On February 13 1915, the New York Times carried this headline: "Fanny Crosby, Blind Hymn Writer, Dies." The article said in part: Franny Crosby, the blind hymn writer, died at her home at 4:30 AM. She had been growing feeble for the last six months and of late was very weak. She would have been ninety five years old if she had lived until March 24.
Fanny Crosby wrote more than 8,000 hymns which have been sung in Protestant churches throughout the world. Her lyrics were so numerous that at the peak of her career, hymnal publishers gave her nearly 200 pen names in order for her hymns and name not dominate every hymnal. She had a tremendous gift of recall and composed many lyrics at a time, committing them to memory before they were written down. One of the hymnal publishers, Phillips Brooks, once gave her seventy five topics and asked her to write verses based on them. She composed every one of the hymns before a line of any of them was placed on paper.
The newspaper article went on to list Fanny Crosby's most well known hymns, including, Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross.
Jesus, keep me near the cross, There a precious fountain.
Free to all, a healing stream, Flows from Calvary's mountain.
In the cross, in the cross, Be my glory ever.
Till my raptured soul shall find, Rest beyond the river.
In our present church culture, hymn singing is falling out of fashion. Many churches do not include any hymns in their church worship services anymore. When you read Fanny Crosby lyrics, you realize what a loss her writing is to the present day church. Thank you, Fanny Crosby, for sharing your amazing gift with us.
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