At church yesterday we sang two hymns by the famous blind American hymn writer, Fanny J Crosby (AKA Frances van Alstyne). She had a very difficult life. Blinded by accident at the age of 6 weeks, trapped in a loveless marriage to name only two of her problems. She is said to have written over 8,000 hymns which have prduced millions of copies. OK - not all of her hymns are equally good but she wrote some crackers. Yesterday we sang "Blessed Assurance" and "To God be the Glory". Great hymns. One of my own personal favourites is "A wonderful Saviour is Jesus my Lord". Her hymns are often sung too quickly. The racy tunes tend to get faster and faster, so that the congregation lose touch with the words, which is a great shame.
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