The story of her first hymn beautifully images one phase of her religion. Once, when returning home after an exciting service, full of her own unworthiness and of the glory of Christ, she turned down a narrow, sheltered lane, in order to be alone to pray. There she knelt; and in her communion with God the spirit of sacred song touched her soul; and by the time she reached her home she had 55 composed her first verse--the fourth in the following hymn:
| Great Author of salvation And providence for man, Thou rulest earth and heaven With Thy far-reaching plan: To-day, or on the morrow, Whatever woe betide, Grant us Thy strong assistance, Within Thy hand to hide. | | What though the winds be angry, What though the waves be high, While Wisdom is the ruler, The Lord of earth and sky! What though the flood of evil Rise stormily and dark, No soul can sink within it-- God is Himself the ark! | | Give us the faith of angels, That we may look and see Salvation's depths of radiance And holy mystery: Two natures in one person, Harmonious, part and whole: The blood divine availing To ransom every soul. | | My soul, behold the fitness Of this great Son of God; Trust Him for life eternal, And cast on Him thy load: 56 A Man!--touched with the pity Of every human woe; A God!--to claim the kingdom, And vanquish every foe. | |
One association of the first verse in the above hymn gives it a strange pathos. A large number of miners in a town of Glamorganshire having been turned out of employment lately, they used to gather in an open place for conference. The proceedings were opened more than once by the singing of this verse. A scene peculiarly Welsh, surely!--and a scene aglow with the light of heavenly romance. When their daily bread seemed to fail them, and the world looked dark around them, their Bible and their native song taught them to look upward to the Author of human Providence--in whose hand they could verily hide without fear of evil.