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Updated
09/03/2020 |
Close to
Thee
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Fanny Crosby |
"Close to Thee"
is one of many hymns by Frances Jane Crosby
(March 24 1820 – February 12 1915) usually known
as Fanny Crosby, an American lyricist best known
for her Protestant Christian hymns. A lifelong
Methodist, she was one of the most prolific
hymnists in history, writing over 8,000 despite
becoming blind shortly after birth. Also known
for her preaching and speaking, during her
lifetime Fanny Crosby was one of the best known
women in the United States.
To this day, the vast
majority of American hymnals contain her work.
Some of her best known songs include "Blessed
Assurance","Jesus Is Tenderly Calling You
Home","Praise Him, Praise Him",and "To God Be
the Glory".Since some publishers were hesitant
to have so many hymns by one person in their
hymnals, Crosby used nearly 100 different
pseudonyms during her career.
Fanny Crosby was born
in Southeast, Putnam County, New York to poor
parents, John and Mercy Crosby. At six weeks
old, she caught a cold and developed
inflammation of the eyes. The family physician
was not available, and a quack who came in his
place recommended mustard plasters as treatment.
The botched procedure blinded her.
Her father died when
she was one year old, so she was raised by her
mother and grandmother. These women grounded
Crosby in Protestant Christian principles,
helping her, for example, memorize long passages
from the Bible. Crosby became an active member
of the John Street Methodist Episcopal Church in
New York City.
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Crosby was noted for writing poetry from
the time she was eight years old. Her first published work was A
Blind Girl and Other Poems (1844), followed by Monterey and Other
Poems (1853) and A Wreath of Columbia's Flowers (1858).
She also wrote some popular songs, which
were set to music by George F. Root. Some of them were "Rosalie, the
Prairie Flower", "Hazel Dell", "There's Music in the Air". Crosby saw
success with her secular verse writing, earning nearly $3,000 in
royalties for her song "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower".
Crosby wrote her first hymn in 1863 for the
composer William B. Bradbury, a respected musician and publisher. It was
called "There's a Cry from Macedonia". Over the years she wrote for
Bradbury and for other composers, including Philip Phillips, Hubert P.
Main, Robert Lowry, W. H. Doane, Ira D. Sankey, Philip P. Bliss, Mr. W.
F. Sherwin, and Phoebe Knapp. Before her death, she had written at least
8,000 hymns,using dozens of pen names.
Crosby was very well known
during her time and often met with presidents, generals,
and other dignitaries. She played the hymn "Safe in the
Arms of Jesus" at President Grant's funeral in 1885. In
her later years, she also became a popular public
speaker.When she
died, her tombstone carried the words, "Aunt Fanny" and
"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste
of glory divine." Eliza Hewitt memorialized Fanny’s
passing in a poem:
- Away to the country
of sunshine and song,
- Our songbird has
taken her flight,
- And she who has
sung in the darkness so long
- Now sings in the
beautiful light.
Crosby is buried in
Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, Connecticut. She
was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1975.
Lyrics by
Fanny Crosby
Thou my
everlasting Portion, more than friend or life to me,
All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee.
Close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee,
All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee.
Not for ease
or worldly pleasure, nor for fame my prayer shall be;
Gladly will I toil and suffer, only let me walk with Thee.
Close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee,
Gladly will I toil and suffer, only let me walk with Thee.
Lead me
through the vale of shadows, bear me over life’s fitful sea;
Then the gate of life eternal may I enter, Lord, with Thee.
Close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee,
Then the gate of life eternal may I enter, Lord, with Thee.
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