Blest Be the Tie that Binds – John Fawcett

He must have thought he could leave, but the raw emotion of the moment took him by surprise. As he reflected on what had overwhelmed him a week earlier, John Fawcett poured out these emotions in six verses of “Blest Be the Tie that Binds” one day in 1772. Wainsgate, England (see its flag here) was his family’s home, and so they reversed themselves and discarded what would have undoubtedly been a more comfortable and financially prosperous tenure in the big city. Was there something else going on at Wainsgate that was like a magnet for John, his wife Mary, and their family, or was it just some perpetual sentimentality that bonded them like superglue to that church?  Was their experience perhaps a microcosm of another home and family one might encounter?

John Fawcett had a well-developed sense of appreciation for Christian fellowship and its personal impact on him by the time he wrote the six stanza-poem in 1772 that was eventually published some 10 years later. He was a child from a poor family, was apparently an orphan by the age of 12, and for a time worked long hours at something like slave labor. Converted at age 16, and then having begun by age 25 his first ministry at Wainsgate in northern England’s West Yorkshire county, he no doubt must have identified intrinsically with those whose hard-scrabble life mirrored his own. John’s preaching reputation nevertheless had earned him some notoriety, and an offer to switch to a much wealthier church in London. For his wife and young family, this must have initially seemed like a God-send after seven years in what someone might have derisively labeled ‘the boondocks’. Who wouldn’t have accepted, as the Fawcetts originally did? But, with their belongings packed and a church crowd gathered to bid them farewell, the hearts of John and Mary were pricked. Did someone perhaps read from the episode of Paul’s departure from Ephesus, to memorialize this sad event (Acts 20)? Was it the thought of leaving these poor folks deprived of not only their friendship, but also other considerations that gnawed at them? How would this Wainsgate group fare without the Fawcetts? In that moment, the Fawcetts concluded, and decided, to live out the truth of the aphorism ‘there are some things money cannot buy.’ As John later admitted, he had temporarily overlooked the other riches he and his family enjoyed there. They spent 54 years in Wainsgate, evidently because they sensed that the benefits of that poverty-stricken church outweighed the alternative in London. This place and people were home.

John originally entitled his poem “Brotherly Love”, and it says all I need to know about the Fawcetts’ choice that day in 1772. What was on their minds? The key word is ‘our’. Our hearts (v.1). Our Father’s throne, our ardent prayers, our fears, our hopes, our aims, our comforts, our cares (v.2). Our mutual burdens (v.3). Our courage (v.5). You get the feeling John and Mary had just completed a mental, or rather heart-level, survey of what they’d been doing with this group for seven years. And, they must have thought this home was too valuable to dismiss so easily. Would the new crowd in London have grown on them too? You think they missed an opportunity? Look at what they already had. Our is what we all aim for up there, isn’t it? In 1772, John and Mary Fawcett had it, and decided to keep it. Start acquiring it now, if you can’t say our.

The following website has all six original verses, and copy of the song story: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/b/b/t/bbtttb.htm

 

See the song story in these sources also: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; 101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982; and A Treasury of Hymn Stories, by Amos R. Wells, Baker Book House, 1945.  

See this link for picture and background on the church where the composer wrote the hymn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wainsgate_Baptist_Church

The Precious Book Divine -- John Fawcett

What companion would be closest to a man who was a theologian? Could it be that someone posed this question to John Fawcett, and the answer he gave was his composition “The Precious Book Divine” that appeared in a collection of poems that was published in 1782?  Despite Fawcett’s humility that accompanied his poetry, he wasn’t shy when it came to sharing how his companion helped him, and coaxing others to foster the same relationship. To him, there was another metaphor besides ‘friend’ that his composition suggests applied to the companion he carried with him each day. What ones would you use?     

The Englishman John Fawcett’s path to Christianity was set early in his life and led him to a faith and scholarship that endeared him to those who knew him.  He was brought to belief during the ministry of George Whitefield at the age of 16 in mid-18^th Century northern England. At first a Methodist and later a Baptist, Fawcett ministered in the small, humble surroundings near his native area. He later nearly accepted a position in a London church, but apparently had discovered that the close fellowship with his home church was too much to dismiss so easily. He remained at the Wainsgate Baptist Church, despite yet another offer to greater benefits at an academy in southwest England many years later. Instead, he ministered through writings and preaching where he’d begun, producing several written works, including the Hymns Adapted to the Cir­cum­stanc­es of Pub­lic Wor­ship and Pri­vate De­vo­tion in which “The Precious Book Divine” appeared when Fawcett was 42 years old. He evidently thought this collection was unworthy of England’s more sophisticated worshippers, judging from what he wrote in the work’s foreword. Nevertheless, he pointed fellow believers to the ‘precious book’ he’d grown to love. Even a humble man can be bold when he’s certain of his divine Guide.

Fawcett’s hymn words communicate that he was not immune to emotional troughs and tedium. ‘Gloomy’, ‘fainting hearts’, ‘vale of tears’, and ‘rising fears’ emerge from his being onto the musical page. Yet, he has found the solution, he tells us. To Fawcett, the bible as a light is what compels him. Fawcett must have returned repeatedly to its pages, finding direction and inspiration. His humility was not hostage to a gloomy spirit, but one that found its place in the shelter of His word. Was “The Precious Book…” the product of a specific circumstance, or Fawcett’s mid-life appreciation of his journey’s escort? No particular episode is recorded, but that doesn’t diminish Fawcett’s expression. ‘Recognize how you’ve arrived at this point’, the writer says, and ‘keep it up’. Dust off that cover, OK?    

See this site for recitation of the hymn with a tune that may not be too familiar, and for the original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/h/p/r/hprecibd.htm

See these sites for composer’s biography:  

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/f/a/w/fawcett_j.htm

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fawcett_%28theologian%29