78 THE METHODIST HYMN-BOOK ILLUSTRATED
Hymn 51. Eternal Light ! eternal Light ! THOMAS BINNEY, D.D. (1798-1874).
Dr. Binney was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and was Con gregational minister at Bedford, Newport (Isle of Wight), and King s Weigh House Chapel, London. He was one of the most powerful and influential ministers of his day. He said in 1866 that this hymn was written about forty years before that time, and set to music by Power, of the Strand, on behalf of some charitable object to which the funds went. The preacher was sitting at his study window in Newport, watching the sun set. He lingered till the stars rose. Then it struck him that the sky was never free from light it was eternal. The lines of his great hymn gradually began to take shape. He closed the window and retired to his own room. Before he went to rest the hymn was written. The third verse, O, how shall I, whose native sphere, was often on his lips during his last illness.
Holy Father, whom we praise, is a Sunday evening hymn of Dr. Binney s ; but it has not attained wide popularity.
Hymn 52. Lord God, by whom all change is wrought.
THOMAS HORNBLOWER GILL.
Written in 1869 ; suggested by St. Augustine s Immutabilis mutans omnia ; first printed in Songs of the Spirit, New York, 1871.
Mr. Gill was born at Birmingham, 1819, and educated at King Edward s School under Dr. Jeune. He was brought up a Unitarian, but early learned to delight in Dr. Watts s songs. In after years, the contrast between their native force and fullness and their dwindled presentation in Unitarian hymn- books began that estrangement from his hereditary faith which afterwards became complete. 3 He has written about two hundred hymns, which combine great tenderness and purity of style. His days of retirement were spent at Blackheath.
Hymn 53. Far off we need not rove.
CHARLES WESLEY (i).
Hymns on the Acts of the Apostles (left in MS.) ; Works, xii. 342. Acts xvii. 27, 28.
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