#SUNDAY HYMN FOLLOW, FOLLOW, I WOULD FOLLOW JESUS Text: William O. Cushing (1878) Music: Robert Lowry William Orcutt Cushing (31 December 1823 – 19 October 1902) was an American Unitarian minister and hymn writer from Hingham, Massachusetts. Cushing was born in 1823 in Hingham to Unitarian parents. When he was a teenager and started to read The Bible alone, he became a follower of the Orthodox Christian school of thought. When he was 18, he stated that he felt that God wanted him to become a minister. Cushing remained true to Christian principles throughout his life. He once gave all of his life savings of $1,000 (approximately $18,400 in 2013) to a blind girl in order for her to receive an education. Cushing started his training to become a Unitarian minister based along his parents theology. His first posting as an ordained minister was to Searsburg, New York, west of Trumansburg. There he met his future wife, Rea, and they were married in 1854. In the same year, Cushing wrote his first hymn, When he Cometh, based on Malachi 3:17, for children in his Sunday School. Cushing then later went on to minister in a number of locations around New York until 1870 when Rea died, requiring Cushing to return to Searsburg. Shortly afterwards, Cushing suffered from a creeping paralysis that caused him to lose his voice, requiring him to retire from the ministry after 27 years in it. After having to retire from the ministry, Cushing asked God for something to do to occupy his time. He discovered he had a talent for hymn writing and made that a way to keep busy after work in the ministry. Throughout the rest of his life, Cushing wrote 300 hymns including The Name of Jesus and Home at Last. In 1880, he co-wrote Follow On with Robert Lowry and W. Howard Doane. This hymn became popular and was associated with The Salvation Army; its tune was adopted by Scottish association football club, Rangers as the basis for their club anthem, Follow Follow. Cushing died on 19 October 1902 in Lisbon Center, New York. He was buried in the Jones Cemetery, near Searsburg. 1. Down in the valley with my Savior I would go, Where the flowers are blooming and the sweet waters flow; Everywhere He leads me I would follow, follow on, Walking in His footsteps till the crown be won. Refrain Follow! follow! I would follow Jesus! Anywhere, everywhere, I would follow on! Follow! follow! I would follow Jesus! Everywhere He leads me I would follow on! 2. Down in the valley with my Savior I would go, Where the storms are sweeping and the dark waters flow; With His hand to lead me I will never, never fear, Dangers cannot fright me if my Lord is near. Refrain 3. Down in the valley, or upon the mountain steep, Close beside my Savior would my heart ever keep; He will lead me safely in the path that He has trod, Up to where they gather in the rest of God. Refrain Please continue to follow us on Facebook TheseLiesMustStop and Twitter @LiesMustStop; share our Posts and invite your friends to Like the Facebook page. E-mail [email protected].
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 04:00:00 +0000
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