Fanny J. Crosby

Fanny J. Crosby

Fanny Crosby is a well-known hymn author, born in 1820. Just six weeks after her birth, she developed an eye infection. The family doctor was out of town, so they called on a traveling doctor who prescribed a hot mustard poultice to be applied to the eyes. The infection subsided, but the unorthodox treatment burned her corneas and rendered Fanny mostly blind. The best her vision could do was discern between night and day. One well-meaning preacher told her, “I think it is a great pity that the Master did not give you sight when he showered so many other gifts upon you.” Fanny replied, "Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I was born blind? Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior."

Even as a child, Fanny never harbored resentment against the quack doctor who blinded her. As an eight-year-old child, she wrote a poem,
Oh, what a happy soul I am, although I cannot see!
I am resolved that in this world contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't,
To weep and sigh because I'm blind, I cannot, and I won't!
Fanny’s father died a year after her birth, and Fanny’s mother was forced to take work as a maid. Fanny’s grandmother Eunice cared for her, and the two became very close. Eunice spent hours walking with Fanny, in the cities and in the fields, taking the time to describe to her granddaughter in vivid detail the sights around her. Eunice spent many hours reading the Bible to Fanny. Fanny’s amazing memory was recognized by her grandmother and, even as a child, Fanny had completely memorized the Pentateuch, the Gospels, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and many Psalms – being able to cite chapter and verse of each.

When Fanny was 15, she was granted admission to the New York Institute of the Blind. She stayed there 12 years as a student, then for 11 years as a teacher, resigning only to marry another blind teacher at the school, and former pupil of hers, Alexander Van Alstyne, eleven years her junior.

Fanny and Alexander had one child, who died shortly after birth. Fanny was so devastated by this, she never would speak of it – even to her closest friends. Years later, a friend came by for a short visit asking her, as was often requested of her, to compose words for a tune he had. However, he said he only had 40 minutes before he had to leave to catch a train. She heard the music, retreated to her room, and emerged thirty minutes later with the complete lyrics to “Safe in the Arms of Jesus”, a song which has given a great deal of comfort to grieving parents since it was published. Fanny was known to often tell grieving parents, “remember, your child is safely in the arms of Jesus.”

“Blessed Assurance” was another hymn abruptly written. A friend of hers, Phoebe Knapp, had composed a tune and played it for Fanny. Fanny immediately clapped her hands and said, “Oh! That says ‘Blessed Assurance’!” and penned the words immediately. Fanny’s music had been made very popular both through her publishing and through the ministry of D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey, who were both very fond of her music. Fanny was embarrassed by the recognition, and refused to be acknowledged during Moody’s crusades. One day, during a Moody/Sankey revival service, Fanny arrived and the church was so packed there were no seats available. Moody’s son, Will, offered her his arm and offered to help her. As he was walking her to the front of the sanctuary, the song switched to “Blessed Assurance.” Will walked her up on to the platform for a seat. When the elder Moody saw her, he stopped the singing and told the congregation, “Praise the Lord, here is the author of this very song!” Fanny received a thunderous ovation.

In 1869, while addressing some industrial workers in Cincinnati, Fanny had an overwhelming conviction that “some mother’s boy must be rescued tonight, or not at all.” After the talk, a young man of about eighteen approached her. “Do you mean me?” he asked. “I promised my mother to meet her in Heaven, but the way I have been living, I do not think that will be possible.” Fanny spoke to him and led him to Christ. Returning to her room that night, her thoughts were on the words “Rescue the Perishing.” She did not sleep until she had written the entire hymn. A friend composed the tune the following day.

About thirty-five years later, she was recounting the story behind the hymn “Rescue the Perishing” during a service. Afterward, a man approached her and told her that he was the boy she spoke to. They chatted for a while about his life of service since then when, overcome with emotion, the man abruptly left. She never heard from him again but described that encounter as one of the most gratifying experiences of her life.

“Rescue the Perishing” became sort of a theme for the latter part of Fanny’s life. Although the royalties for Fanny’s publishing could have allowed the couple to live comfortably, they chose to live sparsely, giving away whatever they didn’t require. The blind couple lived in a cramped apartment in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, very close to some of Manhattan’s worst slums at the time. Fanny was very zealous for the needy and hopeless people in the area in which she lived, often going out to speak to those on the streets or in the Rescue Missions set up in the area.

Fanny Crosby published over 9,000 hymns in her life. Her contract with her publisher required her to author three hymns per week – she was known to write up to six or seven in a day. She was widely traveled and met every President in her adult life. She was especially fond of President Grover Cleveland – a former executive at the New York Institute for the Blind when she taught there. She always saw her blindness not as an obstacle to be overcome, but as a gift from God.

Fanny Crosby passed away a month before her 95th birthday, in 1915. Our hymnal at FBCW has seventeen hymns from this giant of the faith, including: To God Be The Glory, All the Way My Savior Leads Me, Tell Me the Story of Jesus, Praise Him! Praise Him!, Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross, Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior, Redeemed, Redeemed How I Love to Proclaim It, and To the Work.


https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/poets/fanny-crosby.html
https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/fanny-crosby-americas-hymn-queen-11630385.html
Then Sings My Soul, Morgan, Robert J., Nelson Publishing, 2003.