THE STORY OF THE HYMNS AND THEIR WRITERS 203
Hymn 286. Jesus calls us : o er the tumult. CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER (182).
Contributed to the S.P.C.K. Hymns, 1852.
In the original the last line of ver. 4 is Christian, love Me more than these." It is founded on Matt. iv. 18, the beginning of the Gospel for St. Andrew s Day. Apostles is a substitute for St. Andrew in ver. 2.
Hymn 287. Come unto Me, ye weary.
W. C. Dix (128).
Published in the People s Hymnal by Dr. Littledale and J. E. Vaux, 1867.
Mr. Jones {Famous Hymns, p. 322) says that Mr. Dix sent him a manuscript copy of this hymn with this account of it : I was ill and depressed at the time, and it was almost to idle away the hours that I wrote the hymn. I had been ill for many weeks, and felt weary and faint, and the hymn really expresses the languidness of body from which I was suffering at the time. Soon after its composition and it took me some time to write out, for my hand trembled, and I could with difficulty hold the pen I recovered, and I always look back to that hymn as the turning-point in my illness. It is a somewhat curious fact that most of my best known hymns were written when I was suffering from some bodily ailment. Mr. Dykes setting I consider one of the most beautiful in the hymnal. Mr. Dix was almost inclined to say that the tune had much to do with the success which his hymn won.
Hymn 288. O Jesus, Thou art standing. WILLIAM WALSH AM How, D.D. (177).
In the Supplement to Morrell and How s Psalms and Hymns, 1867.
Dr. How said, I composed the hymn early in 1867, after I had been reading a very beautiful poem, entitled " Brothers and a Sermon." The pathos of the verses impressed me very forcibly at the .time. I read them over and over again, and finally, closing the book, I scribbled on an odd scrap of paper my first idea of the verses beginning " O Jesu, Thou art stand ing." I altered them a good deal subsequently, but I am fortunate in being able to say that after the hymn left my hands it was never revised or altered in any way.
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