History of the Hymns

‘Rescue the Perishing’ (1869) Page 591
Words: Frances “Fanny” Jane Crosby (1820 – 1915)
Music: William Howard Doane (1832 - 1915)
Fanny Crosby was sixty years old when she visited Chicago’s Bowery Mission for the first time in 1880. She little dreamed that it would provide the inspiration for one of her most popular religious poems.
When asked to speak at the close of the service, she rose and said, “There may be a man here who has gone as far as a man can go. If he is present, I want to shake hands with him.” A man did come forward, and finally accepted Christ as Savior.
Following that initial visit, Fanny Crosby brought many lost souls back into the joy of the Kingdom of God. On another evening that same year she gave this invitation, “If there is a lad here, who has wandered from his mother’s Christian teachings, I would like to pray with him at the altar at the close of the service.”
A young man came forward and they prayer together. He rose from his knees with a new light in his eyes, and said, “Now I can meet my mother in heaven for I have found her God.” Later a friend remarked, “Isn’t it wonderful what these rescue missions are doing?”
Fanny could hardly wait to get home to her desk and begin writing. —Ernest K. Emurian

Meanwhile…1869…138 years ago…in the United States…
President: Ulysses S. Grant…V.P.: Schuyler Colfax
Gambling was legalized in Nevada
The waffle iron was patented in Troy, NY
Charles Elmer Hires sold his 1st root beer in Philadelphia, Pa.
The 1st college football game was played (Rutgers vs. Princeton)
George Westinghouse patented the steam power brake
Thomas Edison patented the electric voting machine
Dr. Thomas B. Welch, a wine steward at a church,
“pasteurized” grape juice to produce unfermented wine.
Major General William F. Rogers was mayor of Buffalo
The “skew” arch on Jackson Street in Silver Creek was built