Peter Williams – death, Aug. 8, 1796

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
[or Guide me, O Thou great Redeemer…]
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven,
Feed me till I want no more;
Feed me till I want no more.

 

Open now the crystal fountain,
Whence the healing stream doth flow;
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead me all my journey through.
Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer,
Be Thou still my Strength and Shield;
Be Thou still my Strength and Shield.

 

Lord, I trust Thy mighty power,
Wondrous are Thy works of old;
Thou deliver’st Thine from thralldom,
Who for naught themselves had sold:
Thou didst conquer, Thou didst conquer,
Sin, and Satan and the grave,
Sin, and Satan and the grave.

 

When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of deaths, and hell’s destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs of praises, songs of praises,
I will ever give to Thee;
I will ever give to Thee.

 

Musing on my habitation,
Musing on my heav’nly home,
Fills my soul with holy longings:
Come, my Jesus, quickly come;
Vanity is all I see;
Lord, I long to be with Thee!
Lord, I long to be with Thee!

 

 

Peter Williams, died on this date,8/8/1796 in Wales.  He translated the above into English.  He was born1/15/1723 at Llansadurnin, Carmarthenshire, Wales.

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Henry Vaughan – death, Apr. 23, 1695

My soul, there is a country,
Afar beyond the stars,
Where stands a wingèd sentry,
All skillful in the wars.

There, above noise and danger,
Sweet Peace sits crowned with smiles,
And One born in a manger
Commands the beauteous files.

He is thy gracious Friend
And (O my soul, awake!)
Did in pure love descend,
To die here for thy sake.

If thou canst get but thither,
There grows the flower of peace,
The rose that cannot wither,
Thy fortress, and thy ease.

Leave, then, thy foolish ranges;
For none can thee secure
But One, who never changes,
Thy God, thy Life, thy Cure.

Henry Vaughan dies this date, 4/23/1695, at New­ton St. Bridg­et, Wales.  He attended Jesus Coll­ege (Ox­ford) but did not graduate.  He had been born 4/17/1622, at New­ton-By-Usk, Llan­saintffi­ad, Wales.

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William Tyndale – martyred, Oct. 6, 1536

 …the…doctor [unnamed Romanist] burst out into these blasphemous words, “We were better to be without God’s laws than the pope’s.”  …Tyndale, hearing this, full of godly zeal, and not bearing that blasphemous saying replied, “I defy the pope, and all his laws;” and added, ‘if God spared him life, ere many years he would cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than the he did.’

                – John Fox, Book of Martyrs (unknown printer/date, reprint, Grand Rapids:

                                Zondervan Publishing House, 1963), 178.

 

William Tyndale was martyred this date 10/6/1536 at the town of Vilvorde (18 English miles from Antwerp.  His dying words were “Lord!  Open the king of England’s eyes.”

He was a great Bible translator giving us the foundation for much of the classic Authorized Version.  Tyndale was born ca. 1494 near the border of Wales.

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Frances Ridley Havergal – death, Jun 3, 1879

I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed,
That thou might ransomed be, and raised up from the dead
I gave, I gave My life for thee, what hast thou given for Me?
I gave, I gave My life for thee, what hast thou given for Me?

My Father’s house of light, My glory circled throne
I left for earthly night, for wanderings sad and lone;
I left, I left it all for thee, hast thou left aught for Me?
I left, I left it all for thee, hast thou left aught for Me?

I suffered much for thee, more than thy tongue can tell,
Of bitterest agony, to rescue thee from hell.
I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee, what hast thou borne for Me?
I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee, what hast thou borne for Me?

And I have brought to thee, down from My home above,
Salvation full and free, My pardon and My love;
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to Me?
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to Me?

Frances Ridley Havergal died 6/3/1879 at Caswall Bay, near Swansea, Wales (had been born in England). The daughter of hymnist William Havergal, she is said to have been reading by age four and writing verse at seven. She learned Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and memorized the Psalms, the book of Isaiah, and most of the New Testament.

 “I Gave My Life Thee” was Havergal’s first hymn (cyberhymnal lists eighty hymns).

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Henry Vaughan – birth, Apr. 17, 1622

“They Are All Gone into the World of Light”

 

They are all gone into the world of light!
And I alone sit ling’ring here;
Their very memory is fair and bright,
And my sad thoughts doth clear.

 

It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast,
Like stars upon some gloomy grove,
Or those faint beams in which this hill is drest,
After the sun’s remove.

 

I see them walking in an air of glory,
Whose light doth trample on my days:
My days, which are at best but dull and hoary,
Mere glimmering and decays.

 

O holy Hope! and high Humility,
High as the heavens above!
These are your walks, and you have show’d them me
To kindle my cold love.

 

Dear, beauteous Death! the jewel of the just,
Shining nowhere, but in the dark;
What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust
Could man outlook that mark!

 

He that hath found some fledg’d bird’s nest, may know
At first sight, if the bird be flown;
But what fair well or grove he sings in now,
That is to him unknown.

 

And yet as angels in some brighter dreams
Call to the soul, when man doth sleep:
So some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes
And into glory peep.

 

If a star were confin’d into a tomb,
Her captive flames must needs burn there;
But when the hand that lock’d her up, gives room,
She’ll shine through all the sphere.

 

O Father of eternal life, and all
Created glories under thee!
Resume thy spirit from this world of thrall
Into true liberty.

 

Either disperse these mists, which blot and fill
My perspective still as they pass,
Or else remove me hence unto that hill,
Where I shall need no glass.

 

Henry Vaughan was born this date (4/17/1622) New­ton-By-Usk, Llan­saintffi­ad, Wales. He later practiced medicine at Breconshire and Newton.  He was influenced by George Herbert.  He also wrote hymns one of which, “My Soul, There Is a Country,” can be heard on TheCyberHymnal

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George Herbert – death, Mar. 1, 1633

“Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes error a fault, and truth discourtesy.”

 

“Dare to be true. Nothing can need a lie: a fault which needs it most, grows two thereby.”

 

“He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for everyone has need to be forgiven.”

 

“The devil divides the world between atheism and superstition.”

 

“He that is not handsome at 20, nor strong at 30, nor rich at 40, nor wise at 50, will never be handsome, strong, rich or wise.”

 

George Herbert died this date (3/1/1633) Bermerton, England.  He had been born 4/3/1593, Montgomery, Wales.

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