John Fawcett – birth, Jan. 16, 1740

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one
Our comforts and our cares.

We share each other’s woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

This glorious hope revives
Our courage by the way;
While each in expectation lives,
And longs to see the day.

From sorrow, toil and pain,
And sin, we shall be free,
And perfect love and friendship reign
Through all eternity.

John Fawcett was born this date (1/16/1740) in Lidget Green, Yorkshire, England.

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Augustus Montague Toplady – birth, Nov. 4, 1740

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Toplady though English, attended Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.  He was ordained in the Church of England in 1762 but left it in 1775 to pastor a Calvinist church.  He was converted (at 15) through a Methodist outreach.  It is no secret that he later openly opposed to teachings of John Wesley but note the cry in the 1st stanza for the “double cure” and for purety.

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