THEIR AUTHORS AND ORIGIN. 251
who was their pastor from 1844 till the time of his death in 1848, held the same opinion. But the Rev. G. L. Withers, who has heen their pastor nearly seventeen years, saw Mr. Evans s manuscript book about nineteen years ago, and it is his impres sion that this hymn was not in it. It is very much to be regretted that this MS. cannot now be found. An important element of negative evidence against Evans s authorship is, that in the Rev. George Burder s " Supplement " Evans s name is not put to this hymn, at least in the editions published during his life, although Mr. Burder was Mr. Evans s pastor, and when at Coventry knew him well as a neighbouring minister ; and this evidence is strengthened by the fact that in Burder s collection (1784) the name Evans is given to
" Come, thou soul-transforming Spirit," No. 788,
but is not given to
" Hark ! the voice of love and mercy." No. 384.
In "Rippon s Selection" (fifth edition, 1794) this hymn is No. 71. It is given with an additional verse. For the author s name an " F " is put. In a later edition the "F" is changed to " Francis." But not much weight belongs to this fact, because Dr. Rippon knew the hymns of Francis, who was a Baptist minister living at that time, and put his name to them in the early editions. Probably the "F" was a mistake, and the " Francis" a conjecture. It is thought that it is against Evans s claim that, for years during his life, he allowed the name "Francis" to stand against this hymn in " Rippon s Selection."
JOHN FELLOWS. ABOUT 1770.
THERE is one hymn in the " New Congregational Hymn Book" by this author :
" Great God ! now condescend." No. 858.
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