The Story Behind The Song

I have written earlier about my tendency to cry while singing hymns. Most of the time it occurs because the words and music of a song touch my very soul, reaching down and taking hold of my emotions. Sometimes though, I cry because of the beautiful story behind the writing of these hymns. I have a couple of books that describe the history behind the hymns that we still sing today. One of these is entitled Devotionals From Famous Hymn Stories by Lindsay Terry. Here is the one based on "Blest Be The Tie That Binds," by John Fawcett:

"John Fawcett had been pastor of a small church at Wainsgate, in Yorkshire, England, for seven years. His income was a small salary and his family was growing much too large to be supported by his meager wage. It seemed only practical to move to a church (in 1772) that paid a larger salary. A call came, and it was accepted.

Moving day soon arrived. The men were loading the preacher's furniture and books on the wagons. The last piece was loaded, and everything seemed all set for the journey. Men, women, and children stood around the wagons weeping over the loss of their beloved pastor. Seated on packed cases, the pastor and his wife could not restrain their tears. They and the church members were remembering the times when he had stood with a weeping family from whom the Lord had taken a loved one, or with a young husband anxiously awaiting the arrival of his first-born, or the times when he had taken his Bible and quietly and earnestly shown the way of salvation to a lost one, or perhaps the times when he had preached in the little church and the Holy Spirit had visited them in a special way. All of these things could not be brushed from their minds; nor did they want them to be.

Finally, Mrs. Fawcett turned to her husband and weepingly told him that she did not know how to go. He confessed that he had the same feelings. He gave the order to unload the wagons and to put everything back in it s place. Out of genuine Christian love for those, his people, the preacher stayed and ministered to their needs for fifty years.

The incidents which occurred on the day he almost moved, coupled with the spirit of those kind people at Wainsgate, surely inspired him to write:

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one
Our comforts and our cares.

We share each other’s woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

This glorious hope revives
Our courage by the way;
While each in expectation lives,
And longs to see the day.

From sorrow, toil and pain,
And sin, we shall be free,
And perfect love and friendship reign
Through all eternity."

Think about the history of this beautiful song next time you sing it - and thank God that "...the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above." When we worship here on earth we enter into fellowship with those that have gone before us, even John Fawcett and his family. The story behind the writing of it makes the hymn all the more wonderful.