working men one hot summer evening, when the thought kept forcing itself on my mind that some mother's boy must be rescued that night or he might be eternally lost. So I made a pressing plea that if there was a boy present who had wandered from his mother's home and teaching, he should come to me at the end of the service. A young man of eighteen came forward--
"Did you mean me, Miss Crosby? I promised my mother to meet her in heaven, but as I am now living, that will be impossible."
We prayed for him and suddenly he arose with a new light in his eyes--"Now I am ready to meet my mother in Heaven, for I have found God."
A few days before, William Doane, composer of the music, had sent Fanny Crosby a tune for a new song to be titled "Rescue the Perishing". It was to be based on the text "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that My House may be filled" (Luke 14:23).
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
Though they are slighting Him, still He is waiting,
Waiting the penitent child to receive;
Plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently;
He will forgive if they only believe.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;
Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,
Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
Rescue the perishing, duty demands it;
Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide;
Back to the narrow way patiently win them;
Tell the poor wand’rer a Savior has died.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
Have Faith in God by H.M.S.
Richards, Used by Permission