THE STORY OF THE HYMNS AND THEIR WRITERS 429
the Bristol Channel, and before me the vast Atlantic Ocean. There is not one inch of land from the place on which my foot rests to the vast American Continent. This is the place, though probably not so far advanced on the tremendous cliff, where Charles Wesley composed those fine lines
Lo ! on a narrow neck of land, Twixt two unbounded seas I stand.
The point of rock itself is about three feet broad at its termination, and the fearless adventurer will here place his foot in order to be able to say that he has been on the uttermost inch of land in the British Empire westward ; and on this spot the foot of your husband now rests.
A recent discovery has shown that the hymn was written in America. When Charles Wesley was secretary to General Oglethorpe, he stayed at his residence on Jekyl Island, close to the governor s settlements upon St. Simon s Island, near the coast of Southern Georgia. Some of the records and corre spondence of the early colonists have fortunately been preserved, and are now in the custody of the Georgia Historical Society. Mr. Franklin H. Heard recently examined these original papers, and found many interesting facts, and among them something concerning this hymn.
Oglethorpe s wife, in a letter to her father-in-law, wrote, The Secretary of the Colony, Charles Wesley, dwells with us upon the island, and is zealous to save the souls of the Indians who come hither to fish and hunt. . . . Mr. Wesley has the gift of verse, and has written many sweet hymns which we sing.
In a letter to this lady, who was staying at Savannah, Charles Wesley wrote from Jekyl Island, in 1736, Last evening I wandered to the north end of the island, and stood upon the narrow point which your ladyship will recall as there projecting into the ocean. The vastness of the watery waste, as compared with my standing-place, called to mind the briefness of human life and the immensity of its consequences, and my surroundings inspired me to write the enclosed hymn, beginning
Lo ! on a narrow neck of land, Twixt two unbounded seas I stand
which, I trust, may pleasure your ladyship, weak and feeble as it is when compared with the songs of the sweet Psalmist of Israel.
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