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Of the fourteen songs listed by the author on one reliable website, this is the only hymn with wide circulation, appearing 150 times. This fact does not negate the popularity of this hymn and its appearance in a wide variety of hymnals and song collections. Bridgers remarried in 1914 and continued his long ministry until his retirement in Gainesville, Georgia, in 1945. While indeed hymns are sometimes forged in the fires of tragedy, this appears not to have been case here. One might assume under the circumstances that the composer was in denial. Bridgers' text and tune, if it had been written immediately following the death of his entire family, would certainly not follow a normal pattern of grief with its jaunty melody. Dorsey and Spafford both composed hymn texts and tunes that come from the sorrow of loss and work through their grief in a meaningful way. Perhaps the best evidence that this hymn was not written as a response to a tragic event is internal to the hymn itself. The last line is perhaps an allusion to Revelation 20:6 when the saints "shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." (KJV) I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown
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The final stanza, typical of so many gospel songs, carries us to heaven "far beyond the starry sky" where Jesus will take us when he returns: neath his sheltering wing." The latter image is found in several of the Psalms including 17:8 36:7 57:1 61:4 63:7 and 91:4. The third stanza chooses the metaphor of "waters deep" and "path seems rough and steep" to symbolize the trials of life. Stanza two continues the musical metaphor by contrasting the joy of the first stanza with a life "wrecked by sin and strife" and "discord." In a poetic turn, the author notes that Composers of gospel songs are often less systematic about how they choose and develop scriptural allusions than other hymn writers. The words of that melody are a conflation of two passages, "Fear not, I am with thee" (Isaiah 41:10) and "Peace, be still" from the account of Jesus' calming of the storm on the lake found in the synoptic gospels (Matthew 8:23-27 Mark 4:37-41 Luke 8:23-25). His relationship with Jesus is intimate as Jesus "whispers" a melody "sweet and low" in his heart. The author draws upon a number of metaphors to describe the story of his redemption and the joy that Jesus brought to his life. When had finished the words, picked out the melody on the piano, and his wife's sister wrote down the notes he played to complete the song." Tillman, a well-known publisher in Georgia. " was first published in 1910 by Charlie D. Reynolds provided the following correspondence to the Rev. However, as hymnologist William Reynolds, writer of this column for ten years, has demonstrated, the song was penned the previous year in 1910. The date of the tragic fire - Ma- is crucial because numerous writers have attempted to link the composition of the gospel song with this event. At the conclusion of the revival, March 26, 1911, he received a call that his wife, Sarah, and all three sons, ages five, three, and seven months, had lost their lives in a fire. While he was preaching a revival at Middlesboro, Kentucky, Bridgers left his wife and three small sons with her parents in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Scholars agree that Bridgers experienced an immense loss in his life. It is common for some writers about hymns to fill in the gaps in a story with imagination rather than fact. If one visits Internet sources, various heart-rending accounts exist about "There's within my heart," some with immense detail of the events surrounding the creation of this hymn. 377) after his four daughters were tragically lost at sea in 1873. Spafford wrote "It Is Well With My Soul" ( UM Hymnal, No. 474) was composed in 1932 shortly after his wife's death in childbirth followed by the death of the infant. Dorsey's "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" ( UM Hymnal, No. Indeed, there are several famous examples of such hymns. In addition to pastorates, he served as an evangelist in the southern United States and abroad, including mission activities in Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Russia.Īt first glance, this hymn appears to be a quintessential example of a song of amazing faith born out of tragedy. Though he did not graduate, he was the pastor of congregations in Kentucky, North Carolina, and Georgia. Born in North Carolina, he attended Asbury Seminary in Kentucky. Luther Burgess Bridgers (1884-1948) was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Fear not, I am with thee, peace be still,